I agree a bit with Soras, the solo episodic format was good and I liked it, the problem was that it doesn't flow into the character specific plots well, especially with Spike, who basically overtakes the plot and changes format suddenly. The characters were too static as well, Vicious and Julia especially but even Spike wasn't dynamic enough for my tastes; Faye was about the only one, and I hate her for her obvious fanservice (I am absolutely disgusted by fanservice btw). I didn't mention Faye before however because she didn't get in the way of the other problems, partially due to how her role was just overshadowed near the end.
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So, I started watching Nichijou today, and it seems like it just wraps up my favorite parts of my favorite series into one neat little package. All the Kyoto Animation moe-ness and catchy music of K-On! plus the insanity of Seto no Hanayome!
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So, I started watching Nichijou today, and it seems like it just wraps up my favorite parts of my favorite series into one neat little package. All the Kyoto Animation moe-ness and catchy music of K-On! plus the insanity of Seto no Hanayome!
Heck yeah. And the best thing is, it's gonna be 26 episodes. It's very hit-and-miss, and sometimes the jokes are too Japanese for a lowly gaijin like myself to get, but when it hits, it hits hard. If you haven't seen it yet, wait for the camping trip, best moment of the series so far .
In Umineko news, I started with Turn of the Golden Witch yesterday, and saw Jessica's song last night. It's the next morning and I still break down in giggles every time I remember it .
Last edited by NeonBlack : 06-10-2011 at 04:32 AM.
If I may hazard a guess, Starsign, I believe your problem is mainly with where you're focusing your attention in Cowboy Bebop.
First of all, and let's get this out of the way, it's an action show. In the case of Spike's specific subplot, it's somewhere between the traditional marial arts melodrama and its sci fi spinoff, the cyberpunk gun fu movie. You are going to get ridiculous fight scenes out of that. Cowboy Bebop is actually pretty toned-down in both hand-to-hand and space fights compared to most anime that are much softer sci fi. It's not Planetes, but it's not Trigun either.
Also I specifically contest that "plot armor" was a big problem in the Cathedral fight, at least for Spike. Putting aside for the moment whether or when "plot armor" is actually a bad thing, Spike survived (barely) through preparation and improvised cleverness, and the fact that his opponent brought a sword to a gunfight. Honestly, if there was anyone there with gratuitous plot armor, it was Vicious, who survived solely because he's the villain, and therefore immune to offscreen explosions.
Your problems with Vicious I admit are a lot clearer to me than your ones with Spike, but still, this show is of the same kind of action drama as, say, Equilibrium or anything by John Woo (I use those as an example instead of The Matrix because The Matrix has physics-negating stunts as part of the premise). If you come here looking for realistic fight scenes where named characters go to the floor after getting shot once and melee weapons are more likely to get the wielder shot off-hand than to be useful, you are going to be disappointed. Period. Spike and Vicious aren't even the only offenders here, as you seem to think - they've got the longest and most choreographed fight scenes, and Spike is definitely the best fighter and survivor on the Bebop, but other than the tone being more serious in Spike/Vicious episodes there's not a lot of difference in the level of cinematography vs. realism between Spike vs. Vicious, or Spike vs. Pierrot, or any given space fight, or Jet and the old guys vs. crooks, or...
Finally, as for how you feel Spike and Julia's plot takes over the show and doesn't fit...well, I simply disagree. It's an important plot thread, to be sure, and Spike happens to be the perspective character for most of the show, as well as Bebop's muscle. But altogether his personal plot takes up maybe 20% of the screen time. It's, as I said, a martial arts/crime syndicate melodrama, floating among many, many other and varied plots, as is kind of the feel of the show. Focusing too much on Spike as anything other than "the guy who does the heroic actions needed for this week's plot, maybe, unless Jet's handling it" is missing the point of the show.
And I didn't like Julia much either, so I'll give you that and go watch "Boogie Woogie Feng Shui" again.
And dammit, now I have "The Real Folk Blues" stuck in my head and I can only remember the chorus.
