Watching any anime?

[Twilkitri]

Vision of Escaflowne-

Decent. Some interesting concepts but it's held back by not doing anywhere near enough with them, plus a number of small inconsistencies. Also pointed noses.

Did I manage to completely miss whatever was done with the orb Vahn gets ¾ of the way through or did the show forget it existed?


Gundam SEED Stargazer-

Erm. It doesn't give you any reason to care about any of the characters. I know it had somewhat limited time, but they desperately want you to care for them, so I consequently can't really recommend the show. The only good thing about it is Gateway To The Stars so just get that separately.

I didn't even realise what the ending was intending until I read about it; unsure what that says. Reading about it also says that they tore the intention down anyway so it's not that much of a loss on my end.

[Ultradude]

Vision of Escaflowne-

Decent. Some interesting concepts but it's held back by not doing anywhere near enough with them, plus a number of small inconsistencies. Also pointed noses.

Did I manage to completely miss whatever was done with the orb Vahn gets ¾ of the way through or did the show forget it existed?

I liked Allen's nose the best.

Though yeah, I think that show tended to just kind of forget things here and there. Kinda wish Kawamori had taken the helm instead of putting a newbie director on it, and it was originally planned to be longer before budget cuts, which explains some of the awkward pacing and stuff getting squished/rushed/forgotten.

[NotMiki]

yeah, if I'm not mistaken it was originally intended to be 39 eps.

[Ultradude]

yeah, if I'm not mistaken it was originally intended to be 39 eps.

You are correct sir.

[NotMiki]

It's such a shame.  Escaflowne's a good show, often very good, but if it'd had that extra space, it could've been one of the very best.

It's still one of my very favorites, but I have to acknowledge its flaws.

[Shale]

My complaints aren't so much the pacing as the barrage of really bad plot twists around the beginning of the third act (fate alteration, come on down), but I guess that's the risk you run with a show built on crazy fucking plot twists.

[Ultradude]

Despite all that, yeah, I agree that it's one of my favorites.

On top of a lot of other things, Yoko Kanno soundtrack, and I happen to really like Guymelefs >_>

[NotMiki]

Yeah, the plot twists are crazy, but they really work for the show because it takes itself so seriously (and is well-directed).  I particularly like the part about the shapeshifting assassin.  If I say to you, "make me care about a shapeshifting assassin that's in, like, 2 episodes and does pretty much nothing but try to kill the good guys," you'd probably think that was a tall order.

[Ultradude]

That was pretty excellent. Escaflowne did a good job with characters that got relatively little screentime. Dreiden, Millerna, Prince Chid, all done well for the time they got.

I still don't know how they made the big Dilandau plot twist not come off as totally hilarious.

[Shale]

Yeah, the plot twists are crazy, but they really work for the show because it takes itself so seriously (and is well-directed).  I particularly like the part about the shapeshifting assassin.  If I say to you, "make me care about a shapeshifting assassin that's in, like, 2 episodes and does pretty much nothing but try to kill the good guys," you'd probably think that was a tall order.

I should have mentioned that I do, on balance, really like the show.

[NotMiki]

Parasite Dolls.

Me: "Well, this is cool.  nice characters, nice take on the whole human-looking robots thing.  Strange that it's set in the Bubblegum Crisis universe and there hasn't been any mass dest--"

Me: "Never mind."

[Twilkitri]

Gundam Wing -

I used to watch this on Toonami aways back when that first started up, but I stopped for reasons I don't remember. But having watched through the series now I'm unsure whether that is actually accurate. I found myself remembering seeing bits and pieces all the way up to near the end. I hate it when that sort of thing happens.

Nice to see that several characters weren't as soulless as I was remembering. Show is better than I had previously rated it which I expected to be the case, although it's still not particularly good.


Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz -

Inferior to the series with some pointlessly ludicrous happenings (not that the series didn't have a number of its own). Most worthwhile parts are probably the backstory segments. The suit redesigns are hit and miss, and I am unsure how I feel about them being retconned into the show instead of being upgrades of the ones in the show as I had thought was the case.

[Ultradude]

So, watching Gundam SEED Destiny in condensed movie format - supposed to be far better this way, and I owe it to myself to watch it, etc. I knew I wasn't going to agree with Twilkitri's startlingly positive review; I still like it better than some people do, but I really can't find myself actually liking many of the characters, though at least Twilk did a good job avataring one of the better ones. Shinn, at least, is still okay, though I think most of the returning characters aren't as interesting - Kira in particular is downright wooden most of the time, and upside down stock footage doesn't impress (for all that the movies ease the complaints of it). I agree with a friend's analysis that Cagalli totally should've been A CHAR. The good? Stella made me laugh harder than I have in a few days at least, you'll know the scene I speak of if you've seen it.

