Bagheera wrote:Go rewatch the original arc instead!

Honestly, I can't conceive of why anyone would remake this. It's an anime classic, and deservedly so. Reinventing the wheel of an Indy 500 winner is just stupid.

Yes! Truer words...have not been spoken!!

I too do not see the relevance of remakes, especially of good shows. If a show is good just go watch it because it's good as is. Certain remakes that change the story to follow the manga, a la FMAB or JoJo, are okay - but if a show doesn't change anything to match the original work, then why remake it? I never understood that.

Kuroko no Basket season 3, still stuck on episode 3.



On a different note, finished watching the entire Evangelion series on Blu-ray today. Man, was it SO beautiful. End of Evangelion struck an even bigger cord with me than before. Poor Misato, Ritz, and Asuka and the Bridge Bunnies.

Kowabon's pilot wasn't impressive and the reviews of the following episodes don't give me hope so I might as well watch something else. The ring movies are stupid but can be tense being full of black and white sadako can pop out as movies and curses go on, the american version has its own creepy montage dissected around the net, plus it's a story written in Japanese times of crysis and technological diffusion....and that's why chatting online in kowabon is deadly as if any of it matters. mhe


" Bridge Bunnies."

Whu- even more eva references for Overwatch' D.va?



" Poor Misato, Ritz, and Asuka and the Bridge Bunnies."
Ikr. The first eoe half is such a slow tragic push.

Seraph of the End S2 ep. 6

Just noticed that the "demon army" doesn't have 2-way radios, which was the only thing preventing the Lt. Col from back tracking and reinforcing the survivors that got surrounded by the Chinook-dropped vampires.

... This feels like something they should have. If they got refrigeration, high tech medical labs, and even a few vehicles, why not radios? For the squad commanders at the very least?

^sometimes I try to start the first season but I constantly forget about it.
All I remember was a frame of a slutty vampire girl posted on some forums, could be mhe but it's always fun to nerd on animes with people.

finished Princess Tutu a couple days ago. Just like everyone said, the writing was phenomenal. The endings to both seasons were touching. Of course, the highlight was the beautiful musical score.

The closest thing I could compare Tutu to is Ikuhara's work (Utena, Penguindrum), but it has a character of its own. Highly recommended.

I'm enjoying Sakurako's Investigation. It started as if it might be a detective show, with a speciality in bones, but it seems now as if that's just the trappings; the show is pointing more at being about the interaction of past and future. The last two arcs were about suicide - the effect on those left behind, and the ethics of it. And there are occasional hints of similarities between Sakurato's companion, Shoutarou (or just "shounen", as she calls him to his annoyance), and her dead brother, Soutarou, which will clearly build into something important as the show passes. The designs and animation are delightful, and I don't notice the music (as usual), so it must be OK.

I learned of the suicide thing by osmosis, I mean the episode about the woman on the bridge and the couple of characters debating on what to do until sakurako comes in, actually I've been told to skip that ep but I'd still marathon the rest once the season is over just to see how it changes organically

pwhodges wrote:I'm enjoying Sakurako's Investigation. It started as if it might be a detective show, with a speciality in bones, but it seems now as if that's just the trappings; the show is pointing more at being about the interaction of past and future. The last two arcs were about suicide - the effect on those left behind, and the ethics of it. And there are occasional hints of similarities between Sakurato's companion, Shoutarou (or just "shounen", as she calls him to his annoyance), and her dead brother, Soutarou, which will clearly build into something important as the show passes. The designs and animation are delightful, and I don't notice the music (as usual), so it must be OK.

I'm enjoying it as well. I'm still a little puzzled as to how these two wound up working together in the first place, since that's never been addressed. But for now I'm assuming that that's the point, and that that reveal (along with the story about Sakurako's brother, which might be one and the same) is the point of the show.

I started watching Bokura ga Ita (We were there). Only two eps in so far, but I'm going to enjoy it. What seems to be distinctive is a lack of at least some tropes; it's not a harem show, for one thing, and it focusses on the two main characters' imperfections in an almost uncomfortably realistic way. They are both feeling their way in their relationship - uncertain, confused, at times self-contradictory. Some people might see this as aimlessness in plot terms, but I don't think it is.

The art is very soft-focussed - pastel and somewhat fuzzy. I like the designs. Some of the effects take a bit of getting used to - for instance, very commonly one side of the face is shown faded away, in particular with no eye visible even though there is nothing to hide it; I think this is just a style quirk rather than having any deep significance. The music seems entirely suitable, without ever really catching the attention.