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Last edited by Nerd-o-rama : 06-10-2011 at 09:48 AM.
Man, you are going to thoroughly enjoy Umineko. You're thinking, you're being paranoid, you're enjoying the characters, and you're familiar enough with Higurashi that Ryukishi07 is going to troll the ever living heck out of you. Just keep that up and don't become a goat. Is it a spoiler to tell you that parts of your speculation had me cackling maniacally as I read them?
@Starsign:
Oh man, its Cowboy Bebop confession time.
My name is malloreanthug, and I started watching Cowboy Bebop 3 years ago . . . and then never finished it, because I dropped it. It was just 4 months ago that I actually finished it when I marathonned it with a group of friends. I didn't find it all that impressive the first time I watched it, which is why I dropped it, and I still don't find it to be anywhere even near my top 30 shows.
I agree with quite a few of your criticisms of the plot, but as Nerd-o has already pointed out, you have to realize that its meant to be tropalicious. It would be like watching Black Lagoon, and then complaining about the gunfights and other action scenes there. You really do have to go with the flow.
However, the real strength of Cowboy Bebop is not the plot at all, because there really isn't any. You have to watch it to enjoy a couple things: the characters, the setting, the episodic stories, the atmosphere, and the music. As long as you go in with those expectations, you won't be terribly disappointed. I mean, with those kinds of expectations, I managed to really enjoy Wolf's Rain, and if you think that the villains are contrived and the plot dumb in Cowboy Bebop, you won't manage to make it past the first arc of Wolf's Rain.
Oh and I forgot to mention last week but by last weeks episodes of [C] and Ano Hana, I've decided how I probably feel about both shows.
By the time we got to the tentacles, it was pretty set that [C] is going full on wasted potential, but at least its staying incredibly entertaining, unlike Fractale last season.
Ano Hana on the other hand was incredible, and is probably at least make my top 20 shows. I'll probably be crying like a baby during the last episode if the dramatic arcs play out like I think they will.
Now if only the island I'm spending the summer on didn't have godawful internet I'd have already seen episode 9 of both of them. Guess that will probably have to wait till Sunday at my current download rate and work schedule.
Last edited by mallorean_thug : 06-10-2011 at 01:55 PM.
Oh also, NeonBlack, do note that the epitaph is its own complete puzzle thats perfectly solvable. There's only one piece of information that the characters have that you don't, and its decently guessable. It does however require both knowledge of Japanese and English to solve, which made it just as hard for the Japanese to solve as it was for us.
If you wanted to take a crack at it, with its full text you have most of what you need to solve it, though I don't believe that anybody on the internet figured it out till after some clues we got in EP4.
I certainly didn't get anywhere close to solving it on my own, but then again I can't read Kanji at all so . . . I did side with the correct interpretation when it showed up online though.
On Bebop:
I find that the show is best when savored for its spirit. It's all about the crew, and Spike primarily, drifting through space, trying to put their pasts behind them. The thing is, the past never goes away, and you have to come to terms with it, always. As the series goes on, you increasingly find this to be the case.
There's a certain depth and beauty to the way which CB goes about this. It blends that action in...but it also stirs in a very heaping dose of gravity. One of the most memorable scenes in anime that I've ever witnessed was the ending of Asteroid Blues, when the ship with the fugitives is just floating there, cockpit broken, the red eye spilling out of the fake pregnant belly. That was the moment where I went "WOW", and decided that this show was serious business.
Other Stuff:
I'm over halfway through Claymore and OH DANG this show is awesome. Dark, twisted, uber-violent...but above all else, intense story action.
Seen the first two episodes of Gurren Lag-BROTHERLY FISTS OF MANLY DESTRUCTION SLAM!!! Oh yes. Also: the unofficial Kamina RPG. One of the character traits allows you to arm-wrestle the GM to get your way.
So .. guys, I just had some free tiime... and your discussion about Madoka intrigued me... so I went to check I out. Well the music is great, IŽve been singing Connect in my head all day since before yesterday ,when I started watching, randomly interspersed with Magia.
