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Post by ausdoerrt on Jan 11, 2010 5:50:37 GMT -5
That blog isn't loading for me I usually make pretty quick decisions about anime, which is maybe wrong in a way, but given that there's lots of alternatives to choose from I don't feel like wasting my time on any certain show I don't like much. In this specific case, I can't really look past the premise for the show. I'll probably be watching Vampire Bund instead, given my recent obsession with Vampire: Masquerade. Hanamaru Kindergarten is already in like "n"th season by now, and even if it is a SHAFT I can't really be bothered to pick it up. IMO, the picks of the season are Legend of Koizumi, Cat Shit One whenever that one starts and Nodame for those who've been following it from the start. Possibly decent shows are Vampire Bund if there's no more awkward lizards and Sora no Woto if the story contradicts the looks. Also, anyone who hasn't seen the recent remake of Nisenichi Ya Monogatari (aka TO OVA) should see that. More off-topic: Indeed, generic Tolkien-imitating fantasy, especially for video game, has grown quite old by now. I've never been a huge fan of Tolkien in the first place, usually preferring fantasy that crosses over into sci-fi and back, like some Zelazny works. So I can feel your pain. But, even if rare, there are alternatives. Back to the titles I mentioned - Arcanum is a well fleshed-out steampunk, The Witcher's Andrzej Sapkowski writing isn't very Tolkienistic, etc etc. I don't really have anything against a school settting per se, but more against how generic it has been over the years. If you see one today, you're bound to get the exact same story framework as in the next one except with different pictures. I mean, my beloved Eien no Aseria 2 suffers from the trope but still manages to build an interesting and believable world with likeable characters. Evangelion has a school settings, and that's not among its many shortcomings. Those are exceptions to the rule though. And generally, I prefer a grittier atmosphere and a more inventive setting. A middle/high school just seems like a convenient cliche an anime writer can fall back on if s/he lacks imagination. "A regular schoolboy suddenly discovers" has become sort of a "once upon a time" of anime. Granted, some shows reverse that and use it to their advantage, but they're too few to matter. tl;dr Seinen >>>>>>>>>> Shounen
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Post by ausdoerrt on Jan 11, 2010 6:48:27 GMT -5
Coming-of-age is great. Some sort of physical and psychological transformation is characteristic to all anime, coming-of-age being a common one. While I can take the good ones that actually have something to say, I cannot take something like this. It's a coming-of-age story, alright I can see that about child characters. But I'd say it only matters for character-driven animes. Story-driven animes don't require the viewer to blend in with a specific character as much.
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Post by ausdoerrt on Jan 11, 2010 7:15:11 GMT -5
A best playable character is a "tabula rasa" type deal It does lead to the often silly "amnesia" trope, but having someone to work with to shape in just who you want to be is best for games. Sadly, this isn't very well-realized in most RPG games. Still, choice and consequence is key. For linear fiction, I'd say the characters don't matter as much as their relationship to the story and their contribution to the overall author's message.
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Post by Varion on Jan 11, 2010 9:18:10 GMT -5
I forget, have you ever watched the Clannad anime? Because I've actually spoken to a few people who've both played the VN and watched both seasons of the anime, and invariably, they actually claim the anime is BETTER, since it doesn't really leave anything out of much importance, and is overall more evenly paced. It's the first (and ONLY) time I've ever heard someone claim an anime adaption of a visual novel is better than the visual novel it's based on. And given how much I *loved* the show (especially After Story!), I can believe it... it really is an amazing, amazing show. Since I know you read VNs and have some degree of tolerance for moe (which is actually at a minimum in Clannad anyway, though there ARE some romance tropes to be found here and there), I highly recommend checking it out, as I think you'd probably really like it. -Tom I have, yeah, and I did really like it. Then again I generally like Key's stuff (the Air bluray box set is sitting on my shelf, as are all the Kanon DVDs... which I'm cursing now they've released a bluray boxset of that now too.) I still haven't seen After Story though, I kept delaying it - first it was 4:3 with weeks until the 16:9, then I got out of the loop so decided to wait for the DVDs to be finished... now I figure I might as well just wait until the blurays come out. I have a remarkably high tolerance for moe so long as the show has some other strongly redeeming feature, although that tolerance does seem to be gradually waning. As does my tolerance for school stories. Uuugh.