Mobile suit designs are inoffensive; Impulse feels like a weaker Strike, Freedom is still fine, Savior is yet another Athrun MS I can't bring myself to like, and the Phantom Pain Gundams are gimmicky but solid. Recycling Zakus etc. so blatantly is face-palm inducing, though it did let Heine pay tribute to a real man. I figure I won't be really annoyed with it until Doms show up. I've seen a bit of Destiny Gundam though, and I really like what I've seen of it, so at least there's something to look forward to as the train derails (unless I've been lied to all this time >_<).

[Twilkitri]

I'm not sure that what I wrote can really be called a review as such >_> There are a bunch of things I could have complained about but none of them were particularly important, and I have a lot of trouble writing positively about things (normally because I can't determine exactly why I like something), so I didn't really want to rail about it and then go and give it a high mark.

[Ultradude]

Well it's said that critics have one of the easiest jobs in the world - pointing out flaws is waaay easier than pointing out what makes something good for most people. The fact that I can do that means I end up leaving overly positive reviews of things because everyone else who goes into detail points out the flaws. I will give Destiny credit, for example, for focusing on the characters on a personal level; Gundam in general has gotten a few well-received installments out of this like 08th MS Team and War in the Pocket (YMMV on enjoying them).

[Grefter]

The fact that I can do that means I end up leaving overly positive reviews of things because everyone else who goes into detail points out the flaws.

I don't know what kinds of reviews you read, but I would love to read these mythical actual critical reviews.  Cause you see most of the reviews I see point out some of the minor flaws, ignore the gaping epic fucking fail and give it 8/10 and call it a day.

Edit - I hate it because it sucks gay 0/10 is not critical either.  It is just retarded.

[Ultradude]

The fact that I can do that means I end up leaving overly positive reviews of things because everyone else who goes into detail points out the flaws.

I don't know what kinds of reviews you read, but I would love to read these mythical actual critical reviews.  Cause you see most of the reviews I see point out some of the minor flaws, ignore the gaping epic fucking fail and give it 8/10 and call it a day.

Edit - I hate it because it sucks gay 0/10 is not critical either.  It is just retarded.

Well okay the good reviews I read, and it's not like I read many; I can't remember the last GameFAQs review I read, or the last video game review I read at all.

Though my point was that the good reviews never go into detail and the critical ones always do, except that I can sometimes go into detail on positive things and like to do so when possible.

[Hunter Sopko]

That whole CPM farewell at AX made me finally watch some things.

Heroic Legend of Arislan- Great stuff. 80's fantasy-ish historical action. The animation in the first two parts looks a decade or two ahead of it's time at times. Shame that the rest of it isn't as high quality. The story is great throughout. Too bad it was just never finished (Nearly bankrupting two of the three different production comittees that had worked on it's various parts didn't help that).

Of course, Arislan got me on an 80's kick.

Five Star Stories- Fantastic all around. On the plus side, it's main character is named Sopp. The downside, he's the girliest looking bishounen ever. Honestly, there's something about 80's animation that will never be topped when it comes to producing bishes. Regardless, even though it's just a small microcosm of the story of the manga epic, it stands well on it's own and is a blast to watch. It oozes that good 80's style from every cell. The animation is gorgeous and fluid, the characters are fun, and the mecha is crazy.

For some cheesecake after these two five-course meals, I watched the last of the Original Dirty Pair movies I had lying around. Affair on Nolandia was... not good. Sad, but DP movies have a tendency to be hit or miss. They can't all be Flight 005 Conspiracy.

To wash the taste out of my mouth, I decided to jump way ahead and rewatch Rune Soldier. Still funny, still enjoyable, but not quite as good as the first time around. Also made me realize I had misinterpreted a few things on my first runthrough. Oh well. Good times anyway

[Ultradude]

GSD Movie 3 - Wait, was this whole thing all made by the same person? The pre-Berlin stuff up through the aftermath of Shinn v. Kira was really damn good! Better than original SEED, more enjoyable than parts of 00 season 1, with some damn cool fights.

Then, just as I'd been warned... the drop-off. Seriously, making GSD Kira and Athrun more prevalent and going the direction I know they're going with Shinn... ugh. Shinn should've managed to kill SOMEONE with a name, but the Shinn Stab is more effectively non-lethal than anything Kira does. Speaking of whom, Kira, Lacus, Athrun... bringing the original cast back into the spotlight when they've been made generally less appealing is not cool, and Shinn goes from one of the most interesting pilots in the franchise when he has Impulse... to buzzing around trying to stab everything he sees in Destiny. Furthermore, the gnawing sensation of Zombie La Flaga on the back of my mind simply won't go away.

Damn Berlin was cool! Shinn was awesome there, it actually managed the gray morality it purports really well, and the drama was actually pretty good. Still upside down stock Freedom, but can't do much about that, and the Shinn v. Kira fight is probably up there for simply being well-done as major Gundam battles go. Still, I'd heard that this was the highlight, and the overall quality has gone much the same way that I've heard from others. I'm slightly dreading the finale.

As for the mechs:

Destiny is cool. Maybe if Shinn was as much fun to watch fly it as he was in the otherwise mediocre Impulse I'd like it even more, but as it stands I just like the more UC vibe it has compared to the other CE Gundams; less backpack, more just having a bunch of weapons strapped all over the mech.