But threr was the maze in the megiing and I was like, What are these people smoking?"
At the garden maze I was like.:Yeah the animator a the 'graphic designer guy' must be really high. But I thought: Thus must must get really good, in tensely dramatic sort of way.
And there was surralic druggy crazinees, a little personal rivalry and muskety godness (and that cute little dance Mami did)
Comes episode 2 an the the plot thickens.
Dramatic Homura v Mami cofrontation, puellaeŽs secrets reavelaed and stuff. Also yuri Comedy
And then it came.. first I niticed that Madoka actully cries in the opnenig and everbody doesnŽt smile very much.
Then I got trolled by Morning rescue.. cake madness..and then
*Chomp*
I. mean your dicusions spoiled me a little but It still shocked me when saw it
Just came .. out of nowhere..
Also Homura was the perfect subversion of a Deus ex machina , of you think about that. If Mami hadnŽt bound her she might have come soomer. Brilliant dramatic irony, if you think about that.
..
Whew, I needed to share my thoughts
Also I tkinkthis vid fits very well
.And I found i out some soulless person tought to combine Charlootte the wich with the Nyancat song
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Let's see. Since the beginning of this year I have:
Watched all episodes of "Eden of the East": It really is a rather nice, refreshing pace from my normal favored anime genre. The additional fact that it's set in the modern day, and still manages to have an tangible amount of believability, even with the "Phones that can do just about anything you want". The characters are good, the plot is good. To me, it's one of those anime that if you want to criticize it, you have to really be intentionally looking for it, and digging around for that one issue.
Watched dotHack//G.U. Triology: This CGI movie, can only be described as a massive insult to the video game/anime series. Worse yet, it says that it bases it self off of the video games, but over half the story is changed or ignored! About the only part I could enjoy, were the battles, and even then, that was so-so.
Finished watching Season 2 of Gundam 00: An season 2. Although just like how Season 1 took some cues and ideas from Gundam Wing, Season 2 takes some ideas from Zeta/ZZ Gundam, it works out rather nicely. The sorta-kinda return of Lockon Stratos at first seemed to be little more than an attempt to ret-con the original back in after the events of Season 1, but with some fleshing out, turned the twin brother into a respectable character.
Plus, the ability of Setsuna being able to turn TRANS-AM up to 11 with TRANS-AM BURST, is both funny, for the comedic material it provides (The Twin Drive's systems secret super power is... that it can shoot Rainbows out of ts back!) and yet, awesome.
Man, you are going to thoroughly enjoy Umineko. You're thinking, you're being paranoid, you're enjoying the characters, and you're familiar enough with Higurashi that Ryukishi07 is going to troll the ever living heck out of you. Just keep that up and don't become a goat. Is it a spoiler to tell you that parts of your speculation had me cackling maniacally as I read them?
Not a spoiler, and not even a surprise . That's the reason I'm making this after all. It's no fun guessing if there's no one to laugh at your mistakes, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by mallorean_thug
Oh also, NeonBlack, do note that the epitaph is its own complete puzzle thats perfectly solvable. There's only one piece of information that the characters have that you don't, and its decently guessable. It does however require both knowledge of Japanese and English to solve, which made it just as hard for the Japanese to solve as it was for us.
If you wanted to take a crack at it, with its full text you have most of what you need to solve it, though I don't believe that anybody on the internet figured it out till after some clues we got in EP4.
I certainly didn't get anywhere close to solving it on my own, but then again I can't read Kanji at all so . . . I did side with the correct interpretation when it showed up online though.
Duly noted. I guess I'll wait until I get done with the question arcs to take a stab at it. I can't read many kanji yet (just finished my first year studying Japanese), but at least I know a bit about the structure of the Japanese language. I don't think that'll be enough, but well, at least I'll try...