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Post by Disgaeamad on Jan 11, 2010 13:59:05 GMT -5
I forget, have you ever watched the Clannad anime? Because I've actually spoken to a few people who've both played the VN and watched both seasons of the anime, and invariably, they actually claim the anime is BETTER, since it doesn't really leave anything out of much importance, and is overall more evenly paced. It's the first (and ONLY) time I've ever heard someone claim an anime adaption of a visual novel is better than the visual novel it's based on. And given how much I *loved* the show (especially After Story!), I can believe it... it really is an amazing, amazing show. Since I know you read VNs and have some degree of tolerance for moe (which is actually at a minimum in Clannad anyway, though there ARE some romance tropes to be found here and there), I highly recommend checking it out, as I think you'd probably really like it. -Tom I have, yeah, and I did really like it. Then again I generally like Key's stuff (the Air bluray box set is sitting on my shelf, as are all the Kanon DVDs... which I'm cursing now they've released a bluray boxset of that now too.) I still haven't seen After Story though, I kept delaying it - first it was 4:3 with weeks until the 16:9, then I got out of the loop so decided to wait for the DVDs to be finished... now I figure I might as well just wait until the blurays come out. I have a remarkably high tolerance for moe so long as the show has some other strongly redeeming feature, although that tolerance does seem to be gradually waning. As does my tolerance for school stories. Uuugh. I really, really liked After Story overall. There's some stuff about it that annoyed me, but I found the majority of it to be great, even better than the first season. Hell, it even marks the first time I've actually teared up while watching anime, which I never expected to happen.
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Post by schlagwerk on Jan 11, 2010 17:18:37 GMT -5
I couldn't disagree with you more, on both counts. I *hate* characters that you have to shape... if I have to shape a character, I might as well be making my OWN game. I want the character to have a name, a past, a backstory, a unique look, and a personality from the get-go. I play RPGs so I can experience someone else's story, not make my own. ... Also, to get back on topic... while I've teared up at quite a few anime in my time, Clannad After Story is the only one that had me BAWLING. I literally had to pause the episode during certain points so I could WIPE AWAY MY TEARS, lest I'd be unable to continue watching. I think part of good writing is to make characters that have a discernible personality, but yet still leave enough open about them that viewers can project themselves to relate. I feel these days anime is too overwritten, with everything overly explained and in your face. And if not overwritten, then the characters are made unnatural. Prime example is how often they rely on awkward speech patterns ("uguu~", "gao", "niipa!", "gyabo".. those should all be easy to spot ;P) in order to make characters more "endearing" or, in a term I keep mentioning, "moe". If you'd catch anyone talking like that IRL they would be labeled as having a speech impediment. I hate on FFVII because of the fans and how, as The Spoony One says, it changed everything in RPGs, but I remember having discussions on various characters and their motives back when the game was fresh. It was interesting to find that my idea of Sephiroth varied wildly from someone else's which was still different from the generic sociopath villian that Square would portray in later FFVII spinoffs ... Now I haven't gotten moved to tears by any fictional work since I saw Les Miserables on Broadway for my 18th birthday, but you know what scene in anime always chokes me up? The ending of the first El Hazard OVA
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Post by Disgaeamad on Jan 11, 2010 18:38:47 GMT -5
God, I love how that sounds like something you'd hear in a confessional. Don't worry, though, you're not alone!
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Post by schlagwerk on Jan 11, 2010 19:47:56 GMT -5
It never pays to be a hardcore fan of anything... I'm a gamer and then casual gaming hits. I'm an anime fan and then moe hits.
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Post by Ascended Mermaid on Jan 11, 2010 22:21:53 GMT -5
FullMetal Alchemist (the 1st adaptation) comes to mind, that series have scenes that easily can make you cry a little or at least make you feel sad. That poor little girl... and her mom... and their dogs... and... and... Edward's mom... and... Ed and Al... and... that war... and... that other girl... and... FMA. IS. Sad. I cried when characters died. I was genuinely scared for characters as their lives were threatened. It's a moving, sad, scary, philosophical, fictional, life-lesson. Thank god for the silliness, though. I couldn't believe how moving it was. I... haven't seen FMA:B though, at all.
