First: Happy Halloween, i hope those who are celebrating are having a good time... it's supposed to snow here and i'm pretty sure i've been running a fever all day... so if i ramble... thats part of it.
second: i am weak and realizing i have a problem.
Originally i was going to watch the dub... which meant not watching Hiroshi Kamiya and Junichi Suwabe talk about demons and being friends...
so to tide myself over for not watching that i rewatched Natsume yuujinchou... (well and it was my birthday and i got no presents so it was my present to myself )
so after i finished that i put this in and put on the dub.....
and the dub was fine........... but not good enough to not listen to my fav voice actors.... so i switched it cause i was weak....
True story back in 2012 when this originally was being simulcast on Crunchyroll, it aired on a day where i had classes super late (i was crazy and would attempt to cram 3 classes a day (each class 3 hours) and instead of heading straight home i'd head to my friends house and we'd watch some anime (mostly natsume yuujinchou but whatever else we both hadn't seen) and when we started this show theres a bit right at the start where Hibiki sighs and this was litteraly the convo we had after i paused the video.
"dammit" i muttered.
"what's wrong Kat?" m friend asked.
"it's Hiroshi Kamiya" i said chuckling
"how can you tell he hasn't said anything..." she looks at me like him nuts.
"a hunch" i say as i unpause the video.
after he finally talks. "holy sh*t i think your right"
"told ya"
then later that same episode.
My friend then laughed. "hey it's matoba"
"it is?" i blinked.
"how can you tell it's hiroshi kamiya when all he does is sigh but can't tell junichi suwabe when he actually talks."
and it's a thing i still struggle with... but yeah... one day i'll be able to tell it's him without souble checking on MyAnimeList
but yeah... the show.
I love the Shin Megami Tensei universe..... but wow do i suck at these games... i will never beat Devil Survivor Overclocked... just too difficult.
so i never got DS2 but i was always curious about the story. then this show came along and while i'm sure some liberties were taken with story (he literally has Maziodyne in episode 2) but it's just a great way of concisely telling the story (a really good story at that) in 13 episode without feeling rushed.
that being said if you don't like subject matters that could potentially be seen as more then a little sacrilegious then this show will not be for you but i always loved SMT's stories. so good and a lot darker then more JRPGs.
also Hibiki is adorable... he has a bunny hoodie... i want his hoodie.
anyways great show, i'm sure the sub is lovely i am just really really weak.... so weak... i probably need help... oh well.
in other news...
when i put in the Ys2 anime i got... there was a preview for Ys4 anime....
i need this... i need to add it to my growing pile of falcom anime. it's based on the first of the two original ys4 games but yeah... i want it... it looks so bad but i still want it.... want it so badly.
must own all the ys anime.
Friday, 31 October 2014
Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Tales of Graces F: Lines and Lineage
Originally i was was just going to tack on the review of this at the end of my main game review... I had no idea this would be as long or in depth as it was.
My end time was around 55 hours... and i know 35-40 of that was the main game... so if i had to guess... it's a 10 hourish long extra game (if you don't do any side questst) up to maybe 20 if you do everything.
I did a fair chunk of exploring and side/special skits (and boy there are quite a few) but not everything... i'm not really a completionist.
So, in my main game review I mention that while i can't connect it to phantasia world wise it does feel a lot like a return to form.
Lines and lineage almost feels like an alternate version and i love that.
Again the lines between wright and wrong and good and evil are blurred.
again we have to deal with trusting things that not too long ago you were completely against... but this time theres an added layer.
Spoilers for main game i guess?
Anyways there is one thing that i felt went underplayed in the main game. Sophie is essentially immortal... she will live forever and the others will not and that pretty sad.
Unlike Phantasia this world doesn't have a half-elf or elf equivalent. Sophie will eventually be alone (in regards to her original travel companions) and that is extremely heartbreaking due to sophies child like nature.
and it's never explored.... until lines and lineage where it's the main theme.
I love it. It was handled so well and even though some of the skits dealing with the subject matter brought me to tears (not that it's difficult) it still had that note of hope.
If it were the only theme that would be enough... but we also have the theme that asbel has been changed by the events in the main game, he isn't the same person and he has to look at the world in a different way.
ok now we are getting into actual spoilers for main game... so if you haven't played that.... go play it, beat it, then play this (cause it just adds so much more to the characters and story and world) and then come back if you want.
About 3/4 of the way through the game a character absorbed Lambda and one of her eyes goes purple.
I had my "i knew it" moment since the cover of the game has asbel with two different colour eyes, one of them purple but so far they have both been blue.
but then i remembered something my friend who loved the game said.
"well i think it's neat that the main character is wall eyed, you don't get main characters with different coloured eyes in tales of games" i said as i looked at some art.
"what are you talking about?" he replied.
part of me knew he was joking cause it's all over the promo art and fanart... but still it bugged me. a character who has eyes change over the course of the game would be a memorable event...
now it was a good way to keep me waiting the entire game for this event to happen... since his eyes don't change till the very end... and you only get to play as new asbel in the post game. it adds a few new mechanics to the game as well so it really feels like a sequel more then just "heres some more to do after you beat the game!" but boy i hated waiting for it to happen and it just never did.
but yeah... i really enjoyed this... it easily became my second fav tales of game thanks to the post game content alone.
also the fact that Asbel's 'fandom' sword is based on phantasia and it's so pretty (i would have based it on the origin sword personally but i understand why they instead made it look like a sparkly tree)
Again... if you played graces f and didn't play the post game content... go put it back in you ps3 and play it, it's so good.
if you have yet to play graces f then you should probably do that to... the characters are kinda stupid at times but they are so animated and full of personality.
um.... i guess i may play some Xillia 2 while i wait for Hearts R to come out... though i have heard less then good things about Xillia 2... so who knows.
hell maybe i'll play Phantasia again.... love that game too much.
anyways thanks for reading, whats your fav tales of game and why?
also i have to stop saying "i'm almost done this game!" cause today i said it... thinking i was in the final dungeon and i technically was... but there are three chunks and they are huge and i was just in the first bit.... the last area feels like boss strong monsters just walking around... super scary but so fun.
My end time was around 55 hours... and i know 35-40 of that was the main game... so if i had to guess... it's a 10 hourish long extra game (if you don't do any side questst) up to maybe 20 if you do everything.
I did a fair chunk of exploring and side/special skits (and boy there are quite a few) but not everything... i'm not really a completionist.
So, in my main game review I mention that while i can't connect it to phantasia world wise it does feel a lot like a return to form.
Lines and lineage almost feels like an alternate version and i love that.
Again the lines between wright and wrong and good and evil are blurred.
again we have to deal with trusting things that not too long ago you were completely against... but this time theres an added layer.
Spoilers for main game i guess?
Anyways there is one thing that i felt went underplayed in the main game. Sophie is essentially immortal... she will live forever and the others will not and that pretty sad.
Unlike Phantasia this world doesn't have a half-elf or elf equivalent. Sophie will eventually be alone (in regards to her original travel companions) and that is extremely heartbreaking due to sophies child like nature.
and it's never explored.... until lines and lineage where it's the main theme.
I love it. It was handled so well and even though some of the skits dealing with the subject matter brought me to tears (not that it's difficult) it still had that note of hope.
If it were the only theme that would be enough... but we also have the theme that asbel has been changed by the events in the main game, he isn't the same person and he has to look at the world in a different way.
ok now we are getting into actual spoilers for main game... so if you haven't played that.... go play it, beat it, then play this (cause it just adds so much more to the characters and story and world) and then come back if you want.
About 3/4 of the way through the game a character absorbed Lambda and one of her eyes goes purple.
I had my "i knew it" moment since the cover of the game has asbel with two different colour eyes, one of them purple but so far they have both been blue.
but then i remembered something my friend who loved the game said.
"well i think it's neat that the main character is wall eyed, you don't get main characters with different coloured eyes in tales of games" i said as i looked at some art.
"what are you talking about?" he replied.
part of me knew he was joking cause it's all over the promo art and fanart... but still it bugged me. a character who has eyes change over the course of the game would be a memorable event...
now it was a good way to keep me waiting the entire game for this event to happen... since his eyes don't change till the very end... and you only get to play as new asbel in the post game. it adds a few new mechanics to the game as well so it really feels like a sequel more then just "heres some more to do after you beat the game!" but boy i hated waiting for it to happen and it just never did.
but yeah... i really enjoyed this... it easily became my second fav tales of game thanks to the post game content alone.
also the fact that Asbel's 'fandom' sword is based on phantasia and it's so pretty (i would have based it on the origin sword personally but i understand why they instead made it look like a sparkly tree)
Again... if you played graces f and didn't play the post game content... go put it back in you ps3 and play it, it's so good.
if you have yet to play graces f then you should probably do that to... the characters are kinda stupid at times but they are so animated and full of personality.
um.... i guess i may play some Xillia 2 while i wait for Hearts R to come out... though i have heard less then good things about Xillia 2... so who knows.
hell maybe i'll play Phantasia again.... love that game too much.
anyways thanks for reading, whats your fav tales of game and why?
also i have to stop saying "i'm almost done this game!" cause today i said it... thinking i was in the final dungeon and i technically was... but there are three chunks and they are huge and i was just in the first bit.... the last area feels like boss strong monsters just walking around... super scary but so fun.
Saturday, 25 October 2014
Tim's Vermeer
*looks at time* i still have to do my daily ink piece.... meh i have time to write this then do that.
Okay so Vermeer was a famous painter who could paint so well it almost looked like a photograph.
Many are convinced that he is using some kind of optical illusion like a camera obscura while others claim that kind stuff is cheating and he painted with pure skill and the naked eye.
Before i saw this wonderful documentary i was amoung those convinced it would have to be a camera obscura type optical illusion.... not because i think no one could be talented enough to paint like that... more because it was a common practice of the time and you can achieve some lovely results with it.
In the art world there seems to be a lot of opinions on what art is... what is right and wrong and what is cheating.
My opinion (as an artist)
There is no right or wrong and it's impossible to cheat.
I had a wide variety of instructors at my art school.
Some loathed references and made is paint with only one brush.
Some adores references and would do a quick sketch of their piece in photoshop before attacking the canvas.
Some prefered the separation of blocks of colour (or black and white as that was the entirety of my first year) while others are okay with blending.
Some wanted exactly what you were seeing
others wanted that too but if you had to fudge something to make it work then do what you must do.
some hated straight colour from a tube while others figured liquitex makes so many varied colours that it would be a shame not to use more then just warm and cool versions of the primaries and white (either titanium or parchment, i preferred parchment)
none of them wanted me to paint in watercolour...
i wanted to paint in watercolour and they couldn't stop me.
I passed all my painting classes with flying colours and graduated an honour student even though what i did in class was not necessarily perceived as 'right'
but of course none of that matter since no one gives a shit about school once you leave it.
So when i watch this documentary all i can think is "wow thats really F***ing cool"
followed immediately by the thought "i bet historians are getting their knickers in a twist over this" (yes i used those exact words cause it best describes the way people whine aboutthis kind of thing)
Hostorians tend to be amoung the type that would perceive what Tim has done (and more likely Vermeer) as cheating.
Historians are wrong.
because there is no wrong way to art.
and there is no way to cheat (at least in this particular artists opinions)
If you are an artist you owe it to yourself to just see this to see how cool it is... i mean he quite literally paints (over an extraordinarily long time) more detail then the human eye can even truly perceive.
and if you are someone who thinks there is only one right way to art you should watch this and expand your horizons.
i'm sure there are some artist out there who feel it's still cheating, spending a lifetime on a craft to have someone who has never painted before create what he creates can be a bit of a hard pill to swallow. however i bet even more artists look at that and go "Holy Sh*t that is really F***ing cool"
cause it is really cool.
I saw it on netflix but i think it's availble on multiple sources so yeah watch it if you can...
so yeah... i have to do my inktober submission now.
Okay so Vermeer was a famous painter who could paint so well it almost looked like a photograph.
Many are convinced that he is using some kind of optical illusion like a camera obscura while others claim that kind stuff is cheating and he painted with pure skill and the naked eye.
Before i saw this wonderful documentary i was amoung those convinced it would have to be a camera obscura type optical illusion.... not because i think no one could be talented enough to paint like that... more because it was a common practice of the time and you can achieve some lovely results with it.
In the art world there seems to be a lot of opinions on what art is... what is right and wrong and what is cheating.
My opinion (as an artist)
There is no right or wrong and it's impossible to cheat.
I had a wide variety of instructors at my art school.
Some loathed references and made is paint with only one brush.
Some adores references and would do a quick sketch of their piece in photoshop before attacking the canvas.
Some prefered the separation of blocks of colour (or black and white as that was the entirety of my first year) while others are okay with blending.
Some wanted exactly what you were seeing
others wanted that too but if you had to fudge something to make it work then do what you must do.
some hated straight colour from a tube while others figured liquitex makes so many varied colours that it would be a shame not to use more then just warm and cool versions of the primaries and white (either titanium or parchment, i preferred parchment)
none of them wanted me to paint in watercolour...
i wanted to paint in watercolour and they couldn't stop me.
I passed all my painting classes with flying colours and graduated an honour student even though what i did in class was not necessarily perceived as 'right'
but of course none of that matter since no one gives a shit about school once you leave it.
So when i watch this documentary all i can think is "wow thats really F***ing cool"
followed immediately by the thought "i bet historians are getting their knickers in a twist over this" (yes i used those exact words cause it best describes the way people whine aboutthis kind of thing)
Hostorians tend to be amoung the type that would perceive what Tim has done (and more likely Vermeer) as cheating.
Historians are wrong.
because there is no wrong way to art.
and there is no way to cheat (at least in this particular artists opinions)
If you are an artist you owe it to yourself to just see this to see how cool it is... i mean he quite literally paints (over an extraordinarily long time) more detail then the human eye can even truly perceive.
and if you are someone who thinks there is only one right way to art you should watch this and expand your horizons.
i'm sure there are some artist out there who feel it's still cheating, spending a lifetime on a craft to have someone who has never painted before create what he creates can be a bit of a hard pill to swallow. however i bet even more artists look at that and go "Holy Sh*t that is really F***ing cool"
cause it is really cool.
I saw it on netflix but i think it's availble on multiple sources so yeah watch it if you can...
so yeah... i have to do my inktober submission now.
Thursday, 23 October 2014
Hanasaku Iroha: Home Sweet Home
I almost forgot to write this cause i actually saw it last night.
anyways This movie takes place sometime closer to the end of the main series but not past the final episode.
While helping Yuina learn what it takes to be an attendant at an Inn Ohana realizes that her day to day experience at Kissuisso has become a little dull and she has lost that drive to 'sparkle'.
By chance she stumbles upon some of the old log books that detail the final few months of her mother living at the Inn. She always felt that she could never understand her mother and they had never had anything in common until she reads that her mother wanted to 'sparkle' as well and felt smothered by the Inn lifestyle.
Over the course of the 66 minute film she realizes that her mother didn't start out as an adult and had many of the same hopes, dreams and fears as she does now... she figured out that she would have been worried about being in love or worried about what to do with the rest of her life and in her mothers case waorried about leaving everything she knows behind to pursue a dream.
At the same time she is realizing that some people are forced to grow up much faster then others due to family situations or added responsibility.
She learns more about her mothers mindset and that what she is going through, all this confusion and fear and hope and dreams is completely normal and that she will figure it all out one day.
It's a cute movie but honestly there are too many subplots.