In any case, I'm halfway there, since I just finished Turn of the Golden Witch. As always, lots of spoilers, random thoughts and some guesses inside the grey box:
Spoiler
- First of all, something that I couldn't really understand. Right before the first twilight, all the siblings and their companions are gathered inside the chapel with Beatrice, and all of them acknowledge her existence and power. All of them. THAT INCLUDES ROSA. So what the heck happened for her to "forget" about it later? Did the witch erase her memory somehow? Did she just go along with it, happy to get rid of her brothers and sisters and waiting for the ritual to be completed so she had a chance to grab the gold and run? I'm leaning towards the last option, but if that's true, she's one heck of an actress, and that doesn't really match with her insistence until the very end that the culprit was a human. What gives?
- One of the best things of this episode, and something I kind of missed in the first when compared to Higurashi, was the light-heartedness of the first third (leaving Beatrice tricking Shannon aside, of course). It was a different flavour of fluff, but it was funny fluff in any case, and that made the downfall even more poignant. Which is the point of it all, I guess. Special mention to the mini-tea party with Shannon and Beatrice on the beach. For a second I almost thought that Beatrice would turn out to be a nice gal in the end. No such luck.
- One of the key pieces of information given here is the real nature of the "furniture". I had a hunch that they weren't exactly human since the first episode, although I forgot to write it down in my notes back then . Still, they certainly sound like some kind of constructs. Genji was the first one made by Kinzo, and according to the tips, he had some help from a demon. Shannon and Kanon came later, fully built by Kinzo, and with one important new development: a heart (Shannon's is bigger, which shows). They can surely do some amazing things, those guys. I look forward to seeing Genji going all-out at some point in the future, since he's supposed to be the strongest of the three, and Shannon was already quite awesome. This also kind of explains Genji's extreme loyalty to Kinzo. He's his maker, after all...
- Now, big question: are the other "-on"s also furniture, or just normal kids from the orphanage? And talking about the orphanage, Kanon and Shannon were supposed to have come from there, too. Maybe Kinzo brought them there before creating them until they were "mature" enough to serve him?
- Talking about Shannon, and repeating myself: she's awesome. Even though she was tricked by Beatrice, she took her gift of a chance to love and be loved and made the best of it, never regretting anything. Her way of standing up to the witch and denying her the pleasure of seeing her squirm and struggle against her fate was one of the high points of the chapter. Another was, of course, her awesome display of light and power once she got the replacement mirror from Natsuhi's room (hello Chekhov's Gun). George, by association, racks quite a few awesome points, too.
- Tomitake Flash, Okonogi Foods, 6x9=42, Jessica's song and cosplay, Battler's almost flawless Phoenix Wright impersonation... gah, so many references to laugh at. The song was specially hysterical.
- Beatrice was oh so close to a flawless victory here, and only Battler's last second resurrection (and was that a flying kick to the witch's head?) prevented it. She really went all-out here, starting from showing herself almost from the start and continuing with quite a few locked room murders for Battler (and me!) to chew on for a while. The first was easy, and I even managed to guess the answer before Battler did, but the rest aren't that simple to justify without resorting to magic stuff. Red text looks more like a hindrance than a help at this point, and will probably stay that way until Battler learns to ask the right questions.
- Once again, no serious attempts at solving the riddle, and when they came they were fruitless and carried on only by Battler and Maria. With everyone suspicious of everyone, it's kind of hard to get everyone together and think for a bit, I guess, but I don't think there'll be a way out of this until they at least try. Also, I want clues for the epitaph, darn it. Think a bit for me, you furniture!
- Kanon, you disappointed me. Well, just a little. You're still cool, but making Jessica cry is a no-no. At least you fixed it near the end, even though Beatrice still had a chance to play with you a bit even after you died. Better luck next time, you two, I'm rooting for you.