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Post by ausdoerrt on Jan 12, 2010 1:55:58 GMT -5
I couldn't disagree with you more, on both counts. I *hate* characters that you have to shape... if I have to shape a character, I might as well be making my OWN game. I want the character to have a name, a past, a backstory, a unique look, and a personality from the get-go. I play RPGs so I can experience someone else's story, not make my own. Also, to get back on topic... while I've teared up at quite a few anime in my time, Clannad After Story is the only one that had me BAWLING. I literally had to pause the episode during certain points so I could WIPE AWAY MY TEARS, lest I'd be unable to continue watching. -Tom You basically just admitted to hating RPGs in general. What you like are either adventure games and/or interactive movies I personally don't consider JRPGs a part of the RPG genre as do many people, because they do not share the traits that seem to define the genre. Again, characterization IS important, but I never feel like I HAVE to identify with a certain character to like the show. Antihero leads could be one example; or shows like GiTS where the setting and the politics thereof is more important than a character's internal suffering or whatnot. I usually don't cry at anime, because I don't buy into the BAWWW moments and they usually feel forced. Especially for Key shows like Kanon, I tend to on the contrary laugh at the silliness of it all. It also doesn't help that you see a lot of it coming. The only anime that ever teared me up is this, but it's unique: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBD5D040D44Sorry to hear that man, I hope you get better. Did you try the GAR medicine? Kanon was the most unnatural and forced of the bunch, imo. I never bothered to finish Clannad. L*S would be OK if it wasn't a poor ripoff from Azumanga while also an extended commercial for Haruhi merch, and I don't like ads in my anime. IMSCO, moe is fine as long as it isn't the center of the show. It's a bit more action-oriented. I'm reading the manga and it's fun, but not quite as angsty as FMA1
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Post by ausdoerrt on Jan 12, 2010 4:55:21 GMT -5
wyrd, IIRC we already had a looong discussion about 5 cm/sec and why I find it an inferior Shinkai work in the 5 cm/sec thread L*S the anime can't hope to reach the levels of Azumanga. Too many of the jokes are misses, and again, the ads for Haruhi don't help. Or the fact that I hate KyoAni. I love School Rumble, I really do, but it's in a slightly different genre from Azumanga. SR is a typical romance-comedy show with the typical love polygon deal and occasional serious moments, more similar to the Ichigo 100 manga. Azumanga is pure slice-of-life comedy, more similar to Minami Ke. Moe-wise, Azumanga has plenty of moe (general definition), especially in Chiyo-chan. In L*S the moe is much more forced. I wrote about Legend of Koizumi a little while back, I think. The first episode was grand. Oh, about anti-heroes, I was thinking more like Lermontov's "Hero of Our Time" type of deal, or Gogol's "Dead Souls". You know, a main character that is a complete opposite of a hero, and one that the readers would find objectionable, but in that s/he performs the role of exposing the wrongs of the society as intended by the author. I like to see either that, or at least morally ambiguous villains, like the guy from GiTS 2nd GIG. @yggdrasil: The anime-adaptation of School Rumble never ended. They promised a 3rd season but never delivered, and it sort of just ended. Have not read the manga, but I hear the ending was quite inconclusive and that's why the people complain. Standard argument. Standard response: in Need for Speed you play the role of a car driver who is doing his best to win, so it's a role-playing game, right? Also, watch the Onion vid here: www.closerangegame.com/I prefer to play the game rather than have the game play me. I still enjoy linear ventures, but they're not RPG. I'd like to remind you that cRPG first came into existence as an attempt to transfer PnP onto a computer. It's still an approximation, but roleplaying has been a key element since the birth of the genre. The Japanese, on the other hand, thought that "RPG" meant "a game with stats", since they have not imported PnP at that time yet. That's how JRPG was born. JRPG ended up being something similar to the western "adventure" games. Don't get me wrong, I don't HATE JRPG, but it's just a completely different genre. I don't have a problem with it. The FF series and those imitating it, though, are faulty of being a bit too cheesy for story-driven games, and too repetitive in terms of gameplay. I do like to see battle system that break out of that system, however.
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Post by Ascended Mermaid on Jan 12, 2010 5:07:57 GMT -5
Currently watching FMA:B afterall.
It's pretty good. At first I kinda thought "hmmm, this could fill in the gaps between parts of the original series" but then I saw a comment that said that the original series has a storyline all its own, and from what I can tell, the two stories (the original anime and the manga/new anime's) can't exactly co-exist for some reason. XD
Either way, this is looking pretty cool!