Finished Elfen Lied, and on balance, it stood up, even if a decade more familiarity with the tics of the medium made it obvious where there was reliance on stereotype and MISUNDERSTANDING. Still, the scene with Kouta and Lucy on the stairs just before the end was a suitably sappy payoff for all the back and forth. And it still tops anything else in my collection for the levels of gore and nudity.

Meanwhile, showing how tastes differ between the sexes, when looking for something to fill in an evening, Karen asked "do we have any giant robots we can watch?" so we've started on a rewatch of Space Runaway Ideon; and in parallel I've started on Narutaru, with Simoun still ticking over in the background.

You're watching the Ideon series, rather than just the films, are you? I haven't tried that yet.

My Elfen Lied BDs arrived today, to legitimise my watching it...

I dusted off some files and found some articles from SeventhStyle, nothing new but interesting and well written, a shame 3 years later everything seems down online. Surely there's an anime community that isn't MAL, hopefully geeking on anime artworks, deviantart might be one since things like awesomerobo or animation revelation are deserted.
I was watching patema inverted and probably linked about its shots somewhere, nothing from an anime community though.
I feel like I'm missing out:/

edit had no idea things like these existed even though I'm not expecting anything

www.themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=1172
www.themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=1426

@pw
Yes, the series, in all its lather, rinse, repeat glory. For this one, the ten years later reaction is to recognise that Tomino feel to it, but rather more formulaic than Gundam 0079 TV was.

@unz
"things like these"? Slice of life, in general, or art-related slice of life? Or the certain reputation of Hidamari wide faces?

Been catching up on Blue Gender these past couple of days and i got past episodes 21 through 23. Back when i saw the show years ago, i always assumed in one scene that one of the twin sisters got killed but i was relieved to see it wasn't the case. Tony's undoing by Yuji was so righteous since he was fanatically annoying so i couldn't wait to see him kick the bucket. The way Alicia's demise was handled did give me very sad feelings throughout. I'll be turning in the remaining three episodes eventually and i can't wait for a certain Yuji/Marlene nookie scene to show it's splendor.

Mr. Tines wrote:@unz
"things like these"? Slice of life, in general, or art-related slice of life? Or the certain reputation of Hidamari wide faces?

I meant an anime trend to teach values and principles of design to hook people, I thought there was something but I never seen them mentioned anywhere.
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I tried blue gender too but couldn't get into it and can't remember much about it.

Hidamari Sketch isn't really 'about' art and design, art school is just the backdrop for it.

Yeah I read it's about the students. I don't think I'm going to watch any of them tho

Blue Gender ep. 24

My FAVORITE episode of the entire series, for obvious reasons. ;)

Bokura ga Ita (aka We Were There). This is a manga with an anime and a live-action film. I started by watching the anime; for me this really is up there in the top tier. I've been comparing it as I go with Kare Kano, Honey and Clover, and Clannad.

The first thing to say, though, is that like Kare Kano it only tells half of the story that the manga takes through to a conclusion. However, unlike Kare Kano, which peters out indecisively for reasons that are well known, Bokura ga Ita comes to a pretty decent conclusion. It breaks off at the point that most issues have been resolved, although the last episode does clearly line up some of the things that will change the direction of the subsequent story (after a time-skip!) - there was pretty clearly an assumption that there would be another season to finish it properly, as Honey and Clover and Clannad were able to.

Maybe Kare Kano is more stylish - OK, yes it is; but Bokura ga Ita doesn't lack style, though not everyone likes it! However, the exploration of the characters, and in particular the effect of their past on their present and how they handle it, is a common aspect of these two works, and in that respect I give Bokura ga Ita the edge. It also has superb pacing. Sure, it's very slow; but it's consistent, and (as I said previously) it doesn't drag. Every pause has a purpose (like some of the long pauses in Eva, indeed, though less dramatic even though much more frequent); and if you like romance (it's not a harem show though - there are only five important characters, one of whom is dead before the start), and are not too antsy to watch it at all, you should have no difficulty being engrossed right to the last frame.

There's a live action film in two parts, which presents the whole manga. The first film thus parallels the anime, and I've just watched it as well. The limitations on runtime mean that the important back-story of the main character is somewhat simplified, but the essence is there and presented in just as well-balanced a way as the anime managed. I'll be watching the second film shortly.

Neither the anime nor the film version has been released officially in the West (at least, certainly not in English), so it's off to your favourite hush-hush site if you want to watch them. But you can buy the manga in English - I have done so, and while waiting for delivery have read a pretty piss-poor scanlation of the second half. Knowing now how the story continues I can only say that it really is a crying shame that the second half of the manga wasn't animated - another season, as well done, could have taken this solidly into the pantheon of truly great series.