- Hum, so Rokkenjima was Azukijima which is also a mispronunciation of Akujikishima which is something about evil spirits, there were shipwrecks and weird stuff, and some wandering holy man built the shrine to put them to rest. The latter we knew already, but I'm not sure if I should take the name thing seriously or just shrug it off as another Higurashi reference to the Hinamizawa/Onigafuchi duality. Considering it was Kumasawa who explained it, I'm leaning towards the second. Although I'm 99% sure that that old woman knows much more than she lets out. Her "I can only watch them from the shadows" catch phrase is starting to become a bit attention-grabbing...
- Now I know what those weird girls in the cover are, heh . Monocle-man, Fancy-hat-girl and the two flying bunny girls still haven't made an appearance, though. Next time, I guess? Oh, and all the demon sisters had the One Winged Eagle on their uniforms. Worry increasing. Why whould the Ushiromiya family and Beatrice's personal army share that symbol? Oh, and this may not be too relevant, but the seven also remember the previous iterations, since Satan asked Kanon if he "wanted to be killed by her again". Also, I never thought I would say this, but... Satan is kind of cute :3.
- About Beatrice's true nature, maybe her existence is somewhat similar to the Hogfather in Discworld, in which belief makes things become real, or more real, if you will. It's kinda hard to put into words: maybe there was a "base" Beatrice, probably a witch with decent powers already, but her figure was made bigger and more powerful by the legends that were built by Kinzo and the servants. A "real" Beatrice and a "legendary" Beatrice living in one body/spirit/whatever, or something like that. Eh, it's vague, but it kind of matches with Bernkastel's hint about her not being a single entity, I guess. Most likely it's just another bollocks theory of mine.
- The chapel, a new part of Rokkenjima we hadn't seen until now. What happened there in the past? Why was it built? What's the reason for its "sacredness", and why would Kinzo forbid everyone from entering it, yet sent the servants to clean it every now and then? I don't quite buy the theory about it being a place to hold his wedding with Beatrice, should she ever return, although Kinzo being a hopeless romantic at heart, it could be a possibility. Talking about Kinzo and Beatrice: what happened between those two in the past that led to her death/imprisonment/banishment/whatever? Kinzo's guilt over this seems to be the main (only?) driving force behind his efforts to learn black magic. Also, what the heck was George mumbling about "m", "b", "t", "q", and not being able to count that far with all your fingers when they were in front of it? That was never explained, I think.
- Kinzo's will. Want to read it. Now.
- Did Kinzo allow Rosa into the study so she could take the rifle? Sounds... a bit out of character for him, I guess. Adds more question marks to Rosa's role in this chapter.
- The old evil spirits of the island were afraid of spider webs. Kanon's first clone was afraid of spider webs. One of the goat-faced guys transformed into another Kanon clone a bit later (only to be omgpwnd by Shannon's barrier). So, either the old spirits and the new demons are the same and Beatrice was there since the beginning, or Beatrice found a way to work with them after her summoning.
- More about Kinzo and Beatrice: her tirade just before her face-off with Shannon about how "all love was filthy" and how she was naive to believe in the purity of love gives a bit more light on what could have happened between those two in the past. Still not enough information, though.
- The tea parties brought the most disgusting meal of all times (it almost made me feel sorry for Rosa), Lambdadelta's arrival (so she's the one who trapped Bernkastel in the Higurashi loop... what, is she Takano or something?), and both loli witches giving more or less the same hint: Beatrice's weakness lies in that she likes playing with her food, she goes for overkill and she has too much fun winning in roundabout ways instead of going for the clean, easy and effective kill. That's also a strong point, though, since it makes her hard to read and unpredictable. Bern also saw a gap in her actions in this episode. Maybe it's the Rosa thing? I honestly have no idea. Best of all, she gave us a "Nipa-!" as a parting gift. Thanks Bern, I needed that .