I think it may have been better had it only been about Ohan's mothers story since of the three it's the most interesting and has the most room for growth.
The bit about the one friend essentially trying to be mother to her siblings is fine but kinda shoehorned in the rest of the story.
The plotline about Yuina doesn't need to be there at all and is only there to help Ohana find the old log books but the exact same thing could have been accomplished by having ohana be clumsy.
theres also a bit about Minko learning to be more observant of the customers but honestly that was addressed in the show.
However for a 66 min long movie it never feels rushed and it manages to tie up all it's loose ends (and any loose ends left in the show)... i do wish it was longer... like even just 90 mins... and i would have loved to see way more about ohana's mother.
The good
Animation is PA Works so it's lovely... the openeing scene is set in the pool and it's just stunning.
Music, the show had a lovely sweet score and this does as well.
The not so good
Not terribly long and the boxset isn't terribly cheap (still lovely nisa quality though)
The implications of age difference between Ohana's parents.... however she's obviously much older when she has Ohana.
a certain character is brushed aside at a certain point and i would have loved to have seen more or find out what happened.
Still if you liked the show then you will probably enjoy the movie as it gives everyone a bit more character detail and improves everyone's arc... especially Ohana and her mother.
but yeah quite a bit crammed into just over an hour.
anyways This movie takes place sometime closer to the end of the main series but not past the final episode.
While helping Yuina learn what it takes to be an attendant at an Inn Ohana realizes that her day to day experience at Kissuisso has become a little dull and she has lost that drive to 'sparkle'.
By chance she stumbles upon some of the old log books that detail the final few months of her mother living at the Inn. She always felt that she could never understand her mother and they had never had anything in common until she reads that her mother wanted to 'sparkle' as well and felt smothered by the Inn lifestyle.
Over the course of the 66 minute film she realizes that her mother didn't start out as an adult and had many of the same hopes, dreams and fears as she does now... she figured out that she would have been worried about being in love or worried about what to do with the rest of her life and in her mothers case waorried about leaving everything she knows behind to pursue a dream.
At the same time she is realizing that some people are forced to grow up much faster then others due to family situations or added responsibility.
She learns more about her mothers mindset and that what she is going through, all this confusion and fear and hope and dreams is completely normal and that she will figure it all out one day.
It's a cute movie but honestly there are too many subplots.
I think it may have been better had it only been about Ohan's mothers story since of the three it's the most interesting and has the most room for growth.
The bit about the one friend essentially trying to be mother to her siblings is fine but kinda shoehorned in the rest of the story.
The plotline about Yuina doesn't need to be there at all and is only there to help Ohana find the old log books but the exact same thing could have been accomplished by having ohana be clumsy.
theres also a bit about Minko learning to be more observant of the customers but honestly that was addressed in the show.
However for a 66 min long movie it never feels rushed and it manages to tie up all it's loose ends (and any loose ends left in the show)... i do wish it was longer... like even just 90 mins... and i would have loved to see way more about ohana's mother.
The good
Animation is PA Works so it's lovely... the openeing scene is set in the pool and it's just stunning.
Music, the show had a lovely sweet score and this does as well.
The not so good
Not terribly long and the boxset isn't terribly cheap (still lovely nisa quality though)
The implications of age difference between Ohana's parents.... however she's obviously much older when she has Ohana.
a certain character is brushed aside at a certain point and i would have loved to have seen more or find out what happened.
Still if you liked the show then you will probably enjoy the movie as it gives everyone a bit more character detail and improves everyone's arc... especially Ohana and her mother.
but yeah quite a bit crammed into just over an hour.
Wednesday, 22 October 2014
I'm not sorry (natsume time)
So... i talk about natsume's book of friends too much.
i know this...
those of you who read anything i talk about know this...
it's borderline addictive to me... i don't know how or why but it is.
Yesterday... hell earlier this morening i was gunna write a fun little piece on how my head cannons for natsume yuujinchou are way too fun.... and that 90% of my convos with one of my friends involve exploring head canons.
But then today that friend asked me a question.
"I saw a page about a yokai potentially talking about Natsume's grandfather.... know anything about that?"
i drew a blank which lead me to believe that they were probably from vol 18 which i haven't read yet... any other series i would have blamed my crap memory but natsume is different... i remember EVERYTHING in natsume... i don't know why.
So she looked into and showed me an image of the chapter in questions 2 page spread.
"I'm not ready" i mutter to myself... knowing the meeting of those characters after what happened a few volumes ago... can only mean on thing.
however if nothing else i am extremely weak to natsume.
so i readied myself and dove into vol 18.
and... now... i just....
I shouldn't be this affected by something that isn't real... i know it's silly to cry over movies or anime... but i still do.... and this makes me cry so hard and so much.
and these chapters... they were too much...
i wasn't ready.... i wouldn't have ever been ready.
I knew the chapter had to eventually come... but not like this...
I hate him, i hate [spoiler] so much.... and i'm just a wreck.
and i wont say who or why just incase people don't read the manga... but i will say i know i'm silly for letting this get to me but it really makes me mad.
[spoiler]'s decision made me made
natsume's couter idea made me yell lots of obscenities (followed by a whole lot of crying)
i just.... i just can't even begin to process the implications... or what [spoiler]'s next move with be or what [other character] will do to either help or hurt natsume.
I know it's silly.
i know that.
but part of my worried for natsume so much cause i see so much of myself in him.
ok not his main ability obviously but i mean.... i would have trusted the same people he trusts... and hated the same people he hates...
dealing with forgetting the painful and the realising that forgetting is still painful.
being awkward... alone... naive... trusting...
so seeing what happens to him in these later chapters... i knew the hurt he would feel when certain things were revealed...
and now that the even has gone a slightly different way then i expected... i know the hurt he will feel when his a certain thing happens cause some people are just in this for the wrong reasons.
i desperately want a season five...
please let summer 2015 have a season 5
please
i need to see this animated.... i need to hear their voices say those lines...
it will hurt... i wont be ready.... but i need others to feel the pain.
also i need to be able to talk abotu this without worrying about spoilers... cause it's like the only spoiler the show has but BOY is it a big one..
okay.... head canon times? just as some fun thought experiments.
Matoba has a journal where he writes about his encounters with natsume.
"today i meta boy named Natsume Takashi, he was really cool... he had so much power he knocked out a demon with one punch before jumping out the window.... i hope we can be friends."
"i bumped into Takashi-chan today, we played some cops and robbers... he managed to break out of the cellar a few times and after we had some tea... but he didn't seem thirsty. I think he likes his pet more then me... i need to think of a way to separate them"
"I wanted to invite takashi-chan to a costume party, i went to his house but he wasn't home so i just left the letter in the mailbox... he seemed a bit mad at me about this... probably because i forgot to put a return address... he probably didn't know how to contact me"
so on and so forth... i dunno i just like the idea of matoba trying to make friends after his first attempt is kinda thrown back in his face. also natsume only hates him cause of the influence of others... other then shoot nyanko that one time he has done nothing bad to natsume.
Head canon 2
Natsume is part yokai.
it would explain his power level being so inordinately high AND his slit eyes.
i have seen it argued that the slit eyes just denote how much spiritual power someone has but the other characters that have them are yokai, reiko and takashi.... matoba on occasion but i wouldn't be surprised if that family had some yokai in their bloodline either.
but it would explain why yokai can tell every other human as a human or exorcist but never can tell with natsume.... hell even humans sometimes wonder if he's a yokai.
head canon 3
Natsume's granfather could be madara... madara obvious has a true form he hasn't shown us and constantly claimes he is not a beast... he also obviously loved reiko a lot and is called out on it constantly.
newer chapters make this a bit more cloudy but yeah
it's still fun to think about... it would also explain the shared abilities and expressions between natsume and nyanko. (both can see into dreams or minds of things in close proximity)
i have more.... but i'm still hurting from what i read of vol 18.
i can't wait for more... even though i know more is just going to make everything hurt so much more.
please season 5.... please.
i know this...
those of you who read anything i talk about know this...
it's borderline addictive to me... i don't know how or why but it is.
Yesterday... hell earlier this morening i was gunna write a fun little piece on how my head cannons for natsume yuujinchou are way too fun.... and that 90% of my convos with one of my friends involve exploring head canons.
But then today that friend asked me a question.
"I saw a page about a yokai potentially talking about Natsume's grandfather.... know anything about that?"
i drew a blank which lead me to believe that they were probably from vol 18 which i haven't read yet... any other series i would have blamed my crap memory but natsume is different... i remember EVERYTHING in natsume... i don't know why.
So she looked into and showed me an image of the chapter in questions 2 page spread.
"I'm not ready" i mutter to myself... knowing the meeting of those characters after what happened a few volumes ago... can only mean on thing.
however if nothing else i am extremely weak to natsume.
so i readied myself and dove into vol 18.
and... now... i just....
I shouldn't be this affected by something that isn't real... i know it's silly to cry over movies or anime... but i still do.... and this makes me cry so hard and so much.
and these chapters... they were too much...
i wasn't ready.... i wouldn't have ever been ready.
I knew the chapter had to eventually come... but not like this...
I hate him, i hate [spoiler] so much.... and i'm just a wreck.
and i wont say who or why just incase people don't read the manga... but i will say i know i'm silly for letting this get to me but it really makes me mad.
[spoiler]'s decision made me made
natsume's couter idea made me yell lots of obscenities (followed by a whole lot of crying)
i just.... i just can't even begin to process the implications... or what [spoiler]'s next move with be or what [other character] will do to either help or hurt natsume.
I know it's silly.
i know that.
but part of my worried for natsume so much cause i see so much of myself in him.
ok not his main ability obviously but i mean.... i would have trusted the same people he trusts... and hated the same people he hates...
dealing with forgetting the painful and the realising that forgetting is still painful.
being awkward... alone... naive... trusting...
so seeing what happens to him in these later chapters... i knew the hurt he would feel when certain things were revealed...
and now that the even has gone a slightly different way then i expected... i know the hurt he will feel when his a certain thing happens cause some people are just in this for the wrong reasons.
i desperately want a season five...
please let summer 2015 have a season 5
please
i need to see this animated.... i need to hear their voices say those lines...
it will hurt... i wont be ready.... but i need others to feel the pain.
also i need to be able to talk abotu this without worrying about spoilers... cause it's like the only spoiler the show has but BOY is it a big one..
okay.... head canon times? just as some fun thought experiments.
Matoba has a journal where he writes about his encounters with natsume.
"today i meta boy named Natsume Takashi, he was really cool... he had so much power he knocked out a demon with one punch before jumping out the window.... i hope we can be friends."
"i bumped into Takashi-chan today, we played some cops and robbers... he managed to break out of the cellar a few times and after we had some tea... but he didn't seem thirsty. I think he likes his pet more then me... i need to think of a way to separate them"
"I wanted to invite takashi-chan to a costume party, i went to his house but he wasn't home so i just left the letter in the mailbox... he seemed a bit mad at me about this... probably because i forgot to put a return address... he probably didn't know how to contact me"
so on and so forth... i dunno i just like the idea of matoba trying to make friends after his first attempt is kinda thrown back in his face. also natsume only hates him cause of the influence of others... other then shoot nyanko that one time he has done nothing bad to natsume.
Head canon 2
Natsume is part yokai.
it would explain his power level being so inordinately high AND his slit eyes.
i have seen it argued that the slit eyes just denote how much spiritual power someone has but the other characters that have them are yokai, reiko and takashi.... matoba on occasion but i wouldn't be surprised if that family had some yokai in their bloodline either.
but it would explain why yokai can tell every other human as a human or exorcist but never can tell with natsume.... hell even humans sometimes wonder if he's a yokai.
head canon 3
Natsume's granfather could be madara... madara obvious has a true form he hasn't shown us and constantly claimes he is not a beast... he also obviously loved reiko a lot and is called out on it constantly.
newer chapters make this a bit more cloudy but yeah
it's still fun to think about... it would also explain the shared abilities and expressions between natsume and nyanko. (both can see into dreams or minds of things in close proximity)
i have more.... but i'm still hurting from what i read of vol 18.
i can't wait for more... even though i know more is just going to make everything hurt so much more.
please season 5.... please.
Saturday, 18 October 2014
First Impressions: Fall 2014
So this season has a first for me...
None of my weekly shows are continuing... every single one of them finished (or aren't coming back till spring)... Well other then Sailor moon which i don't count since it's only twice a month.
That means that every single show is going to be completely new to me... i did take a quick look at the chart for whats coming out in fall and nothing really jumped out at me... still i, as always, will give almost everything a chance.
Some ground rules.
No webshows/shows under 20 Minutes in length.
No shows with Brother or Sister in the title... it never ends well so once again not even going to give it a chance.
No shows about Card games, last season there were so many and it's just not a genre i enjoy.
Obviously if a show is in the middle of a series i'm not watching i wont what it either.
I will try to keep these blurbs short because there is a lot this season however i make absolutely no promises.
Most of these shows will be viewable on Crunchyroll, i do check out Funimations simulcasts as well but because crunchyroll tends to have 5-9 shows i watch and Funi tends to have 1-2 i'd rather only spend the subscription money on one of the two sites. However if there are shows on funi that i have missed and you are curious about just let me know and i'll edit this post.
So my one technically continuing series...
Sailor Moon Crystal
Other then Usagi's clark kent moment with Mamoru's glasses i am enjoying the show... it can be a bit derpy in the animation department (which is surprising for a show that is only twice a month) i still think it's fun and well done for what it is... is it better then the original? who knows... apples to oranges... i just hope they end up doing the entire manga over the course of the next couple of years.
Okay.... onto the new stuff.
TERRAFORMARS
I have a feeling there will be more to see of this show when it come out on Bluray....
There is an insane amount of cencorship in this first episode.
Oh no... Space AND a virus.... i don't know if i can finish this episode....
and bugs? ugh... like i can deal with bugs but the other two things are problematic.
Ok, objectively speaking this looks like it'll be a decent show. It has decent animation (especially if you like your anime to have more realistic proportions) and a neat hook. (humans fighting cockroaches on mars since the kinda sorta super evolved there)
That being said.... putting this in my nope pile.
I can deal with cartoony space like Captain Earth or Gargantia or Macross for whatever reason my crazy astrophobic brain thinks up....
but realistically rendered space on the other hand..... nope i'm good i do not need to risk it... i was already feeling my mood plummet when they showed mars at the end. Not to mention i can deal with plague stories about as well as i deal with space... which is not well at all...
So yeah if you like sci-fi this may be a good concept.
I think i'll just stick to something else.
Tribe Cool Crew
wow... this looks.... really ugly... *sighs* okay... bad to judge based on art....
This animation style reminds me of Triggers style but doesn't seem to be quite as rubbery--- another show to use ugly CG modles for dancing? why is this such a trend... it doesn't look good... CG in anime almost never looks good when it's only used for certain things... if it's used constantly it's okay but when the character goes from being animated to CG it just looks terrible...
This feels like it should be based on a rhythm game.. the art would really work in something like that.
The show itself is just all over the place.. the music is fun and the animation is pretty decent but.... yeah sorry the art is just not doing it for me.
Also the lack of plot just... yeah.... maybe it's good? it's definitely different.
But yeah the show is about dancing (mostly like break dancing as part of a crew) and since the extent of my dance lessons were a few years of Jazz and Modern i just don't really care for it...
But it's not bad... i guess...