Strike Freedom isn't awful! I still don't like the gold detailing and something about it irks me otherwise. Oh, also the fact that it negates the one advantage that a couple blond dudes happened to have over Kira by giving him DRAGOON system, though at least it's got some limitations.

Infinite Justice hasn't actually gone out yet, but I'm sure it will be another underwhelming Athrun Gundam.

Legend is chibi-Providence, and it's in the hands of a chibi-Rau, which means that it's good but not as cool as the original.

Akatsuki is Cagalli's Gundam! Send the zombie back to his grave. Seriously she gets her ONE chance to finally live up to the potential she showed to be an actual tough and competent woman in Gundam in a fairly important role in years, and be like the only one to actually get a really fucking awesome mobile suit and what does she do? Jobs to the suddenly bland protagonist-turned-antagonist, then GIVES IT TO THE ZOMBIE. End rant.

Destroy was suitably Pyscho Gundam-esque at Berlin, then suddenly turned into a walking target at that Heaven's whatever battle. Er, I'll just go with 'Stella happened to only be good at piloting really fucking huge mobile suits, and also happened to excel at it compared to others'.

Random DOMs are random!

[Twilkitri]

Gurren Lagann disc 1 -

Well, it has a certain style to it, and there's definitely potential there, but it seems a bit immature so far for Eternal Godlike Top Marks. Plus I'm not sure I really care much for over-the-top hot-bloodedness. Plus Shizuru did that line better than Kamina does.

Are they sure they couldn't think of a worse recommendation than it being from the creators of Neon Genesis and FLCL?

Well, that's only five episodes so there's still plenty of time for it to improve. Which I will see when the next disc comes out. In a month and a half.



Mospeada - 1½ discs in

Mainly causing me to post here in case the show improves and I forget to note painfulness. The translation is not really the best quality I've ever seen. There is more horrific aiming skills on both sides than anything I can remember offhand. A couple episodes back Jim and Ray were standing in the middle of an empty road and made an obtuse remark, which was followed by a cut to a different viewpoint of the same scene where they were now randomly encircled by a bunch of people. The episode before that they cause the dissolution of a 20+ member bikie gang by driving across a thin bridge across a chasm that the gang leader wouldn't. They make numerous remarks about having to save ammo yet constantly fire barrages of missiles.

That said I don't mind the characters so far. The animation isn't the greatest since that animated GIF of sliced bread, but the designs of the people and units in and of themselves are fine. Story seems to be taking an isolated episode stance so far, but the ending of the last one I watched leaves things open for a continuation to start up - although the episode preview doesn't make it seem like it's going to follow up on it. In summation, it needs to be put into an SRW. One with Megazone 23.

[NotMiki]

Watched Gunsmith Cats for the first time in a decade, and boy was it a breath of fresh air.  Watch it if you haven't.  It's short.

Set in Chicago, starring two chicks, meticulously accurate guns and firearms, bombs and booby traps, and fights and chases that make it about as American an anime as you'll find.  And yes, that's a good thing.

[Twilkitri]

Mospeada

So they need to get past an Inbit fortress. The main problem is that there are more units stationed there than would be feasible for them to fight through. The solution to that is to wait untl the majority of the units are out on patrol. The second problem is that the fortress has a radar which picks up the signature of the energy their suits/etc use, and if it detects them it will call all the units on patrol back. The solution to that is to infiltrate the fortress and destroy the radar, because that certainly won't raise any alarms. Of course once the people are in the fortress they have no idea where the radar is or what it looks like. The solution to this is to keep an eye on one particular room to see if anything noticable happens while they send a bike to drive around a bit within the radared area which is what they had to avoid doing in the first place.

It all works, of course. Desk to face.

[NotMiki]

sounds like the writers outsmarted themselves.

[Pyro]

Bakemonogatari:

This show is one part fanservice, one part artistic flare, one part razor-sharp dialog,  and 97 parts BATSHIT INSANITY.

How crazy? The female lead makes her debut by attacking the male lead with a paper knife and a stapler. This is followed by an absolutely chilling speech, a playful wink, and an unmistakable clicking sound.

[Twilkitri]

Mospeada - Finished

So the genius plans come to a head with the Third Liberation Army deciding that if they can't beat the Inbit this time they'll have to render the Earth uninhabitable. Noting that there are still a lot of humans living there as I am not sure that was obvious from my other posts. No reasons for the necessity of this are provided, of course. Fortunately the Inbit cave and the day was saved thanks to pigheadedness.

All up, it's better than Southern Cross but worse than Macross (what isn't, though). If you can look past INANE PLANS (and to be fair I picked out the worst of them, a good deal is nowhere so egregious) it's decent. Yellow's ending scene makes it worth watching in general >_> Needs to be SRWed but I have already said this.

I am left wondering why a particular character is printed on all of the discs when they only show up in one episode. This will torture me for the rest of my life.