Character wise: big badass points for all the furniture, of course. All the siblings (no exceptions) got degraded to "scum of the earth", with Rosa taking the lead in the rankings, although the rest are not far behind. The kids remain fine, as do Natsuhi (didn't do much here), Hideyoshi (same) and Kyrie (still waiting for her chance to shine). Regarding the other servants, Kumasawa is starting to make me think twice everytime she speaks, and Gouda actually turned out to be a surprisingly nice fellow once he stopped bullying his colleagues, and enjoyed some nice scenes near the end. Kinzo's switches from bawling crybaby to calculating mastermind to very grumpy but still somewhat likeable grandpa keep confusing me. He's probably the character I want to see more of, and not just because I want to read his goddamn will. Beatrice is... well, Beatrice. She's so over the top that I can't help but like her for some reason, even when she's butchering people left and right and feeding their remains to their siblings while constantly berating Ushiromiya Batleeeeeeeeeer!
Overall: still going strong. As you can see I'm not thinking too much in the way of theories, and just noting down random stuff that calls my attention, maybe adding two and two together from time to time. For now I'm just taking everything as it comes, and enjoying the hell out of it. Serious guessing will probably come once I'm done with the question arcs. Maybe this time next week, at this rate...
I had a whole rant typed up yesterday about why the most recent episode of [C] was bad and how series has managed to hit almost all of the reasons that made Eden of the East and Fractale disapointing and full of wasted potential, but my laptop battery died and I lost the rant. Oh well. One thought I still feel like sharing:
Spoiler
I feel sorry for Satan and his ilk. Now two seasons in a row we've been presented with situations that seemed like literal deals with the devil, only to find out in both counts that the undersigned powers were far more Lovecraftian than demonic in nature. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure than Hell doesn't have a printing press nearly as creepy as the one in the Financial district. High point of the episode for me.
Ano Hana's most recent episode, on the other hand, was excellent and seems to be setting up for a great conclusion. The only way you could possibly be disappointed with it is if you somehow were still trying to maintain the theory
Spoiler
that Menma is Jintan's delusion and not actually a ghost.
Which would seem dumb at this point in the game, but I honestly saw somebody post a lengthy theory about how that would work, even after episode 8. Whatever. I didn't think it likely after about episode 3, but some people will do whatever they have to to try to continue thinking a show is far more complicated than it really is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Razgriez
"Eden of the East" . . . To me, it's one of those anime that if you want to criticize it, you have to really be intentionally looking for it, and digging around for that one issue.
Have you seen the two movies, The King of Eden and Paradise Lost, that follow up the series? Because I really hope you're not holding Eden of the East up as a flawless pinnacle of anime after the way they wimped out on ending it. Don't get me wrong, I really had a lot of fun watching Eden of the East, but it had quite a few things wrong with it and I don't think I'm digging around for one issue, as I can think of 3 or 4 just off the bat, even not including the movies.
Also, I just started Princess Tutu and IT IS AMAZING. I don't think I've stopped smiling while watching it. If it continues at this rate, its going to end up as one of my favorite shows. Also, after watching the first episode in both languages, I settled on the english dub, if only for Drosselmeyer and Mr Cat. So far I have not been disappointed with my choice.
EDIT: @NeonBlack. Umineko talk:
Spoiler
Well, you just made it through the episode that Ryukishi07 admitted he probably made too hard. In fact, after he saw how confused readers were after it came out, he moved some content and clues that he had planned for EP5 into EP3 and subsequently toned down how hard EP3 was.
That said, you should go reread the translated introduction starting at Is Guesswork Possible or Impossible, and then make some theories. If you just want to enjoy it as you go, thats fine too, but it means you won't have the joy of having your theory smashed to bits by Ryukishi and Beatrice's unrelenting red truth later along the line. Because there's nothing quite like thinking of an idea, reading Battler think of the same idea, then just have Beatrice shoot it down in red.