Denki-gai
Moe girls (and a few guys i guess) working in a store that sells anime/manga/games and doujinshi.
I could list off a million other comedy shows about working at a certain place.... but it all comes down to one thing.
If you like those comedy slice of workplace anime... then you will probably like this.
if you are getting kind of sick of them... or feel like it treads into the "did you know about this aspect about this job"/"omg isn't this job the coolest" territory... then something tells me you wont like this.
It reminds me of working... only working had a sort of charm to it and this doesn't.... partially because it throws all the characters and their quirks at you all at once... it never establishes the "normal" world. there seems to be a newly hired character... why we don't start with him on his first day of work baffles me.
But worst of all (for me) it just isn't funny.
"omg they are sealing up 18+ books with scandalous covers!"
yeah.... cause thats their job... they would probably be used to just about anything the cover could throw at them.
"theres a government working checking to see that the 18+ is properly displayed and she's all snooty and angry! but on her own time enjoys a little BL"
yeah cause it's her job to mkae sure the laws are followed but on her own time she can like whatever she wants as long as it's not illegal....
Like... i'm sorry these situations aren't funny.
maybe if someone were more uptight it would be funny but even then i highly doubt it... it comes off as trying too hard.
I wont say the show is bad, but i promise you have seen this show before and you have seen it done better.
Fate/stay night [unlimited blade works]
Oh fate/ I never know that to think.
It's a neat concept... but i always get bored.... the only Fate/ i have finished is the original Fate/ Stay Night.
And even then i took quite a long break in the middle cause it was just so boring...
While the show is overall very pretty to look at (thats one thing Aniplex has going for them) there are moments when the characters look strange and rubbery... especially apparent with the profiles---- wait... hiroshi kamiya?Did he always play this role? (never watched the japanese subs) well..... i need to... uh... rewatch that in japanese....
well my odds of watching this show just went up..
maybe... i mean... who knows...
oh wow... the prologue is nearly an hour long...
So it seems to be an alternate retelling? or perhaps following a different line of events in the game.
and if nothing else i can try to use Junichi Suwabe's voice as Archer as a way to try and be able to recognize him... like i can hear it's him but i'm not 100% sure like i was with Hiroshi.
I do like that the focus is on Rin and Archer... Saber and.... uh.. .whatever his name was never really interested me.
It's not a bad show... i just have such a terrible track record of sticking with this series. still... having Hiroshi Kamiya for a little while will be nice... not sure if he's in anything else yet.
World Trigger
Ugh... another show thats going to put the Toei Animation sting before every episode? if i don't like it for sailor moon... probably going to be even more annoying here.
I have heard of World trigger though i know nothing about it.
Ok... i know it's an easy way to get the backstory out there but i'm not the biggest fan of "this is what happened... enjoy these stills accompanied with exposition"
Show me what happened... or mention it later... not after the intro song in the first ep.
Also Mikado City rings a bell... isn't Devil Survivor also set there? town can't catch a break.
Well otherwise then the exposition dump at the start the episode is well paced and i look forward to seeing more, i have a harder time sticking with shows that have a lot of combat but this one looks really really good. Looking forward to next week.
CROSS ANGE Rondo of Angel and Dragon
Wow those seem like the worst combat outfits ever... lets cover the arms and legs but everything else can just be exposed... theres nothing impotrant in the middle bits of the human body.
And i mean if you are going to have a battle thong... you think they would at least give them one that would fit.
The intro music gives me flash backs to Mana Khemia which is kinda nice but i know i wont stick with this show cause
a) it's a mech show, not a fan.
b) it's obviously a fanservice show... even if not of the characters seem to have ant of the nessicary bits of anatomy (they show everything in the intro song)
c)The sound mixing is really weird... it sounds like 90% of it is coming from the left and what is coming from the right is too loud. and i've checked my speaker system...
it's an interesting mix of fantasy and sci-fi but yeah... just not interesting to me... i don't think the show is bad though. *sees the ending* okay... the show isn't good... but i'm sure some people who like fanservice will enjoy it.
Celestial Method
Well this looks extremely Moe but the animation is stunning, like... extremely fluid and colourful and detailed.
I do love that their is this giant saucer in the sky and no one seems to care... like... at all...
Well this is one show that i'll definitely be following... i hope it continues to be this good--- is that Fhana singing the end song? Yep.. well thats a pleasent surprise. but yeah intrigued by what i've seen so far.
The plot seems to be about a girl who returns to a town from her childhood but the memories of the place and people aren't fully there. also there is a saucer in the sky for some reason... i'm sure it'll be explained.
Wolf Girl and Black Prince
wow everything is airing on sunday... hope they spread things around a bit (i know they wont but i can hope)
So it's a RomCom about a girl who habitually lies in order to gain the respect of her peers but doesn't realize constantly one upping people is not a good thing and is a fast way to get yourself ostracized.
anyways when her friends start to catch on that she may be lying about having a boyfriend she takes a picture of a very pretty boy and claims that he's her boyfriend.
one major problem... he happens to go to her school... and is even known as the "prince"
Luckily he seems super nice.... too nice.
he even agrees to be her pretend boyfriend... but then he drops the nice guy act and his true colours begin to show... she'll have to be his 'dog'
it could so very easily tred into some things i hate about shoujo anime but i wanna give this a chance, it had me chuckling... however if you hate the type of story where a relationship is forged on essentially blackmail... i can't see this changing your mind.
The Fruit of Grisaia
I recognize that type of character design... so this is based off an H-Game?
Well that character has the most well tones glutes i have ever seen... it's a little freaky.
also the "oh no i fell down and my panties are showing"... what is this the 90s?
*sighs* i gave it a chance but what i saw was dull and the heavy focus on panty shots just makes this show feel like it was made in the wrong decade... i do like that there was equal amount of focus put on his bare bottom but no amount of fanservice will make a tired concept any better... and i have seen enough less then oridinary high school harem shows to last a lifetime. pass.
Gugure! Kokkuri-san
Last season we had Monthly Girl Nozaki-kun which was based on a 4 koma (four paneled comic)
this surprised be because turning something that is based on quick paced humor that doesn't take a lot of establishment into something that is 20ish minutes long and still having it be funny and make sense is really hard...
i'm willing to bet this is based off a 4 koma...
*checks*
yeah... called it... okay so i actually don't like 4 komas 99% of the time.. .there are exceptions but most of the time it's just not funny... it feels forced and like it's trying way to hard and thats the vibe i am getting from this show.
I'm a little sad cause i love shows that have a supernatural element... but this is just trying too hard.
maybe i'll give it a few weeks and then try again? give a chance for plot to happen...
omg the kitty at the end had fox colouring! so cute! *loves cats*
anyways yeah... on the fence about this one... guess we'll see.
JOKER
don't judge a book by it's cover... don't judge a book by it's cover *repetitively membles before hitting play*
Kaito shows are hit and miss with me... i enjoyed Kamikaze Kaito jeanne enough but every other one i have seen is just....
well actually DNAngel is kaito as well... *sighs*
still.. most of the time i can't stand the genre that is essentially "super cool thief who announces that they will steal something... but it's not illegal cause it'll probably protect the world or something"
Can i pull my no card game shows rule on this? no because it only has cards as a theme not a mechanic? dammit...
Oh look an exposition dumb via breakign the 4th wall...
yeah this is not going to be my thing... it's ugly and a genre i don't like and probably targeted towards a younger demographic... so pass.
Orenchi no Furo Jijo
"but what about you no short episode shows" rule....
Merman.... merman trumps all rules.
i'll probably just wait till end of the season and power watch these 4 min long episodes.
Plot is boy comes across merman... now merman lives in boys bathtub.
i honestly don't know if i'll like it... i stil ldon't like short shows... but yeah figured i'd give it a shot.
because merman *nods*
oh for the love of.... ugh
When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace
I was gunna say this season is doing well and avoiding stupid long titles but then... this.
I think it's interesting that a few shows are going for this extremely widescreened/borderline panoramic look but i hope it's only used in moderation.
anyways this show is very pretty and colourful... I would call it a Harem type show but it still seems to be more about the crazy powers these people get instead of multiple girls to one guy.
The show is kinda adorable, really fun and i'm looking forward to it continuing... i hope it stays this good.
So yeah... stupid title aside a show about 5 people who randomly awaken to havign superpowers is pretty fun.
Oh and this is trigger? it may be the first trigger show that i have seen which i will enjoy/not have panic attacks (well thats the hope... please don't give me a panic attack show... please!)
Akatsuki no Yona
Just from the intro song i love the music of this show... so pretty.... i love this type of orchestration.
hm... i'm not sure what to think of the show since it was very Mood whip lashy.
like... one second it's comedy, then serious... then gory... while i don't mind those things on their own together it doesn't really mix... at least not in one single episode.
I'll still give this a few more episodes since it's very pretty and a historical/potentially fantasy based show should be a lot of fun.
that being said i'm pretty sure this is technically a reverse harem so if you don't like that i guess this is your warning?
Trinity Seven
I've heard of this... i think... maybe... i know nothing about it but the name sounds so familiar.
...
Seriously did i slip back in time to the 90s? the accidental waking up in a conpromising postion?.... EW AND IT'S YOUR SISTER?
i'm out
nope nope nope
I don't care if it was an accident any show willing to play that off for laughs is not a show i wanna watch.
Well this is the quickest i've bailed out on a show at a little over two minutes.
Parasyte -the maxim-
I'm guessing this wont be a show for those who dislike body horror.
Third show with 'accidental' boob grab followed by surprise... seriously... it would be more believable if the male character elbowed the girl in the chest by accident... but full on grabbing and squeezing and being surprised? yeah... seriously find a new trope.
Granted i'll let this show pass on that since it has an in story reason for it happening.
Still... this reminds me a lot of a show from my childhood (granted my childhood is fuzzy so i don't remember it that well) called Animorphs where these parasity thingies entered human hosts and they could turn into animals.... just this the parasyte enters the human and tried to take it over...
as for the point it's just too soon to tell.
I don't know if i'll stick with this simply because it's not really the type of show i like... horror makes me laugh and this really just feels like "what crazy things can we make the body do?" which is fine but as a basis for a show... i just don't know...
maybe i'll give it a few more episodes? it feels like a show that needs at least 4 episodes to get it's point across... too much info and too little time.
SHIROBAKO
at first I was leary about a show that is about making an anime...
but as i watch this.... boy do i know that feel.
well kinda... film is a different beast since things are done 6 months - a year or two before things head to theater so the only rush is when things go to camera... and the only tv show i did was a Pilot and it was only for a week to help them out (and it was crazier then film but also a lot smaller).
but in essense... i know the feel of "if this isn't in place then that thing gets put off and if thats put off we can't do this"
and it explains why Crunchyroll explained what a Cour is
i had never heard the term but it refers to how many blocks of 13 (well i guess 10-13 unless theres a different name for less then 13) episodes a show will get (exaple: Natsume Yuujinchou is a 4 cour show, Gargantia is a 1 cour show)
even though this show reminds me a lot of work i think i'll give it a chance... it's PA works who.... well most of the time they are decent. my only complaint so far is they throw you in the middle with a lot of characters and so i barely know who anyone is or why i should care but i feel like they will address that later on.
Your lie in April
I think i saw the pre-intro song bit a while ago... it seems very familiar. Very pretty, the art is extremely detailed and full of life and colour.
I'm hit and miss with shows based on music but i hope this one is good... and if the first episode is an indicator of quality this will probably be my fav show of the season.
Really looking forward to this.
Girl Friend BETA
I'm going to be honest... i do not have any hope for this...
the description is literally just "based off a game with 100 girlfriend options all with unique voice actors."
... ok... so... i should care why?
i was hoping it would be a 3 min show... nope... full length... okay lets give it a try... maybe it's not so bad.
based on the intro i would guess that they try to fit as many of the girls as possible while only focusing on 4.
pro tip: if you can't preform when being watched maybe something like Rythmic gymnastics isn't the best thing for you... like... i know i can't sing infront of people... so i don't (except the handful of times i've been forced to... which is actually quite often now that i think about it)
So it's a show based on a game minus the guy trying to date the girls?
This is just.... really boring... the first episode formula is lets meet and establish what club or interest everyone has... but no one has any character... it's just "this girl is in gymnastics club, this one is a librarian... that one is from france and learning japanese...
but that doesn't make you have a character... and does little to nothing in the way of setting up plot.
like... this goes beyond Moe girls eating cake... this is just moe girls doing nothing...
Yeah easily the most pointless show i've ever watched.
Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru
Finally! i've been waiting for this show to air to complete all my crunchyroll first impressions... we actualyl got two epsidoes at once cause of some delay i guess.
So basic plot is 4 girls who are friends are also in a "hero club" and we see them putting on a sock puppet show for little kids.
The hero club seems to take all sorts of requests from cleanign areas up to finding kittens lovign homes.
I've said this before... I almost never like shows about clubs because it focuses too much on the club and not enough on plot or characters... This had me worried cause the first 10 minutes were full of nothing... nothing was introduced or established.
after that it gets a plot but i do have some issues... certain things happen that aren't explained so when names or terms are thrown at you all you can think is "i heard you say that earlier but i still do not know what it means"
however... magic based on flowers... i do like flowers
It's another show i need to give more time... it's a neat concept but has yet to make me really care... it does look very pretty and interesting though so i guess we will see... another episode is already ready for viewing.
Okay and considering we are into week 2 of anime titles it's unlikely that more will be added (but it always seems to happen) so for now... done with Crunchyroll... now to quickly look at some funimation titles!
A good librarian like a good shepherd
. . . what... does that even mean?
ok... side note.... i hate that funimation has their logo bottom right... it always covers the subtitles... seriously... either put it further down or in a top corner like crunchy...
OMG another boob grab followed by surprise... seriously... get a new trope. Accidental touching happen especially it you are well endowed but it's amost always a graze or a poke or in the worst case an elbow...
now maybe i just hate the groping trope because one time a girl actually pulled the whole coming up from behind and groping me... i responded with a slap so hard i nearly knocked her over followed by loud shouting on why thats not okay and that anime does not equal real life... needless to say she kept her distance from then on. so yeah... i hate this trope... HATE IT.
As for the show... seems slightly better then the standard based off H-game/harem show fare... but i don't think i'll be sticking with it based on this one episode alone, the story shows promise but still didn't make me care.
Laughing Under the Clouds
I just need to start thinking that everytime i wonder if it's junichi suwabe it's more then likely Yuichi Nakamura.
every time "is that him?" is asked it turns out to be him... i'm just terrible with these voice actors that can sound low.
Anyways this show was really good, love the art especially and looking forward to seeing more.
Basic plot is three brother (who are decendant of samurai?) help catch and ferry escaped criminals who can't deal with japans westernization just after the law banning swords was in place. It's a period in japanese history that i almost always enjoy since it has a nice mix of old and new and how they work (or don't work) in harmony.... so yeah i think i'll continue to watch this... for now at least.
Gunna be the Twin-tail!!
Omg so many girls who haive pigtails... cause only certain girls ever wear their hair like that... and it's not like a girl who doesn't wear their hair that was can suddenly start.
Yes... i knew from the name i wouldn't like this show... maybe if yo uare really into pigtails?
Rage of Bahamut: Genesis
oh wow... it's been so long since i've seen the Geneon logo... i guess they are still around in japan...
well it has an interesting look if nothing else. This is some of the most fluid and dynamic animation i have ever seen.