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Post by ausdoerrt on Jan 12, 2010 5:10:14 GMT -5
The two follow pretty much the same storyline until about chapter 40 of the manga, with minor differences. So, you'll be basically watching a reinterpretation until episode 13-14 or so. From then on, the two stories branch out completely.
Also, ep1 of FMA:B suck and you probably should just skip it.
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Post by ausdoerrt on Jan 12, 2010 5:19:53 GMT -5
Well, tastes differ. It's just that there's no such thing as roleplaying in JRPGs. Early Ultima games are fun, but they're pretty much the precursors of the linear "RPG" games and JRPGs. I'm not exactly too knowledgeable about the older games, but I'm definitely a fan of the titles from the "golder age of RPG" - Interplay/Black Isle games, early Bioware, Troika. Most JRPGs are too repetitive and boring for me, I only like them if they have a decent enough story (like FFIX), or an original and detailed enough system of combat that doesn't get old after an hour of gameplay (like FFTA or Eien no Aselia). Feel free to go back and read the 5 cm/sec discussion
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Post by ausdoerrt on Jan 12, 2010 6:48:55 GMT -5
Well, bad example maybe. Actually if I think of it, it's hard to come up with a JRPG where a story is on par with the good WRPG. Valkyria Profile for PSX maybe. In FFVII, the characters killed it for me, and the gameplay bored me to teas so I never finished it. So maybe it was the game less than it was the story. Also, where I'm from, FF series never got popular, so I do not share the common sentiment most US fans share. I also grew up as a PC gamer - Counter-Strike, Warcraft, Disciples, Diablo 2 and Temple of Elemental Evil were my favourite games growing up, and I only view the popular old console games "in retrospect" and not all of them have aged as well as one would wish they did.
Aanyhow, moving on, I won't bother with Clannad because I don't like BAAAW stories nor do I like harems or shows that are too visual-novely. There's only one VN I appreciate, and that one got a deadly adaptation that does not exist.
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Post by Yakra on Jan 12, 2010 7:45:43 GMT -5
Currently watching FMA:B afterall. It's pretty good. At first I kinda thought "hmmm, this could fill in the gaps between parts of the original series" but then I saw a comment that said that the original series has a storyline all its own, and from what I can tell, the two stories (the original anime and the manga/new anime's) can't exactly co-exist for some reason. XD Either way, this is looking pretty cool! Ye know... this was precisely the reason why I could not bring myself to watch the original FMA anime. The storyline went onto an entirely different path! Different events! Different people as the homonculi/Sins! And just way, way too sad! Despite all the good stuffs I heard about it, I never could bring myself to touch it. (Also, I guess, I kind of hate it when something derives away from an original story's storyline? Even if the alternate storyline is good! )
That said, I still haven't gotten round to picking up this second version though! XD I guess, more than anything, I think I just lack the patience and time to sit down and watch something anymore..... Reading, ho! :'D
(I WILL watch it one day though!)
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Post by Yakra on Jan 12, 2010 8:29:06 GMT -5
If you just can't bring yourself to watch either the 1st or 2nd adaptation, just keep with the manga. Trust me. THAT I most certainly will! I pretty much love the serials, aaaaaand.... I've found each chapter to be pretty much very satisfyingly well written - a nice balance between 'what happens next?! D:' and 'yay! good chapter! Last questions got answered and one month's wait was well worth it!'. Now if only other serials would follow this too, rather than dragging one super punch (or hand holdings) over hundreds of chapters......... :''''D (And I kind of get what you mean about the first anime - I've pretty much spoiled myself to the story~ :'D)
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Bug
Chryolos
That's so CRASH
Posts: 568
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Post by Bug on Jan 15, 2010 10:36:57 GMT -5
Durarara, episode 2 just aired a few days ago so I cant really say much about it. but I like it so far.
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Post by tancients on Jan 15, 2010 10:50:59 GMT -5
空の境界 (The empty space between the borders) Kara no Kyoukai
It recently came out on DVD last month, I was talking to one of my friends yesterday who was watching it. It's not very actiony but the story is somewhat interesting.
And it has been nice to relax and keep my mind in one language for a time!
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Post by Red Hairdo on Jan 15, 2010 13:00:52 GMT -5
Oh, you mean the latest episodes, right? Because as far as I know the first few episodes already were released on DVD for some good time now. Anyway, great choice. And... wow, I never thought of the title that way. Your translation suddenly... made it have some sense in its context. Brilliant.
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