The only reason I even remotely enjoyed seeing the anime before the VN was the voices. Because having Sayaka Ohara in my head reading all of Beatrice's lines only made Beatrice even more awesome. Its why I'm eagerly following the progress of this. Forget the sprites, backgrounds, and CGs. I just want the hours and hours worth of voice acting from the incredible cast they put together for Umineko (for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c6Zk-Ey17E#t=23m12s). Too bad it seems that the game didn't sell well so we're probably not going to see an Alchemist version of Chiru, and the anime didn't sell well so we won't get an DEEN anime version of Chiru. I guess I'll have to rely on a sequel to the fighting game to hear the official voices for
Spoiler
Erika Furude, Dlanor A. Knox, Lion, and Williard Wright
I don't want to really say anything else at this point for fear of influencing how you're approaching the series except . . . You didn't find Rosa redeemed at all by her Rosa Musou scene backed by worldenddomiinator? Oh well.
Last edited by mallorean_thug : 06-12-2011 at 08:15 PM.
Also, I just started Princess Tutu and IT IS AMAZING. I don't think I've stopped smiling while watching it. If it continues at this rate, its going to end up as one of my favorite shows. Also, after watching the first episode in both languages, I settled on the english dub, if only for Drosselmeyer and Mr Cat. So far I have not been disappointed with my choice.
If you don't like it, Neko-Sensei will have to marry you.
Finished watching Gunparade Orchestra last night and:
Spoiler
The way the series jumps from one location and cast to another during the series made it less good than it would otherwise have been for me- and then there's the random penguin narrator during the first arc of the series.
I mean, alright, apart from the penguin, the first arc was actually promising and would have been awesome if they had put the characters through at least twice as much...
The jump to what were basically magical animals for the second arc was jarring and didn't really do anything to sell the series to me, especially since despite being "specialised weapons", the magical animals represented a power drop by comparison with the mecha used by almost every other unit.
The third arc I kept wondering to myself, when are these guys going to be thrown into the action- but when they finally were, it was a natural disaster and not an enemy attack, and you had no chance to see what they were really capable of.
Have I seen the movies yet? No, but I would like to.
As to the series, I understand it's not flawless, I am however saying, that in my opinion, it is a rather good series, that to me, is refreshing from many of the genres and plots, that have been done over and over again.
Have I seen the movies yet? No, but I would like to.
As to the series, I understand it's not flawless, I am however saying, that in my opinion, it is a rather good series, that to me, is refreshing from many of the genres and plots, that have been done over and over again.
Oh yeah, it was fun to watch, but I found that a lot of my respect for the show came from what it was trying to convey and build up to and then the movies crushed my hopes and expectations. You should definitely see them, just know that you may be unhappy with the closure and answers they offer.
Also, I finished Princess Tutu and it was incredible. Instant favorite, has already displaced something else out of my top 5 favorite shows. Now I have a sudden urge to somehow find some videos of performances of Swan Lake, the Nutcracker, Carmen, and the Ring Cycle, and the complete works of Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saens, Wagner, et al.
Well, Desucon 2011 is over now. I had a wonderful weekend with friends and grilfriend, but unlike last year I didn't take any pictures because I was cosplaying Battler from Umineko. So, links to various cosplay pictures will be put up here when they become available.
Turns out there was a group of Umineko cosplayers there, so in all there were two Anges, Maria, Virgilia, Shannon, Bernkastel and Lamdadelta. Got a picture taken with the other Ange, hope to find that somewhere. Plus assorted people giving me hugs and telling me Beato would win.
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And so after spending months debating with myself about whether PMMM sounded really interested or like something pointlessly grimdark that I would hate it, I finally reached the point where the debate invaded my dreams. To settle the issue, I decided to finally watch it, fully expecting it to be the latter but at least get clarity.
Turns out I loved it and that I honestly don't consider it anywhere near as dark as discussions about it online has set it up to be. I'll put more specific thoughts and opinions on the spoiler below.
Spoiler
Despite loving it, I do recognize a few flaws. Most notably that it's hard to see why anybody would ever trust Kyubey, the thing radiates untrustworthy right from the start and it's pretty hard to ignore after the first time it tries recruiting Madoka and Sayaka in the middle of a battle. I know it's a minor concern, but I found it a bit jarring. Other than that I'm not too fond of the character designs and got tired of the expressionistic designs of the world inside the witches' barriers. Not too big a deal, just thought it worth mentioning.