Okay so a bounty hunter gets himself way over his head when a tall tale catches the attention of a demon... now i'm guessing he's going to have to lead her to Helhiem or risk losing his own humanity.
i don't know what to think... this needs another episode just to explain the rules...
while very interesting to look at i just worry that it's more style then substance.
but still... crazy gorgeous animation.
In Search of the Lost Future
(aka: A la recherche du futur perdu: nous depassons beaucoup d'aujourd'hui, et changerons le destin quelque jour) [and yeah i'm too add all the proper accents]
Ok, i've harped on this a lot but seriously... this is getting annoying.
The first episode/chapter/10 minutes of anything NEEDS to be good... it needs to hook me in and make me want more...
ways to fail at that
Throw all the characters at me at once so i don't know who anyone is or why i should care.
Exposition... if you can't show me anything and have to do EVERYTHING by telling then maybe it's not a good narritive and should be worked on a bit more.
avoid telling me anything about the plot or conflict... if i can't describe the show after one episode you have failed...
anyways all that aside there is something strange about the animation... they feel like 3d modles without looking like 3d modles... theres a stiffness to them... and the shadows don't make sense... like they are put more for acent then light actually hitting the area.
but i'm pretty sure it's just normally animated... maybe some bits are cg assisted? it just looks strange
anyways yeah... didn't enjoy this as a first episode... not to mention it has one of the most predictable events i've seen in any show ever.... but yeah what happens at the end should have happened immediately and then they could have worked back from there...
now for that subtitle in french.
i've never been goos at getting the order right.... ok
direct:
We pass because today, and change the destiny of someday
*tilts head* hm...
Because today we pass and change the destiny of someday?
i'm just going to go with double translating is a fast way to get a headache.
but yeah... anyways... show didn't make me wanna watch more.
Lord Marksman and Vanadis
Ah, refershing... i don't even care that this is most likely a fanservice show... before the 10 min mark i already know who the main character, his status, his weapon proficiency and how others view him... all through action instead of just outright telling me. I also know about magic weilding war madens that have unusual hair and manner of dress.
this is how you do a first episode.... it's not that hard.
But yeah despite being a show with some fanservice it stil lhas a really interesting plot and world and i may actually continue unless it gets super harem-y (which it might... who knows)
GARO
omg this intro... like visuals aside the song... it's just so... old... like something you would see infront of a show from the 80s
however all that aside... right back to pure exposition... it's funny this opening bit could be left unchanged just no dialogue and it would convey the same point with so much more subtlety... but no... monologue exposition is the way they decided to go.
Well this was just kinda lame... and boring... plus i've seen a million other shows that focus on the 'shadow ruler' mentality and just yeah... they are better if you don't see it coming till like halfwaythrough. plus we sepnd all of... 3 minutes with the main character? yeah i just can't really find the time to care.
pass.
And with that... i think i've seen it all... i was going to do Selector Spread Wixoss but that seems to be heading into it's second Cour so theres no point in talking about it here.
So lets tally what we have gotten.
Crunchyroll
Sailor Moon Crystal
Fate/stay night [unlimited bladework] (maybe, the episodes are so long...)
World trigger
Celestial method (maybe)
Wolf girl and black prince
When supernatural battles become commonplace (maybe cause after ep 2 wow was i bored)
Akatsuki no Yona (maybe assume that they don't just jump to the present like episode two suggests)
Parasyte - the maxim (maybe, not the biggest horror fan)
Shirobako (maybe)
Your lie in april
Funimation
Laughing under the clouds
Lord marksman and vanadis (maybe as long as it doesn't get too haremy)
so only 5 shows i'm pretty certain i'll stick with... and a whole lot of uncertainty... for me thats pretty typical of the fall season so i'm not too worried about it. i'm really looking forward to your lie in april so thats worth the price of subscription for me.
I will not be subbing to Funimation simply because i need a 3 show minimum to warrent paying extra.
for now i just look forward to seeing where some of the maybe shows go and hopefully some of them grow on me.
tell me your first impressions of some of the new shows this season!
None of my weekly shows are continuing... every single one of them finished (or aren't coming back till spring)... Well other then Sailor moon which i don't count since it's only twice a month.
That means that every single show is going to be completely new to me... i did take a quick look at the chart for whats coming out in fall and nothing really jumped out at me... still i, as always, will give almost everything a chance.
Some ground rules.
No webshows/shows under 20 Minutes in length.
No shows with Brother or Sister in the title... it never ends well so once again not even going to give it a chance.
No shows about Card games, last season there were so many and it's just not a genre i enjoy.
Obviously if a show is in the middle of a series i'm not watching i wont what it either.
I will try to keep these blurbs short because there is a lot this season however i make absolutely no promises.
Most of these shows will be viewable on Crunchyroll, i do check out Funimations simulcasts as well but because crunchyroll tends to have 5-9 shows i watch and Funi tends to have 1-2 i'd rather only spend the subscription money on one of the two sites. However if there are shows on funi that i have missed and you are curious about just let me know and i'll edit this post.
So my one technically continuing series...
Sailor Moon Crystal
Other then Usagi's clark kent moment with Mamoru's glasses i am enjoying the show... it can be a bit derpy in the animation department (which is surprising for a show that is only twice a month) i still think it's fun and well done for what it is... is it better then the original? who knows... apples to oranges... i just hope they end up doing the entire manga over the course of the next couple of years.
Okay.... onto the new stuff.
TERRAFORMARS
I have a feeling there will be more to see of this show when it come out on Bluray....
There is an insane amount of cencorship in this first episode.
Oh no... Space AND a virus.... i don't know if i can finish this episode....
and bugs? ugh... like i can deal with bugs but the other two things are problematic.
Ok, objectively speaking this looks like it'll be a decent show. It has decent animation (especially if you like your anime to have more realistic proportions) and a neat hook. (humans fighting cockroaches on mars since the kinda sorta super evolved there)
That being said.... putting this in my nope pile.
I can deal with cartoony space like Captain Earth or Gargantia or Macross for whatever reason my crazy astrophobic brain thinks up....
but realistically rendered space on the other hand..... nope i'm good i do not need to risk it... i was already feeling my mood plummet when they showed mars at the end. Not to mention i can deal with plague stories about as well as i deal with space... which is not well at all...
So yeah if you like sci-fi this may be a good concept.
I think i'll just stick to something else.
Tribe Cool Crew
wow... this looks.... really ugly... *sighs* okay... bad to judge based on art....
This animation style reminds me of Triggers style but doesn't seem to be quite as rubbery--- another show to use ugly CG modles for dancing? why is this such a trend... it doesn't look good... CG in anime almost never looks good when it's only used for certain things... if it's used constantly it's okay but when the character goes from being animated to CG it just looks terrible...
This feels like it should be based on a rhythm game.. the art would really work in something like that.
The show itself is just all over the place.. the music is fun and the animation is pretty decent but.... yeah sorry the art is just not doing it for me.
Also the lack of plot just... yeah.... maybe it's good? it's definitely different.
But yeah the show is about dancing (mostly like break dancing as part of a crew) and since the extent of my dance lessons were a few years of Jazz and Modern i just don't really care for it...
But it's not bad... i guess...
Denki-gai
Moe girls (and a few guys i guess) working in a store that sells anime/manga/games and doujinshi.
I could list off a million other comedy shows about working at a certain place.... but it all comes down to one thing.
If you like those comedy slice of workplace anime... then you will probably like this.
if you are getting kind of sick of them... or feel like it treads into the "did you know about this aspect about this job"/"omg isn't this job the coolest" territory... then something tells me you wont like this.
It reminds me of working... only working had a sort of charm to it and this doesn't.... partially because it throws all the characters and their quirks at you all at once... it never establishes the "normal" world. there seems to be a newly hired character... why we don't start with him on his first day of work baffles me.
But worst of all (for me) it just isn't funny.
"omg they are sealing up 18+ books with scandalous covers!"
yeah.... cause thats their job... they would probably be used to just about anything the cover could throw at them.
"theres a government working checking to see that the 18+ is properly displayed and she's all snooty and angry! but on her own time enjoys a little BL"
yeah cause it's her job to mkae sure the laws are followed but on her own time she can like whatever she wants as long as it's not illegal....
Like... i'm sorry these situations aren't funny.
maybe if someone were more uptight it would be funny but even then i highly doubt it... it comes off as trying too hard.
I wont say the show is bad, but i promise you have seen this show before and you have seen it done better.
Fate/stay night [unlimited blade works]
Oh fate/ I never know that to think.
It's a neat concept... but i always get bored.... the only Fate/ i have finished is the original Fate/ Stay Night.
And even then i took quite a long break in the middle cause it was just so boring...
While the show is overall very pretty to look at (thats one thing Aniplex has going for them) there are moments when the characters look strange and rubbery... especially apparent with the profiles---- wait... hiroshi kamiya?Did he always play this role? (never watched the japanese subs) well..... i need to... uh... rewatch that in japanese....
well my odds of watching this show just went up..
maybe... i mean... who knows...
oh wow... the prologue is nearly an hour long...
So it seems to be an alternate retelling? or perhaps following a different line of events in the game.
and if nothing else i can try to use Junichi Suwabe's voice as Archer as a way to try and be able to recognize him... like i can hear it's him but i'm not 100% sure like i was with Hiroshi.
I do like that the focus is on Rin and Archer... Saber and.... uh.. .whatever his name was never really interested me.
It's not a bad show... i just have such a terrible track record of sticking with this series. still... having Hiroshi Kamiya for a little while will be nice... not sure if he's in anything else yet.
World Trigger
Ugh... another show thats going to put the Toei Animation sting before every episode? if i don't like it for sailor moon... probably going to be even more annoying here.
I have heard of World trigger though i know nothing about it.
Ok... i know it's an easy way to get the backstory out there but i'm not the biggest fan of "this is what happened... enjoy these stills accompanied with exposition"
Show me what happened... or mention it later... not after the intro song in the first ep.
Also Mikado City rings a bell... isn't Devil Survivor also set there? town can't catch a break.
Well otherwise then the exposition dump at the start the episode is well paced and i look forward to seeing more, i have a harder time sticking with shows that have a lot of combat but this one looks really really good. Looking forward to next week.
CROSS ANGE Rondo of Angel and Dragon
Wow those seem like the worst combat outfits ever... lets cover the arms and legs but everything else can just be exposed... theres nothing impotrant in the middle bits of the human body.
And i mean if you are going to have a battle thong... you think they would at least give them one that would fit.
The intro music gives me flash backs to Mana Khemia which is kinda nice but i know i wont stick with this show cause
a) it's a mech show, not a fan.
b) it's obviously a fanservice show... even if not of the characters seem to have ant of the nessicary bits of anatomy (they show everything in the intro song)
c)The sound mixing is really weird... it sounds like 90% of it is coming from the left and what is coming from the right is too loud. and i've checked my speaker system...
it's an interesting mix of fantasy and sci-fi but yeah... just not interesting to me... i don't think the show is bad though. *sees the ending* okay... the show isn't good... but i'm sure some people who like fanservice will enjoy it.
Celestial Method
Well this looks extremely Moe but the animation is stunning, like... extremely fluid and colourful and detailed.
I do love that their is this giant saucer in the sky and no one seems to care... like... at all...
Well this is one show that i'll definitely be following... i hope it continues to be this good--- is that Fhana singing the end song? Yep.. well thats a pleasent surprise. but yeah intrigued by what i've seen so far.
The plot seems to be about a girl who returns to a town from her childhood but the memories of the place and people aren't fully there. also there is a saucer in the sky for some reason... i'm sure it'll be explained.
Wolf Girl and Black Prince
wow everything is airing on sunday... hope they spread things around a bit (i know they wont but i can hope)
So it's a RomCom about a girl who habitually lies in order to gain the respect of her peers but doesn't realize constantly one upping people is not a good thing and is a fast way to get yourself ostracized.
anyways when her friends start to catch on that she may be lying about having a boyfriend she takes a picture of a very pretty boy and claims that he's her boyfriend.
one major problem... he happens to go to her school... and is even known as the "prince"
Luckily he seems super nice.... too nice.
he even agrees to be her pretend boyfriend... but then he drops the nice guy act and his true colours begin to show... she'll have to be his 'dog'
it could so very easily tred into some things i hate about shoujo anime but i wanna give this a chance, it had me chuckling... however if you hate the type of story where a relationship is forged on essentially blackmail... i can't see this changing your mind.
The Fruit of Grisaia
I recognize that type of character design... so this is based off an H-Game?
Well that character has the most well tones glutes i have ever seen... it's a little freaky.
also the "oh no i fell down and my panties are showing"... what is this the 90s?
*sighs* i gave it a chance but what i saw was dull and the heavy focus on panty shots just makes this show feel like it was made in the wrong decade... i do like that there was equal amount of focus put on his bare bottom but no amount of fanservice will make a tired concept any better... and i have seen enough less then oridinary high school harem shows to last a lifetime. pass.
Gugure! Kokkuri-san
Last season we had Monthly Girl Nozaki-kun which was based on a 4 koma (four paneled comic)
this surprised be because turning something that is based on quick paced humor that doesn't take a lot of establishment into something that is 20ish minutes long and still having it be funny and make sense is really hard...
i'm willing to bet this is based off a 4 koma...
*checks*
yeah... called it... okay so i actually don't like 4 komas 99% of the time.. .there are exceptions but most of the time it's just not funny... it feels forced and like it's trying way to hard and thats the vibe i am getting from this show.
I'm a little sad cause i love shows that have a supernatural element... but this is just trying too hard.
maybe i'll give it a few weeks and then try again? give a chance for plot to happen...
omg the kitty at the end had fox colouring! so cute! *loves cats*
anyways yeah... on the fence about this one... guess we'll see.
JOKER
don't judge a book by it's cover... don't judge a book by it's cover *repetitively membles before hitting play*
Kaito shows are hit and miss with me... i enjoyed Kamikaze Kaito jeanne enough but every other one i have seen is just....
well actually DNAngel is kaito as well... *sighs*
still.. most of the time i can't stand the genre that is essentially "super cool thief who announces that they will steal something... but it's not illegal cause it'll probably protect the world or something"
Can i pull my no card game shows rule on this? no because it only has cards as a theme not a mechanic? dammit...
Oh look an exposition dumb via breakign the 4th wall...
yeah this is not going to be my thing... it's ugly and a genre i don't like and probably targeted towards a younger demographic... so pass.
Orenchi no Furo Jijo
"but what about you no short episode shows" rule....
Merman.... merman trumps all rules.
i'll probably just wait till end of the season and power watch these 4 min long episodes.
Plot is boy comes across merman... now merman lives in boys bathtub.
i honestly don't know if i'll like it... i stil ldon't like short shows... but yeah figured i'd give it a shot.
because merman *nods*
oh for the love of.... ugh
When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace
I was gunna say this season is doing well and avoiding stupid long titles but then... this.
I think it's interesting that a few shows are going for this extremely widescreened/borderline panoramic look but i hope it's only used in moderation.
anyways this show is very pretty and colourful... I would call it a Harem type show but it still seems to be more about the crazy powers these people get instead of multiple girls to one guy.
The show is kinda adorable, really fun and i'm looking forward to it continuing... i hope it stays this good.
So yeah... stupid title aside a show about 5 people who randomly awaken to havign superpowers is pretty fun.
Oh and this is trigger? it may be the first trigger show that i have seen which i will enjoy/not have panic attacks (well thats the hope... please don't give me a panic attack show... please!)