Now for the general stuff. Except for episode 7 and 8 it just doesn't seem that dark. It has quite a happy ending for just about everyone, except Sayaka who still seems satisfied with the one she gets and apart from episode 7 and 8 it never quite delves into anything truly horrifying and soul-crushing. Those two episodes are the ones I like the least though, because even though I got explanations for what was happening to Sayaka, it still doesn't quite come off convincingly to me. In fairness, though, I did watch it fairly late in the evening after not getting much sleep the night before so I might have missed some of the subtleties in characterization.
Also, I must say it. Homura is just about the most heroic character ever for me. Despite seeing her friends die over and over for an unknown but very large amount of times, she does not break, she does not bend. She stands steadfast to her cause of saving Madoka and hopefully the others too. She might have her morals and her manners weathered down by it, but her cause her and her ultimate goal stays the same and just enduring is an absolutely epic heroic feat. It was impressive enough that the episode came off as pure awesome to me rather than depressing. Also, she makes such a cute couple with Madoka.
So all in all a show that was far better than I expected while also being far lighter and more hopeful. I'd definitely recommend it to most people who haven't seen it yet, it's not as disturbing or depressing as you probably think. And Homura is awesome!
Terra, I'd agree that the show as a whole is less dark than the image it has in fandom. The reason for that image is that while the show was coming out I think most people were expecting the worst at every step. The hopeful, positive parts were a nice surprise that we weren't willing to let ourselves expect.
Glad you liked it though! It is indeed a pretty awesome show.
And the witches' worlds are the second best thing of the series after kajiura yuki's music! Or at least that's what I thought. Makes each fight looks so different and stylish...
Well, you know that I'm always style-over-function guy though. Can't be helped, I'm a designer after all.
The main flaw of the series for me, as I said before, is it's too short. One or two more episodes in the middle before ****s really hit the fan would make the series perfect for me.
edit: and I agree that the series got its so called grimdark reputation more from people who keep expecting the worse at every single point of the series.
I imagine that grimdark fans who want to take the darkest interpretation of all events had a hand too, as did people who are like Youmu* and couldn't deal with the darkness that was genuinely there. Still, and even in one of the two darkest episodes, 7 and 8, there was a pretty big spot of hopefulness in that Kyoko was getting to be a better person. Still, I can understand why it would have gotten that reputation when people had to wait a week for the next episode, like I said I doubt I'd have been able to go on from episode 8 had I had a whole week to be angry about that episode. Which would have been a shame since 9 is where the badassness begins.
I think that Fri has a point, another episode or two to develop Sayaka's story and the general feel of the group before said story reaches its climax would probably have worked well.
There's also the fact that Gen Urobuchi was the scriptwriter, and the man had built a (deserved or not) reputation for downer endings. The general feeling in the discussions I followed at the time was "there's no way this is going to end well, not with Urobutcher at the helm". That and yeah, having to wait for a full week between episodes (and a long month between 10 and 11) led to people speculating their brains out, and people seem to love predicting apocalypses for some reason .
And I think I already did back when the series was running, but I can't agree more with Fri about PMMM needing one or two additional episodes to develop Sayaka and her relationship with Kyouko. Again, watching as it aired the climax of that mini-arc seemed a bit rushed, but this feeling gets stronger when marathoning it afterwards. Oh well, nothing's perfect I guess.
Slideshows of pictures from Desucon can be found on Youtube by searching for "Desucon 2011," but those are of varying quality, so I won't be linking directly to those.
http://s587.photobucket.com/albums/s...esucon%202011/ And finally some of me. Sadly, the one-winged eagle isn't properly visible in any of these, as I either had something in the way or the photos were taken from far enough away.
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Oz Bezarius avatar by Kwarkpudding.
Some quite nice costumes there, it starts to itch in my fingers every time I see an event like this.
And really nice Battler impersonation.
...but doesn't his fringe/bangs usually point in the other direction? ;-)
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