Akatsuki no Yona
Just from the intro song i love the music of this show... so pretty.... i love this type of orchestration.
hm... i'm not sure what to think of the show since it was very Mood whip lashy.
like... one second it's comedy, then serious... then gory... while i don't mind those things on their own together it doesn't really mix... at least not in one single episode.
I'll still give this a few more episodes since it's very pretty and a historical/potentially fantasy based show should be a lot of fun.
that being said i'm pretty sure this is technically a reverse harem so if you don't like that i guess this is your warning?
Trinity Seven
I've heard of this... i think... maybe... i know nothing about it but the name sounds so familiar.
...
Seriously did i slip back in time to the 90s? the accidental waking up in a conpromising postion?.... EW AND IT'S YOUR SISTER?
i'm out
nope nope nope
I don't care if it was an accident any show willing to play that off for laughs is not a show i wanna watch.
Well this is the quickest i've bailed out on a show at a little over two minutes.
Parasyte -the maxim-
I'm guessing this wont be a show for those who dislike body horror.
Third show with 'accidental' boob grab followed by surprise... seriously... it would be more believable if the male character elbowed the girl in the chest by accident... but full on grabbing and squeezing and being surprised? yeah... seriously find a new trope.
Granted i'll let this show pass on that since it has an in story reason for it happening.
Still... this reminds me a lot of a show from my childhood (granted my childhood is fuzzy so i don't remember it that well) called Animorphs where these parasity thingies entered human hosts and they could turn into animals.... just this the parasyte enters the human and tried to take it over...
as for the point it's just too soon to tell.
I don't know if i'll stick with this simply because it's not really the type of show i like... horror makes me laugh and this really just feels like "what crazy things can we make the body do?" which is fine but as a basis for a show... i just don't know...
maybe i'll give it a few more episodes? it feels like a show that needs at least 4 episodes to get it's point across... too much info and too little time.
SHIROBAKO
at first I was leary about a show that is about making an anime...
but as i watch this.... boy do i know that feel.
well kinda... film is a different beast since things are done 6 months - a year or two before things head to theater so the only rush is when things go to camera... and the only tv show i did was a Pilot and it was only for a week to help them out (and it was crazier then film but also a lot smaller).
but in essense... i know the feel of "if this isn't in place then that thing gets put off and if thats put off we can't do this"
and it explains why Crunchyroll explained what a Cour is
i had never heard the term but it refers to how many blocks of 13 (well i guess 10-13 unless theres a different name for less then 13) episodes a show will get (exaple: Natsume Yuujinchou is a 4 cour show, Gargantia is a 1 cour show)
even though this show reminds me a lot of work i think i'll give it a chance... it's PA works who.... well most of the time they are decent. my only complaint so far is they throw you in the middle with a lot of characters and so i barely know who anyone is or why i should care but i feel like they will address that later on.
Your lie in April
I think i saw the pre-intro song bit a while ago... it seems very familiar. Very pretty, the art is extremely detailed and full of life and colour.
I'm hit and miss with shows based on music but i hope this one is good... and if the first episode is an indicator of quality this will probably be my fav show of the season.
Really looking forward to this.
Girl Friend BETA
I'm going to be honest... i do not have any hope for this...
the description is literally just "based off a game with 100 girlfriend options all with unique voice actors."
... ok... so... i should care why?
i was hoping it would be a 3 min show... nope... full length... okay lets give it a try... maybe it's not so bad.
based on the intro i would guess that they try to fit as many of the girls as possible while only focusing on 4.
pro tip: if you can't preform when being watched maybe something like Rythmic gymnastics isn't the best thing for you... like... i know i can't sing infront of people... so i don't (except the handful of times i've been forced to... which is actually quite often now that i think about it)
So it's a show based on a game minus the guy trying to date the girls?
This is just.... really boring... the first episode formula is lets meet and establish what club or interest everyone has... but no one has any character... it's just "this girl is in gymnastics club, this one is a librarian... that one is from france and learning japanese...
but that doesn't make you have a character... and does little to nothing in the way of setting up plot.
like... this goes beyond Moe girls eating cake... this is just moe girls doing nothing...
Yeah easily the most pointless show i've ever watched.
Yuki Yuna wa Yusha de Aru
Finally! i've been waiting for this show to air to complete all my crunchyroll first impressions... we actualyl got two epsidoes at once cause of some delay i guess.
So basic plot is 4 girls who are friends are also in a "hero club" and we see them putting on a sock puppet show for little kids.
The hero club seems to take all sorts of requests from cleanign areas up to finding kittens lovign homes.
I've said this before... I almost never like shows about clubs because it focuses too much on the club and not enough on plot or characters... This had me worried cause the first 10 minutes were full of nothing... nothing was introduced or established.
after that it gets a plot but i do have some issues... certain things happen that aren't explained so when names or terms are thrown at you all you can think is "i heard you say that earlier but i still do not know what it means"
however... magic based on flowers... i do like flowers
It's another show i need to give more time... it's a neat concept but has yet to make me really care... it does look very pretty and interesting though so i guess we will see... another episode is already ready for viewing.
Okay and considering we are into week 2 of anime titles it's unlikely that more will be added (but it always seems to happen) so for now... done with Crunchyroll... now to quickly look at some funimation titles!
A good librarian like a good shepherd
. . . what... does that even mean?
ok... side note.... i hate that funimation has their logo bottom right... it always covers the subtitles... seriously... either put it further down or in a top corner like crunchy...
OMG another boob grab followed by surprise... seriously... get a new trope. Accidental touching happen especially it you are well endowed but it's amost always a graze or a poke or in the worst case an elbow...
now maybe i just hate the groping trope because one time a girl actually pulled the whole coming up from behind and groping me... i responded with a slap so hard i nearly knocked her over followed by loud shouting on why thats not okay and that anime does not equal real life... needless to say she kept her distance from then on. so yeah... i hate this trope... HATE IT.
As for the show... seems slightly better then the standard based off H-game/harem show fare... but i don't think i'll be sticking with it based on this one episode alone, the story shows promise but still didn't make me care.
Laughing Under the Clouds
I just need to start thinking that everytime i wonder if it's junichi suwabe it's more then likely Yuichi Nakamura.
every time "is that him?" is asked it turns out to be him... i'm just terrible with these voice actors that can sound low.
Anyways this show was really good, love the art especially and looking forward to seeing more.
Basic plot is three brother (who are decendant of samurai?) help catch and ferry escaped criminals who can't deal with japans westernization just after the law banning swords was in place. It's a period in japanese history that i almost always enjoy since it has a nice mix of old and new and how they work (or don't work) in harmony.... so yeah i think i'll continue to watch this... for now at least.
Gunna be the Twin-tail!!
Omg so many girls who haive pigtails... cause only certain girls ever wear their hair like that... and it's not like a girl who doesn't wear their hair that was can suddenly start.
Yes... i knew from the name i wouldn't like this show... maybe if yo uare really into pigtails?
Rage of Bahamut: Genesis
oh wow... it's been so long since i've seen the Geneon logo... i guess they are still around in japan...
well it has an interesting look if nothing else. This is some of the most fluid and dynamic animation i have ever seen.
Okay so a bounty hunter gets himself way over his head when a tall tale catches the attention of a demon... now i'm guessing he's going to have to lead her to Helhiem or risk losing his own humanity.
i don't know what to think... this needs another episode just to explain the rules...
while very interesting to look at i just worry that it's more style then substance.
but still... crazy gorgeous animation.
In Search of the Lost Future
(aka: A la recherche du futur perdu: nous depassons beaucoup d'aujourd'hui, et changerons le destin quelque jour) [and yeah i'm too add all the proper accents]
Ok, i've harped on this a lot but seriously... this is getting annoying.
The first episode/chapter/10 minutes of anything NEEDS to be good... it needs to hook me in and make me want more...
ways to fail at that
Throw all the characters at me at once so i don't know who anyone is or why i should care.
Exposition... if you can't show me anything and have to do EVERYTHING by telling then maybe it's not a good narritive and should be worked on a bit more.
avoid telling me anything about the plot or conflict... if i can't describe the show after one episode you have failed...
anyways all that aside there is something strange about the animation... they feel like 3d modles without looking like 3d modles... theres a stiffness to them... and the shadows don't make sense... like they are put more for acent then light actually hitting the area.
but i'm pretty sure it's just normally animated... maybe some bits are cg assisted? it just looks strange
anyways yeah... didn't enjoy this as a first episode... not to mention it has one of the most predictable events i've seen in any show ever.... but yeah what happens at the end should have happened immediately and then they could have worked back from there...
now for that subtitle in french.
i've never been goos at getting the order right.... ok
direct:
We pass because today, and change the destiny of someday
*tilts head* hm...
Because today we pass and change the destiny of someday?
i'm just going to go with double translating is a fast way to get a headache.
but yeah... anyways... show didn't make me wanna watch more.
Lord Marksman and Vanadis
Ah, refershing... i don't even care that this is most likely a fanservice show... before the 10 min mark i already know who the main character, his status, his weapon proficiency and how others view him... all through action instead of just outright telling me. I also know about magic weilding war madens that have unusual hair and manner of dress.
this is how you do a first episode.... it's not that hard.
But yeah despite being a show with some fanservice it stil lhas a really interesting plot and world and i may actually continue unless it gets super harem-y (which it might... who knows)
GARO
omg this intro... like visuals aside the song... it's just so... old... like something you would see infront of a show from the 80s
however all that aside... right back to pure exposition... it's funny this opening bit could be left unchanged just no dialogue and it would convey the same point with so much more subtlety... but no... monologue exposition is the way they decided to go.
Well this was just kinda lame... and boring... plus i've seen a million other shows that focus on the 'shadow ruler' mentality and just yeah... they are better if you don't see it coming till like halfwaythrough. plus we sepnd all of... 3 minutes with the main character? yeah i just can't really find the time to care.
pass.
And with that... i think i've seen it all... i was going to do Selector Spread Wixoss but that seems to be heading into it's second Cour so theres no point in talking about it here.
So lets tally what we have gotten.
Crunchyroll
Sailor Moon Crystal
Fate/stay night [unlimited bladework] (maybe, the episodes are so long...)
World trigger
Celestial method (maybe)
Wolf girl and black prince
When supernatural battles become commonplace (maybe cause after ep 2 wow was i bored)
Akatsuki no Yona (maybe assume that they don't just jump to the present like episode two suggests)
Parasyte - the maxim (maybe, not the biggest horror fan)
Shirobako (maybe)
Your lie in april
Funimation
Laughing under the clouds
Lord marksman and vanadis (maybe as long as it doesn't get too haremy)
so only 5 shows i'm pretty certain i'll stick with... and a whole lot of uncertainty... for me thats pretty typical of the fall season so i'm not too worried about it. i'm really looking forward to your lie in april so thats worth the price of subscription for me.
I will not be subbing to Funimation simply because i need a 3 show minimum to warrent paying extra.
for now i just look forward to seeing where some of the maybe shows go and hopefully some of them grow on me.
tell me your first impressions of some of the new shows this season!
Friday, 17 October 2014
Book of Life
Story time:
It was my birthday last tuesday, i was very sick and even though i planned to get dinner with friends it fell through.
one of my friends invited me to dinner and then to go see the animation class screening of this film.
Now i have only seen a few commercials for this film and boy did it look terrible... i mean plot wise the animation was very pretty.... but the comedy in the comercial made me wanna stay away...
still seeing it with pretty much entirely animation students... that may be a lot of fun.
So we went and... yeah....
well at least the audience was lively.
ok i'm being a little unfair... but let me explain...
The film was better then expected.... but i was expecting a piece of crap... and i would never see it again or tell anyone to go see it.
That aside what worked?
The art direction is lovely, the film has this wonderful style of all the characters being made of wood... the silhouettes are so diverse and the designs are simply stunning.
The music has some nice moments that will have you chuckling...
uh...
the baseline story is a good one and it's full of heart...
What didn't work?
everything else...
First: the framing device of this animated tale is 5 rebellious students going to a museum and being brought to a special display for Day of the dead.
Problem: who are these kids? why only five? some of them don't look rebllious at all... why do they need to hear this story? did one of them just lose a loved one and is having a hard time coping? no? THEN WHAT IS THE POINT?
this framing device could be completely cut from the film and it wouldn't be missed... the definition of pointless.
Second: Pop culture and refferential humor....
Problem: this film has so many refferences that it already feels dated and it's opening night.
Problem 2: it feels like in order to fit in all the jokes they had to speed up the plot to the point where the characters lose a chance to be developed more. if the jokes were almost completely cut out this would have been a lovely story tale for children and i think it would have easily kept them engaged.
Third: things are happening too fast in general.
Problem: there is some stunning imagery and it's really hard to take it all in and enjoy when things are happening so fast and frantically. it's just impossible to take this all in.
the film is also shown in 3d, i would say avoid it cause i think it would dull some of the visuals and make you feel sick.
and it's not a bad film by any means... kids will probably enjoy it... but it could have been a truly spectacular film if it had just told the story it wanted to tell and stopped making pop culture references... i feel like it sold itself short... and that's a little disappointing
It was my birthday last tuesday, i was very sick and even though i planned to get dinner with friends it fell through.
one of my friends invited me to dinner and then to go see the animation class screening of this film.
Now i have only seen a few commercials for this film and boy did it look terrible... i mean plot wise the animation was very pretty.... but the comedy in the comercial made me wanna stay away...
still seeing it with pretty much entirely animation students... that may be a lot of fun.
So we went and... yeah....
well at least the audience was lively.
ok i'm being a little unfair... but let me explain...
The film was better then expected.... but i was expecting a piece of crap... and i would never see it again or tell anyone to go see it.
That aside what worked?
The art direction is lovely, the film has this wonderful style of all the characters being made of wood... the silhouettes are so diverse and the designs are simply stunning.
The music has some nice moments that will have you chuckling...
uh...
the baseline story is a good one and it's full of heart...
What didn't work?
everything else...
First: the framing device of this animated tale is 5 rebellious students going to a museum and being brought to a special display for Day of the dead.
Problem: who are these kids? why only five? some of them don't look rebllious at all... why do they need to hear this story? did one of them just lose a loved one and is having a hard time coping? no? THEN WHAT IS THE POINT?
this framing device could be completely cut from the film and it wouldn't be missed... the definition of pointless.
Second: Pop culture and refferential humor....
Problem: this film has so many refferences that it already feels dated and it's opening night.
Problem 2: it feels like in order to fit in all the jokes they had to speed up the plot to the point where the characters lose a chance to be developed more. if the jokes were almost completely cut out this would have been a lovely story tale for children and i think it would have easily kept them engaged.
Third: things are happening too fast in general.
Problem: there is some stunning imagery and it's really hard to take it all in and enjoy when things are happening so fast and frantically. it's just impossible to take this all in.
the film is also shown in 3d, i would say avoid it cause i think it would dull some of the visuals and make you feel sick.
and it's not a bad film by any means... kids will probably enjoy it... but it could have been a truly spectacular film if it had just told the story it wanted to tell and stopped making pop culture references... i feel like it sold itself short... and that's a little disappointing
Thursday, 16 October 2014
Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU
It's been a year since i saw this show and it was on sale so i got it (and a bunch of stuff) and i was a bit worried that i wouldn't like it as much now as i did last year.
out of everything i bought this was the only Dubless show which makes sense since a lot of the comedy is based on language so that would be pretty hard to translate.
but above all else i'm glad i watched this after watching special A.
Special A had one character who was the antagonist but should have been the main character. However making someone who is able to be just the worst kind of pessimist and who sais things that make him out to be the villain of a situation (either from being creepy or being mean) and still have that character be likeable is pretty hard.
SNAFU manages... i love Hikki... he's so grumpy all the time but he is perfectly willing to see the good in things or help out others (even if his view on things is more then a little twisted)
he's an ass because he figures no one else can say or do worse thing to him then he could say or do himself. however, despite his best efforts, he does make friends, he does have fun... in any other show Hikki would be the antagonist but here it works.
I also love that the popular kids aren't mean... at all, most are perfectly willing to talk to any other student... some have their heads up their ass and don't understand you can't always get what you want but none of them outright bully other students... now maybe this is rare but thats how highschool was for me... i'm sure some people were bullied but mostly everyone talked to everyone... you may not all be friends but everyone was nice enough to get through the 4 years. also ddn't have much of that clique stuff based on clubs cause everyone was in lots of clubs... a chunk of our football team was also part of band or drama. so seeing these characters act like humans and not be horrible constantly was really really nice.
i still hate the shows title... a year away from the show wont change that.
if you don't like seeing less happy ways of looking at the world you'll probably hate this show... lines like "i've never fought with anyone cause i've never been close enough to warrent it" or "you don't need to keep doing this out of pity" (when the actions were genuine and not out of pity hikki you jerk...)
but yeah... still quite enjoy the show, glad i watched it when i did.
i'll probably watch devil survivor 2 next.... i may do the dub... i may not... we'll see.
out of everything i bought this was the only Dubless show which makes sense since a lot of the comedy is based on language so that would be pretty hard to translate.
but above all else i'm glad i watched this after watching special A.
Special A had one character who was the antagonist but should have been the main character. However making someone who is able to be just the worst kind of pessimist and who sais things that make him out to be the villain of a situation (either from being creepy or being mean) and still have that character be likeable is pretty hard.
SNAFU manages... i love Hikki... he's so grumpy all the time but he is perfectly willing to see the good in things or help out others (even if his view on things is more then a little twisted)
he's an ass because he figures no one else can say or do worse thing to him then he could say or do himself. however, despite his best efforts, he does make friends, he does have fun... in any other show Hikki would be the antagonist but here it works.
I also love that the popular kids aren't mean... at all, most are perfectly willing to talk to any other student... some have their heads up their ass and don't understand you can't always get what you want but none of them outright bully other students... now maybe this is rare but thats how highschool was for me... i'm sure some people were bullied but mostly everyone talked to everyone... you may not all be friends but everyone was nice enough to get through the 4 years. also ddn't have much of that clique stuff based on clubs cause everyone was in lots of clubs... a chunk of our football team was also part of band or drama. so seeing these characters act like humans and not be horrible constantly was really really nice.
i still hate the shows title... a year away from the show wont change that.
if you don't like seeing less happy ways of looking at the world you'll probably hate this show... lines like "i've never fought with anyone cause i've never been close enough to warrent it" or "you don't need to keep doing this out of pity" (when the actions were genuine and not out of pity hikki you jerk...)
but yeah... still quite enjoy the show, glad i watched it when i did.
i'll probably watch devil survivor 2 next.... i may do the dub... i may not... we'll see.
Monday, 13 October 2014
Special A
this... was strange.
Okay so, i've been fighting a nasty cold for a few days so i was resting in bed... and since i couldn't read thanks to water eyes i decided to watch anime.
Now when i ordered this i couldn't remember if i had seen this or not.
I mean... i think i have... some parts had massive Deja vu moments.... but then iwasn't sure if i was confusing scenes of this with other "more special then other students so you get a place to essentially drink tea all to yourself" (which sounds specific but i can think of one other show with that EXACT plotline)
and what makes it even stranger is that i had the deja vu with the english voice acting... not the japanese...
and Sentai only licensed this in 2013.... and i know for a fact i didn't watch it in 2013....
but according to My Anime list i have watched it before...
and i feel like i've got a fever coming on.
i'm going to get to the bottom of this cause i have a hunch where i saw it based on the year it was made.
now 2008, unless i'm really off timewise, is around the time ADV disbanded... they broke off into many companies... two of which i know are "Section 23" and "Sentai"
Adv/S23/Sentai have an online video platform that also had a On demand channel with my cable provider... they would post 1 episode of a show bi-weekly and they would almost always air it with the dub.
while i don't think i had the on demand via tv anymore... i'm pretty sure i checked out on demand online
maybe it was posted there? it's the only way i can make sense of why i know the dub...
i just don't know anymore... and i'm too sick to really care.
Anyways... tangent aside i remember why i forgot about ever having seen this show.
Wow is it lame...
and kinda sexist...
but mostly lame.
Is it bad? no.... is it special? not at all.
The story is Hikari is always coming in second place to Kei and spends the entire time trying to beat him at something... anything.
as mentioned before they and 5 other gifted students are in a special class where they don't ever have to study or take classes or tests yet they are always the top 7 of the entire school... this allows them to chill in a pretty conservatory and drink tea.
But of course this is shoujo so we have to add romance to it... Kei is madly in love with Hikari but she is too dense to notice... even when it is outright told to her... multiple times... and she even has her own feelings towards him but doesn't understand them.
oh and they are all rich (except hikari) and kei is also able to pretty much run one of the most powerful groups in the world and be a student.
While it is nice seeing a shoujo series where the guy desperately pines over the girl.... there are a few things that do not work.
the biggest thing is that we are just kinda told right off the bat he likes her but they don't really go about showing how he started to like her... it's just out there and we must accept... personally i would have shown the flashback to them meeting as children and then another flashback near the end of the episode showing the event that made him start to like her.... instead they wait till the last episode which makes what happens in that last episode less meaningful... cause we don't have context for why it's so important to him.
Kei is too perfect, he can quite literally do anything without breaking a sweat... this makes for a rather dull character cause... we he can get out of any situation... and he can get hikari out of any situation she's in with no effort at all... i get why he has the trait but it makes for boring and forgettable character development.
I see a lot of people feel that the show is Sexist or mysoginistic and i don't know if i would personally go that far... it does have a lot of "oh silly girl you will never be better then me" but thats because in this world she's been trying to beat him at something and never has... it's the only plot thread...
Besides when you use those worlds you are implying a women hating mindset and i think the female characters are rather strong in this. could they be more developed? yes all the background characters could have been but the characters are fine and able to do plenty of stuff on their own.
on the other hand the amount of time kei saves the day and does his best to protect his girl cause she will obviously just get in trouble is a bit annoying... at the same time she never stops trying so yeah... maybe it's a tiny bit sexist but i think it's moreso just dull then anything else.
But even though it's dull i can't say it's bad... i've just seen better titles that coudl fall in this genre.
Ouran high host club for example is a million times better and way funnier then this.... i mean SA has some chuckles but Ouran had me in stiches the first time i saw it.
Still i got it on sale and it padded out my order to the min threshold for free shipping so it's all good and fun.
I still can't believe i completely forgot that i saw it.
The good:
uh.....
it does have some very sweet and sincere moments and i did chuckle.
.... yeah
The not so good:
No one really gets an arc (or at least none of them have one that makes sense and develops them further... except Yahiro.... he is easily the most interestign character.... but the story isn't about him so oh well.
the art... it's that kind of long and lanky character design that CLAMP really likes but it's not done by clamp.
The sound... so many stock sounds.... it's almost like this show had no budget or something.
The bad:
Kei
Seriously if you are going to have a 'perfect' character he still needs to have some kind of tangible weakness or he'll just end up dull... and don't tell me hikari is his weakness because that isn't good enough and if it were true he would lose to her.
Theres this effect that is used and in the early episodes it really distorts the image... they tone it down later on and it works adding this colourful clouded effect but early episodes it just looks so dumb.
Forgettable... my memory isn't the best but if i did see this last year (it would make a little sense... i was watching Persona 4 around the time it would have gotten on there) then i completely forgot it... and i think i'll end up forgetting it after this as well...
not bad... just kinda dull... go watch ouran high instead.
Or lovely complex... thats a good show about someone just not taking a hint.
but yeah.... oh well, to those in canada... happy thanksgiving
to myself tomorrow.... Happy birthday~
for now time to go enjoy some turkey! and pie.... i love pumpkin pie
EDIT:
I knew i had seen this before... ADV did put out a dub on anime network on demand back around 08 or 09
i knew it! i knew i wasn't just crazy or something.
it makes sense since i did have the tv version of that at that time.
good... i feel better... everything makes sense now
the show is still pretty dull...
Okay so, i've been fighting a nasty cold for a few days so i was resting in bed... and since i couldn't read thanks to water eyes i decided to watch anime.
Now when i ordered this i couldn't remember if i had seen this or not.
I mean... i think i have... some parts had massive Deja vu moments.... but then iwasn't sure if i was confusing scenes of this with other "more special then other students so you get a place to essentially drink tea all to yourself" (which sounds specific but i can think of one other show with that EXACT plotline)
and what makes it even stranger is that i had the deja vu with the english voice acting... not the japanese...
and Sentai only licensed this in 2013.... and i know for a fact i didn't watch it in 2013....
but according to My Anime list i have watched it before...
and i feel like i've got a fever coming on.
i'm going to get to the bottom of this cause i have a hunch where i saw it based on the year it was made.
now 2008, unless i'm really off timewise, is around the time ADV disbanded... they broke off into many companies... two of which i know are "Section 23" and "Sentai"
Adv/S23/Sentai have an online video platform that also had a On demand channel with my cable provider... they would post 1 episode of a show bi-weekly and they would almost always air it with the dub.
while i don't think i had the on demand via tv anymore... i'm pretty sure i checked out on demand online
maybe it was posted there? it's the only way i can make sense of why i know the dub...
i just don't know anymore... and i'm too sick to really care.
Anyways... tangent aside i remember why i forgot about ever having seen this show.
Wow is it lame...
and kinda sexist...
but mostly lame.
Is it bad? no.... is it special? not at all.
The story is Hikari is always coming in second place to Kei and spends the entire time trying to beat him at something... anything.
as mentioned before they and 5 other gifted students are in a special class where they don't ever have to study or take classes or tests yet they are always the top 7 of the entire school... this allows them to chill in a pretty conservatory and drink tea.
But of course this is shoujo so we have to add romance to it... Kei is madly in love with Hikari but she is too dense to notice... even when it is outright told to her... multiple times... and she even has her own feelings towards him but doesn't understand them.
oh and they are all rich (except hikari) and kei is also able to pretty much run one of the most powerful groups in the world and be a student.
While it is nice seeing a shoujo series where the guy desperately pines over the girl.... there are a few things that do not work.
the biggest thing is that we are just kinda told right off the bat he likes her but they don't really go about showing how he started to like her... it's just out there and we must accept... personally i would have shown the flashback to them meeting as children and then another flashback near the end of the episode showing the event that made him start to like her.... instead they wait till the last episode which makes what happens in that last episode less meaningful... cause we don't have context for why it's so important to him.
Kei is too perfect, he can quite literally do anything without breaking a sweat... this makes for a rather dull character cause... we he can get out of any situation... and he can get hikari out of any situation she's in with no effort at all... i get why he has the trait but it makes for boring and forgettable character development.
I see a lot of people feel that the show is Sexist or mysoginistic and i don't know if i would personally go that far... it does have a lot of "oh silly girl you will never be better then me" but thats because in this world she's been trying to beat him at something and never has... it's the only plot thread...
Besides when you use those worlds you are implying a women hating mindset and i think the female characters are rather strong in this. could they be more developed? yes all the background characters could have been but the characters are fine and able to do plenty of stuff on their own.
on the other hand the amount of time kei saves the day and does his best to protect his girl cause she will obviously just get in trouble is a bit annoying... at the same time she never stops trying so yeah... maybe it's a tiny bit sexist but i think it's moreso just dull then anything else.
But even though it's dull i can't say it's bad... i've just seen better titles that coudl fall in this genre.
Ouran high host club for example is a million times better and way funnier then this.... i mean SA has some chuckles but Ouran had me in stiches the first time i saw it.
Still i got it on sale and it padded out my order to the min threshold for free shipping so it's all good and fun.
I still can't believe i completely forgot that i saw it.
The good:
uh.....
it does have some very sweet and sincere moments and i did chuckle.
.... yeah
The not so good:
No one really gets an arc (or at least none of them have one that makes sense and develops them further... except Yahiro.... he is easily the most interestign character.... but the story isn't about him so oh well.
the art... it's that kind of long and lanky character design that CLAMP really likes but it's not done by clamp.
The sound... so many stock sounds.... it's almost like this show had no budget or something.
The bad:
Kei
Seriously if you are going to have a 'perfect' character he still needs to have some kind of tangible weakness or he'll just end up dull... and don't tell me hikari is his weakness because that isn't good enough and if it were true he would lose to her.
Theres this effect that is used and in the early episodes it really distorts the image... they tone it down later on and it works adding this colourful clouded effect but early episodes it just looks so dumb.
Forgettable... my memory isn't the best but if i did see this last year (it would make a little sense... i was watching Persona 4 around the time it would have gotten on there) then i completely forgot it... and i think i'll end up forgetting it after this as well...
not bad... just kinda dull... go watch ouran high instead.
Or lovely complex... thats a good show about someone just not taking a hint.
but yeah.... oh well, to those in canada... happy thanksgiving
to myself tomorrow.... Happy birthday~
for now time to go enjoy some turkey! and pie.... i love pumpkin pie
EDIT:
I knew i had seen this before... ADV did put out a dub on anime network on demand back around 08 or 09
i knew it! i knew i wasn't just crazy or something.
it makes sense since i did have the tv version of that at that time.
good... i feel better... everything makes sense now
the show is still pretty dull...
Sunday, 12 October 2014
Edge of tomorrow
or as the cover of the bluray would have you believe.... Live, Die, Repeat.
I have not read the source material for this, all i know is it's called "all you need is kill" and out of the three titles i gotta say all of them are kinda terrible.
but who cares about titles if the end product is good? in my opinion this is a really good movie.
still... I have biases so may as well put them out on the table.
Not a fan of sci-fi cause it almost always goes into space... this doesn't have that problem so yay.
Not a fan of Tom Cruise, i don't dislike him or anything i just find his films kinda dull and soulless.
ok so an officer get put in a situation where he ends up on the frontlines... through a freak accident he gains to ability to go back to a certain point in time when he dies.
he soon finds out he's not the only one who has had this ability but he is the only one who has it currently.... with past and current knowledge they work together to defeat the alien threat to their world.
And it's a lot of fun, it's well paced and funny and dark and it sets up and follows all it's rules (bar one but i understand why they went the route they did)
It's kinda sucky that this film didn't do well... at all... like according to IMDB at the start of september (about a month prior to writing this) it hasn't even broken even (is USA, it made almost double it's budget worldwide but fun fact... north america doesn't particularly care about the worldwide number... they case about domestic)
but i think a few things are to blame....
1. title.... as mentioned before is kinda silly... i don't know of a good title but everyone i spoke to went "edge of tomorrow? that sounds stupid" and didn't see it.
2. commercials... same problem as title, they kinda downplayed the charm of the film and showed some of the repeats so it just looked like this dark gritty film trying to be a video game.
3. downplaying the fact that it's based off a manga (or light novel? not entirely sure... again i haven't read it) now i get why they did this... they didn't want to alienate people who hate anime... i get it.... but instead to kinda kicked the potential existing fanbase so i'm sure that didn't help sales... granted had they called it "all you need is kill" i know the fans would be bitching about changes... but the fact is that IS what it's based off of. and even though i know it's different then the source i think it did a great job with the world building to tell it's own story.
is it the best film ever? hell no... (personal opinion: princess bride... just saying)
is it a lot of fun, well paced and visually interesting sci-fi? yep.
The good:
Pacing - you think a film about repeating an event over and over would have moments of "not this again" but nope, it only shows what it has to and certain events despite being lived multiple times are only shown once.
Character - they are well written and despite only having like... 2-3 days before returning back to point one they have a lot of personal growth and development.
World building - i love a interesting world with lots of rules that make sense and are followed and this really does that well.
The not so good:
Music - that stupid inception WAaaaaaaan noise.... seriously... no more of that noise... it's so annoying.
exposition - In order to not show us every go through... he has to tell us what he knows because he lived it... so there is a lot of exposition but you kinda have to forgive it.
ending - i think the ending is fine and perfect for the audience it was made for.... but in my mind it kinda sorta breaks one of the rules of the world.
without spoilers something happens after something else happens and that thing is needed to make the first thing work so how does doing 'that' work out to what happens in the ending? extremely minor gripe but again... it's not a bad ending just a loose contradiction.
The bad:
how the hell is this not a nic cage movie.... i'm serious... this has him written all over it... the main character is even named cage.
i don't even really like nic cage movies and i'm not saying he would be better then cruise i'm just asking "how is he not in this movie?"
the REALLY downplay the connection to the source material... like... wow. watching the special features they say "oh we wanted to make this WWII movie but more sci-fi" and that may well be the case but that is not where this started and you know it. like i get it... north americans have certain biases when anime or video games are mentioned... fine whatever... but if i'm watching the special features then i have to physically own the bluray... why not just say "we found this great source material and wanted to have it be like this sci-fi WWII"
would that have been so hard?
like looking at the manga (is this the same artist who did deathnote? ha ha called it... not that it's hard his style is extremely destinctive) you can see the filmmakers definitely pulled inspiration... so why not just admit it?
but yeah good film, too bad it didn't do well... if it had maybe i wouldn't be constantly working on remakes (seriously... i only have one original IP under my belt... and i know people who have done this far longer then i have who can't even say that) not that there is anything wrong with remakes... just it would be nice if original stuff did as well as the remakes.
so yeah if you were curious but worried it was too gritty... it's not... it's actually a lot of fun... go enjoy it.
Thursday, 9 October 2014
Gargantia: on the Verdious Planet -Dub-
I had forgotten how much i really enjoyed this show.
I pretty much marathoned it by accident when the Bluray arrived.
Still backstory time.
When i ordered this i figured two things in my order wouldn't come out till the 7th of October... considering my birthday is a week later i thought "great, it'll arrive around my birthday and be a present to myself"
well... i ended up getting the entire package oct 6th so.... well it's still a present to myself at least.
still this wasn't supposed to come till later... not complaining though.
The second thing i wanna touch on is i had no idea that this would have a dub, it was an extremely pleasant surprise... I personally don't get the overall hate dubs get... yes some dubs are atrocious but some are fantastic.... this is one of those fantastic ones.
i'll talk more about it later but yeah... just putting it out there that i tend to like dubs and subs equally.
Ok so back in 2013 i started watching every show, no matter how much i didn't think i would like it, that crunchyroll simulcast since i figured i'm paying for the subscription anyways... and i may find some shows i wouldn't have watched otherwise.
This is 100% a show i wouldn't have tried on my own.
I do not like mech at all... it almost always goes into space an yeah... not a fan.
When i first saw this show the first 10 mins were hard to get through.
and then from there on it was just pure happiness.
but i don't wanna talk about the show, other then it's really really good and you should check it out if you can.
I wanna talk about the dub... and then i'll talk about a bit of the reaction to the show now that it's been out for over a year.
So, Gargantia's dub.... holy crap it's good.
There is not a voice out of place.
Matt Mercer as Chamber is just fantastic... that dead pan know it all yet somehow snarky robot without actually being snarky.... like... it's just so good. also considering almost every line starts with "query, hypothesis, Speculation" and he plays it straight it's just... i cannot rave more about how perfect chamber is.
Ledo slowly learning the language is so well done and according to MAL it's Alan Lee's first role? i woudl have guessed this guy was a veteran voice actor cause wow is he talented. i look forward to listening to more dubs with him in it.
Also Amy's Voice actress, Cassandra Lee Morris, also did Taiga in Torodora which she was also fantastic in...
and normally in a dub theres that one voice out of place but in this... no... i loved everyone... so good.
So yeah if you get the dvd or bluray give the english dub a chance i think you'll enjoy it.
Oh... and the Bluray/dvd release has two OVA episodes... one thats just cute and silly and one that shows another side of the story... the second one is worth the price of the series alone... so good.
It also has petite gargantia which i haven't watched yet but looks super cute.
Now putting that all aside i wanan talk about something i notices long after the show finished.
Most people i know didn't like it cause they felt the concept is so gradious and then it does nothin with it.
and to those people i ask... did you stop halfway through?
no seriously...
there is one episode smack dab in the middle where fanservice is heavily used. I tend to blast fanservice but this time... no.
Lets be real for a second here, Ledo has known nothing but war, he has never had an instant where he could think of another person as a romantic partner... for lack of a better term he has never experienced "Protoculture"
Amy's dance, while extremely fanservicy, is showing Ledo a new world and making him feel things he had never even imagined. I forgive the fanservice cause it actually has a larger point.
is it over the top? yes but is it nessicary? i think so.
and the show just gets so much better after that... which is why i think those who think the show squanders it's potential probably didn't stick with it.
that or maybe we just weren't watching the same show (mindset wise)
Oh oh oh, one more thing before i go try and get my voice back (i'm actually quite sick right now... but luckily typing doesn't involve any talking) I wanted tot talk about something that i have kind hinted at.
when i originally saw this show i didn't know if i liked it cause it reminded me of macross... it could be a telling of the Zentradi, pre-giantism, coming back to earth and dealing with culture shock, aka protoculture.
That is still the case and i do still make the connection..... HOWEVER the show completely 100% stands on it's own as a really fantastic story. i liked it cause it was good... not cause it reminded me of macross (which is one of the only other mech shows, pre captian earth, that i really really liked.)
but yeah... i really really love this show, i am so thankful to Viz for bringing it over and doing such a fantastic dub.
if you are still unsure Crunchyroll still has the Sub up on their site and it's really worth it... it's only 13 episodes but it's just to good.
I pretty much marathoned it by accident when the Bluray arrived.
Still backstory time.
When i ordered this i figured two things in my order wouldn't come out till the 7th of October... considering my birthday is a week later i thought "great, it'll arrive around my birthday and be a present to myself"
well... i ended up getting the entire package oct 6th so.... well it's still a present to myself at least.
still this wasn't supposed to come till later... not complaining though.
The second thing i wanna touch on is i had no idea that this would have a dub, it was an extremely pleasant surprise... I personally don't get the overall hate dubs get... yes some dubs are atrocious but some are fantastic.... this is one of those fantastic ones.
i'll talk more about it later but yeah... just putting it out there that i tend to like dubs and subs equally.
Ok so back in 2013 i started watching every show, no matter how much i didn't think i would like it, that crunchyroll simulcast since i figured i'm paying for the subscription anyways... and i may find some shows i wouldn't have watched otherwise.
This is 100% a show i wouldn't have tried on my own.
I do not like mech at all... it almost always goes into space an yeah... not a fan.
When i first saw this show the first 10 mins were hard to get through.
and then from there on it was just pure happiness.
but i don't wanna talk about the show, other then it's really really good and you should check it out if you can.
I wanna talk about the dub... and then i'll talk about a bit of the reaction to the show now that it's been out for over a year.
So, Gargantia's dub.... holy crap it's good.
There is not a voice out of place.
Matt Mercer as Chamber is just fantastic... that dead pan know it all yet somehow snarky robot without actually being snarky.... like... it's just so good. also considering almost every line starts with "query, hypothesis, Speculation" and he plays it straight it's just... i cannot rave more about how perfect chamber is.
Ledo slowly learning the language is so well done and according to MAL it's Alan Lee's first role? i woudl have guessed this guy was a veteran voice actor cause wow is he talented. i look forward to listening to more dubs with him in it.
Also Amy's Voice actress, Cassandra Lee Morris, also did Taiga in Torodora which she was also fantastic in...
and normally in a dub theres that one voice out of place but in this... no... i loved everyone... so good.
So yeah if you get the dvd or bluray give the english dub a chance i think you'll enjoy it.
Oh... and the Bluray/dvd release has two OVA episodes... one thats just cute and silly and one that shows another side of the story... the second one is worth the price of the series alone... so good.
It also has petite gargantia which i haven't watched yet but looks super cute.
Now putting that all aside i wanan talk about something i notices long after the show finished.
Most people i know didn't like it cause they felt the concept is so gradious and then it does nothin with it.
and to those people i ask... did you stop halfway through?
no seriously...
there is one episode smack dab in the middle where fanservice is heavily used. I tend to blast fanservice but this time... no.
Lets be real for a second here, Ledo has known nothing but war, he has never had an instant where he could think of another person as a romantic partner... for lack of a better term he has never experienced "Protoculture"
Amy's dance, while extremely fanservicy, is showing Ledo a new world and making him feel things he had never even imagined. I forgive the fanservice cause it actually has a larger point.
is it over the top? yes but is it nessicary? i think so.
and the show just gets so much better after that... which is why i think those who think the show squanders it's potential probably didn't stick with it.
that or maybe we just weren't watching the same show (mindset wise)
Oh oh oh, one more thing before i go try and get my voice back (i'm actually quite sick right now... but luckily typing doesn't involve any talking) I wanted tot talk about something that i have kind hinted at.
when i originally saw this show i didn't know if i liked it cause it reminded me of macross... it could be a telling of the Zentradi, pre-giantism, coming back to earth and dealing with culture shock, aka protoculture.
That is still the case and i do still make the connection..... HOWEVER the show completely 100% stands on it's own as a really fantastic story. i liked it cause it was good... not cause it reminded me of macross (which is one of the only other mech shows, pre captian earth, that i really really liked.)
but yeah... i really really love this show, i am so thankful to Viz for bringing it over and doing such a fantastic dub.
if you are still unsure Crunchyroll still has the Sub up on their site and it's really worth it... it's only 13 episodes but it's just to good.
Monday, 6 October 2014
Hal
Io Sakisaka strikes again~
I'll be honest... this film wasn't doing it for me... i had some issues with the way certain characters acted and while the overall concept was cute I could only see that situation being incredibly painful....
Then i finished the film... and yeah i quite liked it... it took a while to hook me but it did.
Can seeing a love one you lost in a tragic event help you heal? it's the question this 60 min long movie proposes. Kurumi has become reclusive since a plane crash killed her boyfriend Hal... it didn't help that the two fought just before it happened. Doctors think giving her a robot helper who looks like Hal will help her recover but it's not as easy as they had hoped.
it's a very sweet movie but again i think showing someone a robot version of their lost love one is just... cruel. this is my personal opinion though.
the movie is also a bit slow paced, i liked it still but it's not an action packed film by any stretch of the imagination.
The good:
Animation - thats the one nice thing about anime movies... so much care and attention is put into every little detail.. especially for the bluray version.
Last 20-10 minutes
The plot, yeah it takes a while to get good but it really gets good.
The not so good:
theres a character who comes around that could have used a bit more explaining... especially for his actions near the end... it just feels like a bit of a plot point that was going somewhere and then decided it didn't want to.
The confusing:
the film feels very quiet... not a whole lot of music which is a bit surprising.
but yeah it's a good movie it just took a while to get going... not that there is anything wrong with that... and i get my bias is what puts me on edge with this specific subject matter. but yeah very sweet movie... even if it's so short
I'll be honest... this film wasn't doing it for me... i had some issues with the way certain characters acted and while the overall concept was cute I could only see that situation being incredibly painful....
Then i finished the film... and yeah i quite liked it... it took a while to hook me but it did.
Can seeing a love one you lost in a tragic event help you heal? it's the question this 60 min long movie proposes. Kurumi has become reclusive since a plane crash killed her boyfriend Hal... it didn't help that the two fought just before it happened. Doctors think giving her a robot helper who looks like Hal will help her recover but it's not as easy as they had hoped.
it's a very sweet movie but again i think showing someone a robot version of their lost love one is just... cruel. this is my personal opinion though.
the movie is also a bit slow paced, i liked it still but it's not an action packed film by any stretch of the imagination.
The good:
Animation - thats the one nice thing about anime movies... so much care and attention is put into every little detail.. especially for the bluray version.
Last 20-10 minutes
The plot, yeah it takes a while to get good but it really gets good.
The not so good:
theres a character who comes around that could have used a bit more explaining... especially for his actions near the end... it just feels like a bit of a plot point that was going somewhere and then decided it didn't want to.
The confusing:
the film feels very quiet... not a whole lot of music which is a bit surprising.
but yeah it's a good movie it just took a while to get going... not that there is anything wrong with that... and i get my bias is what puts me on edge with this specific subject matter. but yeah very sweet movie... even if it's so short
Saturday, 4 October 2014
Tales of Graces F
Just gunna say right off the bat... easily one of the most adorable endings to a tales of game.
Hell one of the most adorable endings of any JRPG i can think of.
Anyways, i'm only beaten the main game, i plan to try out some of the extras tomorrow but it's late for me when i'm writing this.
In my Xillia ramble i went on a huge tangent of why i think Xillia/symphonia/phantasia could all potentially be the same world.... i'm not going to do that here... but i am going to bring up Phantasia a lot... and i think i may spoil some things so just incase you don't wanna be spoiled for a game thats nearly 20 years old... the long and short of this ramble is I really enjoyed this game... some of the plot points are silly and sometimes the character are incredibly stupid but i still really really liked it.
how much did i like it?
if i had to rank it... it would easily be fighting for second place with Abyss and Vesperia.... Phantasia will always be number one...
ALWAYS.
But yeah way better then Symphonia and even better then Xillia in my opinion.
Anyways... quick synopsis, point form bit and finally a really long ramble no one will care about.
lets begin.
Responsibility is enough to frighten anyone. For a young Asbel Lhant it's just too much, after an incident with his friend Cheria, his brother Hubert, the prince of the land Richard, and a mysterious girl names Sophie he finds it all too much and runs off to become a knight worthy of protecting those he cares for.
upon returning home he learns that a lot can change in 7 years and some harsh realities need to be dealt with. Confusion runs rampant as he and his companions try to find their place and purpose in this world and they end up on a journey that will truly tend the bonds of friendship.
And i think thats about a vague as even i can manage.... well thats not true... i could have said "stuff happens and they go fight things" and that would be just as accurate.
The most jarring thing [and now that i'm used to it the thing i like the most] is the combat system... it is way different from any other Tales of game. I almost never block or evade in any game... this time i was doing it constantly while i waited for my meter that determines how much i get to attack filled up. at first i felt like it bogged down the system but it actually adds a complexity to a game that always felt like it was a bit of a button masher.
I still think it's incredibly stupid that Asbel will sheath his sword in the middle of combat but whatever... minor gripe.
The music is okay, nothing super special like Karma from Abyss but nothing that made me turn down the volume.
Acting is really good and the character skits are the best they have ever been... the half body images add so much more imotion then the squares in every other game.
The characters are so loveable, i grew attached to all of them extremely quick... seeing a few of them as children did help... just so cute.
However it can't all be good...
character are really stupid... like... just missing some obvious 'evil guy here' clues.
"gee i don't remember darkness spewing from him.... i'm sure it's nothing..."
"oh he can fly as he laughs like a madman? it's no biggie"
"oh he's doing something that may destroy the world... well i'm sure he has a reason"
"Hey female character, you sure seem to love that other character"
"hey i heard my name and the word love in a sentance, what are you guys talking about?"
"NOTHING" runs away like a Tsundere.
"hey i'm totally gunna say evil things right to your face but in a monotone voice so you trust me"
"oh no... curse you sudden and inevitable and totally not predictable betrayal!"
just to name a few.
Still, despite the stupidity i really liked it and i look forward to playing the mode that you get upon beating the game.
I will say this... and it's a bit of a spoiler...
The packaging has some characters with appearances that differ from the game... so when one character had a different outfit and another character had a different feature i was confused and waiting for that to be explained.... and it is.... but WAY further then i expected for something that is on the cover.
I know now that because this was a remake-ish thing for the Wii version the F actually stands for something and the artwork is reflective of that... btu stilll was very confused.
Anyways... recap!
The good:
Character, story (despite the stupid moments), skits, combat and pacing.... pacing felt so much better then Xillia...
The not so good:
They are so stupid... if they just used their brains for two seconds this all could have been resolved early on.
Sometimes characters can have odd expressions that don't look completely right but it's such a minor grip.
The bad:
Hearing BoA again was strange... i haven't heard anything from them since early aughts and yeah... the sound didn't change much... and the engrish lyrics do not help at all. if i had to pick which games had the worst intro songs this and phantasia would be fighting for number one (yes i love phantasia but that intro song [snes version] doesn't fit at all... the anime/ps1 version is a lot better though)
Okay.... can i ramble now? i'm gunna ramble.
So first, why no attempt to connect it to phantasia?
Easy... no connections... yes their are two worlds and a tree but that is really it. the summons are different, they don't use any type of stone/pendant thing to help them fight and there is no mention of things like the rings with different stones (opal, ruby, emerald, ect.) or a town that happens to be a lot like japan (though i think Xillia lacks that too)
still i like connecting games but not this time.
That all being said... Graces F is easily the closest story wise that it's been to phantasia in a long time.
SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON.
In phantasia you play Cless (or Cress, whatever... same thing) who has his homtown destroyed as well as being sent out of his time all thanks to this one jerk names Dhaos...
only thats not what the story is about at all... Dhaos come from another planet which is dying because Yggdrasil isn't able to produce enough mana to sustain both worlds.... Dhaos comes to help the trea only to find out humans are doing stupid shit like using the mana for super powerful weapons... in his attempt to stop them he is sealed away.
When he is released he wants to make the people pay for having possibly destroyed his world but also their own.
Cless however is mad and even when Dhaos helps him and his companions put more mana into the tree he still can only see his revenge for those who were killed back in his own timeline.
The end of the game made me cry as you realize Dhaos is not the villain... you are, he was only ever trying to stop people from killing the world but his methods were wrong and now with this knowledge you have to try and make it right. even though it took a lot of death and destruction to make it to that point
In this game it's similar... again.... spoilers... last chance i mean it.
The antagonist isn't really evil... what they are doing is harmful yes but instead of going in guns blazing like Cless... Asbel does something only he can do and gets the best possible result for the situation... he isn't blinded by his own rage or hurt he just wants to do what he can to protect those he cares for... and destroying an innocent isn't part of that plan. It's a return to form for the series as it shows us not everything is black and white... and it shouldn't be.
So yeah, i really enjoyed this... it was fun with great characters and a great ending... again i'll probably play a little more tomorrow since it's too late for games right now... still if you have been curious about graces but unsure i say go for it...
I do have Xillia 2 to play but Smash should be arriving on monday so it may be a little while before i get to it.
Hell one of the most adorable endings of any JRPG i can think of.
Anyways, i'm only beaten the main game, i plan to try out some of the extras tomorrow but it's late for me when i'm writing this.
In my Xillia ramble i went on a huge tangent of why i think Xillia/symphonia/phantasia could all potentially be the same world.... i'm not going to do that here... but i am going to bring up Phantasia a lot... and i think i may spoil some things so just incase you don't wanna be spoiled for a game thats nearly 20 years old... the long and short of this ramble is I really enjoyed this game... some of the plot points are silly and sometimes the character are incredibly stupid but i still really really liked it.
how much did i like it?
if i had to rank it... it would easily be fighting for second place with Abyss and Vesperia.... Phantasia will always be number one...
ALWAYS.
But yeah way better then Symphonia and even better then Xillia in my opinion.
Anyways... quick synopsis, point form bit and finally a really long ramble no one will care about.
lets begin.
Responsibility is enough to frighten anyone. For a young Asbel Lhant it's just too much, after an incident with his friend Cheria, his brother Hubert, the prince of the land Richard, and a mysterious girl names Sophie he finds it all too much and runs off to become a knight worthy of protecting those he cares for.
upon returning home he learns that a lot can change in 7 years and some harsh realities need to be dealt with. Confusion runs rampant as he and his companions try to find their place and purpose in this world and they end up on a journey that will truly tend the bonds of friendship.
And i think thats about a vague as even i can manage.... well thats not true... i could have said "stuff happens and they go fight things" and that would be just as accurate.
The most jarring thing [and now that i'm used to it the thing i like the most] is the combat system... it is way different from any other Tales of game. I almost never block or evade in any game... this time i was doing it constantly while i waited for my meter that determines how much i get to attack filled up. at first i felt like it bogged down the system but it actually adds a complexity to a game that always felt like it was a bit of a button masher.
I still think it's incredibly stupid that Asbel will sheath his sword in the middle of combat but whatever... minor gripe.
The music is okay, nothing super special like Karma from Abyss but nothing that made me turn down the volume.
Acting is really good and the character skits are the best they have ever been... the half body images add so much more imotion then the squares in every other game.
The characters are so loveable, i grew attached to all of them extremely quick... seeing a few of them as children did help... just so cute.
However it can't all be good...
character are really stupid... like... just missing some obvious 'evil guy here' clues.
"gee i don't remember darkness spewing from him.... i'm sure it's nothing..."
"oh he can fly as he laughs like a madman? it's no biggie"
"oh he's doing something that may destroy the world... well i'm sure he has a reason"
"Hey female character, you sure seem to love that other character"
"hey i heard my name and the word love in a sentance, what are you guys talking about?"
"NOTHING" runs away like a Tsundere.
"hey i'm totally gunna say evil things right to your face but in a monotone voice so you trust me"
"oh no... curse you sudden and inevitable and totally not predictable betrayal!"
just to name a few.
Still, despite the stupidity i really liked it and i look forward to playing the mode that you get upon beating the game.
I will say this... and it's a bit of a spoiler...
The packaging has some characters with appearances that differ from the game... so when one character had a different outfit and another character had a different feature i was confused and waiting for that to be explained.... and it is.... but WAY further then i expected for something that is on the cover.
I know now that because this was a remake-ish thing for the Wii version the F actually stands for something and the artwork is reflective of that... btu stilll was very confused.
Anyways... recap!
The good:
Character, story (despite the stupid moments), skits, combat and pacing.... pacing felt so much better then Xillia...
The not so good:
They are so stupid... if they just used their brains for two seconds this all could have been resolved early on.
Sometimes characters can have odd expressions that don't look completely right but it's such a minor grip.
The bad:
Hearing BoA again was strange... i haven't heard anything from them since early aughts and yeah... the sound didn't change much... and the engrish lyrics do not help at all. if i had to pick which games had the worst intro songs this and phantasia would be fighting for number one (yes i love phantasia but that intro song [snes version] doesn't fit at all... the anime/ps1 version is a lot better though)
Okay.... can i ramble now? i'm gunna ramble.
So first, why no attempt to connect it to phantasia?
Easy... no connections... yes their are two worlds and a tree but that is really it. the summons are different, they don't use any type of stone/pendant thing to help them fight and there is no mention of things like the rings with different stones (opal, ruby, emerald, ect.) or a town that happens to be a lot like japan (though i think Xillia lacks that too)
still i like connecting games but not this time.
That all being said... Graces F is easily the closest story wise that it's been to phantasia in a long time.
SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON.
In phantasia you play Cless (or Cress, whatever... same thing) who has his homtown destroyed as well as being sent out of his time all thanks to this one jerk names Dhaos...
only thats not what the story is about at all... Dhaos come from another planet which is dying because Yggdrasil isn't able to produce enough mana to sustain both worlds.... Dhaos comes to help the trea only to find out humans are doing stupid shit like using the mana for super powerful weapons... in his attempt to stop them he is sealed away.
When he is released he wants to make the people pay for having possibly destroyed his world but also their own.
Cless however is mad and even when Dhaos helps him and his companions put more mana into the tree he still can only see his revenge for those who were killed back in his own timeline.
The end of the game made me cry as you realize Dhaos is not the villain... you are, he was only ever trying to stop people from killing the world but his methods were wrong and now with this knowledge you have to try and make it right. even though it took a lot of death and destruction to make it to that point
In this game it's similar... again.... spoilers... last chance i mean it.
The antagonist isn't really evil... what they are doing is harmful yes but instead of going in guns blazing like Cless... Asbel does something only he can do and gets the best possible result for the situation... he isn't blinded by his own rage or hurt he just wants to do what he can to protect those he cares for... and destroying an innocent isn't part of that plan. It's a return to form for the series as it shows us not everything is black and white... and it shouldn't be.
So yeah, i really enjoyed this... it was fun with great characters and a great ending... again i'll probably play a little more tomorrow since it's too late for games right now... still if you have been curious about graces but unsure i say go for it...
I do have Xillia 2 to play but Smash should be arriving on monday so it may be a little while before i get to it.
Barakamon
This is the only show Funimation simulcasted that i watched (hence it being a week late as i wont pay a sub for only one title)
I never talked about this in my first impressions cause i didn't know about it till 8 or so weeks into the season. Essentially it's a Slice of life show about a young Caligrapher who got himself in a bit of trouble when he punched one of his critics.
His father tells him to go to a somewhat remote island to cool his head and maybe think about what kind of caligraphy he is making and if the critics criticism had any validity.
At first he hates the island living but after he meets Naru, a village brat who always manages to sneak into his house to try and get him to play, he starts to open up and have a good time with his new surroundings and eventually is even able to find new inspiration.
I really enjoyed this show, it dealt with a lot of subject matter that i personally (and any artist in any medium) struggle with. It's hard to be confident in your work... or to do pages and pages of sketches and have nothing resonate... it can hurt to hear critique even though 99.9% of the time there is a valid point in there. It sucks not being the best.... and theres an extra sting if the person happens to be younger. Also not knowing if what you are doing is "right"
However you follow Seishu on his journey of realizing that there is no right or wrong in art.... there is no competition... you are the only one who can make what you make... those pages and pages of drafts or just messing around may eventually lead to something you are really happy with... watching that journey just filled me full of feels. (for lack of a better term)
It's shows like this that epitomize my favourite aspects of Slice of life... it has a point and an arc... does everything always work out whit all loose ends tied up? no... cause thats not how life works.... but you get to see a snippet of this world and it's just a joy... one of the best "Feel good" shows i've seen in a while.
From what i understand Funi got the streaming rights for USA and Canada but if you are in other countries I think it also aired on crunchyroll (i can't verify since it wont even show me titles that it's not showing to canada)
The good:
Animation is so lovely, especially the intro and ending song which blend the calligraphy art style into the animation.
Characters are well designed and loveable.
Music is great, especially the intro and ending... just so enjoyable to listen to and perfectly capture the mood of the show.
The not so good:
Short, i would love another season of this but it did end at the perfect time.
Now i just have to wait for Funimation to put out the physical release (as well as noragami.... waiting is so hard) but yeah this past season was full of some wonderful titles and while this season so fa isn't winning me over... i've only watched 3 shows.
but yeah a lovely show, if you like slice of life that'll put a smile on your face give this one a shot.
Now to go beat Tales of Graces f! even if i beat it today i'll set the thing to post for tomorrow....
then monday my birthday presents to me arrive (i ordered them so they would arrive around the 14th [birthday funtimes]... both ended up being scheduled to arrive on the 6th.... well i tried... i just have to hope i am the one to receive the package or the rest of my family will hide the box from me till the 14th.... they are mean like that... also don't be surprised if i do a random blog about Natsume Yuujinchou 17... i have a feeling i may need to rant a little)
But yeah go watch this show... it is good.
I never talked about this in my first impressions cause i didn't know about it till 8 or so weeks into the season. Essentially it's a Slice of life show about a young Caligrapher who got himself in a bit of trouble when he punched one of his critics.
His father tells him to go to a somewhat remote island to cool his head and maybe think about what kind of caligraphy he is making and if the critics criticism had any validity.
At first he hates the island living but after he meets Naru, a village brat who always manages to sneak into his house to try and get him to play, he starts to open up and have a good time with his new surroundings and eventually is even able to find new inspiration.
I really enjoyed this show, it dealt with a lot of subject matter that i personally (and any artist in any medium) struggle with. It's hard to be confident in your work... or to do pages and pages of sketches and have nothing resonate... it can hurt to hear critique even though 99.9% of the time there is a valid point in there. It sucks not being the best.... and theres an extra sting if the person happens to be younger. Also not knowing if what you are doing is "right"
However you follow Seishu on his journey of realizing that there is no right or wrong in art.... there is no competition... you are the only one who can make what you make... those pages and pages of drafts or just messing around may eventually lead to something you are really happy with... watching that journey just filled me full of feels. (for lack of a better term)
It's shows like this that epitomize my favourite aspects of Slice of life... it has a point and an arc... does everything always work out whit all loose ends tied up? no... cause thats not how life works.... but you get to see a snippet of this world and it's just a joy... one of the best "Feel good" shows i've seen in a while.
From what i understand Funi got the streaming rights for USA and Canada but if you are in other countries I think it also aired on crunchyroll (i can't verify since it wont even show me titles that it's not showing to canada)
The good:
Animation is so lovely, especially the intro and ending song which blend the calligraphy art style into the animation.
Characters are well designed and loveable.
Music is great, especially the intro and ending... just so enjoyable to listen to and perfectly capture the mood of the show.
The not so good:
Short, i would love another season of this but it did end at the perfect time.
Now i just have to wait for Funimation to put out the physical release (as well as noragami.... waiting is so hard) but yeah this past season was full of some wonderful titles and while this season so fa isn't winning me over... i've only watched 3 shows.
but yeah a lovely show, if you like slice of life that'll put a smile on your face give this one a shot.
Now to go beat Tales of Graces f! even if i beat it today i'll set the thing to post for tomorrow....
then monday my birthday presents to me arrive (i ordered them so they would arrive around the 14th [birthday funtimes]... both ended up being scheduled to arrive on the 6th.... well i tried... i just have to hope i am the one to receive the package or the rest of my family will hide the box from me till the 14th.... they are mean like that... also don't be surprised if i do a random blog about Natsume Yuujinchou 17... i have a feeling i may need to rant a little)
But yeah go watch this show... it is good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)