What anime are you watching right now? Apr-Sep 11

[Merridian]

I was also going to watch Carnival Phantasm (excluding Kara no Kyokai my first experience with nasuverse... is this stupid idea?)

Yes, because none of it will make any sense outside of lolslapstick.

[Tarnsman]

As I understand Victory Gundam is grimdark Tomino to the extreme and over-serious war story to the serious Gundam works before it while ZZ is stupid comedy sequel to srs business show like Zeta... it's bigger break in the mood

Both Victory and ZZ have an equal amount of stupid shenanigans. The only real difference in terms of stupidity between ZZ and Victory, is that when characters die in Victory everyone freaks out and plays up the DRAMA, where when characters die in ZZ absolutely no one seems to give a shit.

SPOILER: Show

Seriously. Except for Puru and that lady who dies because a rock fell ten feet from her, nobody cares about any death. Not even Bright gives a damn when Hayato dies.

[Twin Drive Sigma Aquarion]

Well I finally made it to the half way point of Ryu Knight, anything after here and it's practically a spoiler (or at least for Dr. Nick). Not really much to say other than Katze got more tolerable, we finally get some background on Adeu, and they finally got around to showing jaryus (translated as helldragon, wow Google Translate was bad) if only just to have Steru absorb a low class one (who I can't tell is either a red or a purple one, but oh well). The fights have gotten better, that much is certain. Next episode looks actiony.

[BrikHaus]

I marathoned Ga Rei Zero this weekend...

The first two episode were LOLZOMG God-tier awesomeness. And then the rest was middling crap. The extended flashback that comprised most of the series was so fucking boring, with such unsympathetic and annoying characters, it makes it impossible to give a shit about them when some action finally happens in the last two episodes.

Nice animation, though.

[Fireball]

Mobile Suit Gundam: episode 22-36

My latest impressions are that slaps do not only make boys to men but also let women fall in love with you. Likewise no one is safe...

SPOILER: Show

Side-6 seemed like a bit of a breather from all the monster of the week battles. (Zeon arms design is starting to get more and more bizarre) But there also seems to be things building up for greater scale. There is this mysterious indian chick and Amuro seems to develop some kind of sixth sense.

Amuro's father on the other hand has lost it and Amuro is about to lose himself too. Countless of battles have transformed a kid into a freaking killing machine that was made only for one purpose - to kill any Zeon pig that's out there opposing the Federation.

Which brings me to the subject of what a meatgrinder this show is. I've seen this baby before but I get the idea where this whole kill 'em all Tomino thing started. This show has a knack for building up and then ruthlessly kill off characters.




Endless Redshirts aside goes out to:



Dem glorious neon red hair. Liked her motivations of joining the building units to create something opposed to destroy.



Matilda's fiancé.



All she wanted was to bring food to the table for her poor siblings which I wonder are going to do from now on.



Despite his bravado he seemed like a caring husband and father. Dude went out like a boss which leads me to...



Let's talk about this man among men. Here I was just starting to like that guy and he gets the axe. Slegger started out as a leisurely goof who turned into a macho pimp slapping ALPHA.

Dude came out of the fucking nowhere and slapped the dirt off her face

Though the moment he gave her the ring I knew he was done =/

I don't really understand where that sudden relationship between him and Mirai came from but this last couple of episode felt like Mirai has been doing the entire White Base crew.


But let's not mention this guy.





Forever beta.






My conclusions so far: Do not fall in love in Gundam.

Looking forward to the rest.

[Tankred]

Both Victory and ZZ have an equal amount of stupid shenanigans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTOplYCfKTA

Don't get me wrong, I like most of the gundam series including these ones.

[Twin Drive Sigma Aquarion]

Well, I made it up to episode 31 in Ryu Knight before I had to stop. Darn MegaVideo link to episode 32 went in the infamous "temporarily unavailable" condition, so until someone from the site I have been seeing this at fixes the episode link I'm stuck. Not going to lie though, this series has gotten better especially when in episode 28 we find out, um, well, I'll let Dr. Nick see it for himself since I promised no spoilers.

[Dr. Nick]

Ho ho ho, I think I've found where Anno ripped off Operation Yashima from. Full write-up coming soon, but here's a hint: it involves SCIENCE and Dr Pepper.



******

@ TDSA: I've been meaning to ask, but how do you screencap streamed anime?

[Timesplitter 01]

Been watching a lot of anime since I last posted :P

But recently been watching "Welcome to the NHK"

Very good series :)

[Xard]

Yes, because none of it will make any sense outside of lolslapstick.

so after you finally return this is all you have to say to me ;_______;




Went ahead and watched it anyway

It was pretty amusing to me, nonetheless. The basic idea of the ep was quite similar to that lulzy doujin you once linked to me so the comedic take on Grail War was not that hard to follow... also, dem seiyuus FUCK YES FOLKEEEEEENNNNN/that mage from KnK 5!!!!!! I haven't heard him in any anime in quite a while. Man's voice is charismatic as hell.

by the way, I'm getting a laptop pretty soonish. It'll have Windows 7

I can evolve into Type-Mooner soon enough. Hell yeah power levels

Both Victory and ZZ have an equal amount of stupid shenanigans. The only real difference in terms of stupidity between ZZ and Victory, is that when characters die in Victory everyone freaks out and plays up the DRAMA, where when characters die in ZZ absolutely no one seems to give a shit.

Oh, first I hear th-

what the hell am I watching

Suddenly the talk about Tomino trying to kill Gundam with Victory seems more beliavable

Ho ho ho, I think I've found where Anno ripped off Operation Yashima from. Full write-up coming soon, but here's a hint: it involves SCIENCE and Dr Pepper.

inb4 someone actually answers Steins;Gate

Ripped of what part in particular, though? I think it's pretty common knowledge where the name (and central concept) should come from. Do you mean the "using Japan's electricity" part or what?

***********************


man, don't you just hate it when this happens...


aaaaand now it's time to round up Macross 7 subfranchise (edit: okay, not really. Dynamite 7 must wait for tomorrow because =__= ) . After slugging the tv series long and without mercy (and I was getting tired towards the end anyway, sections like 5b. use of music ended up a lot shorter and somewhat kinder than it would've if clock hadn't been 3 in the morning already and I just wanted to finish the damn review) I'm happy the scores for following won't end up in subzero temperatures.

These titles are generally speaking somewhat free from series core flaws, a state of matters surely helped by the way these all are short one-off affairs and as such they don't need to worry about (well, Dynamite 7 needed to as it is its own storyline) botching up main storyline, character development etc. that defined many of Macross 7's big problems. I also find Basara rather amusing character in short bouts and I can enjoy his character in this scale in small doses of "lolBasara" while in tv series lenght his lack of development and moronity was just enraging.

They're hardly flawless affairs and are the weakest canon Macross material nonetheless but luckily they're nowhere near as bad as the tv series, making these the best Macross 7 has to offer. Or maybe I'm just much mellower when I don't have to suffer over 20 hours with them.

The unofficial truism about Macross titles holds here too. How in tv format they have their share of production problems (to differing degrees, SDFM had QUALITY to Macross 7's recycling...at least Frontier fared really well 90% of time but even it had eg. all of ep 8 and that botched fight scene in ep 10 so not even it gets completely clean papers either) while films and OVAs are superb and tend to have top production quality for their day. Dynamite 7 not only meets this condition, as usual with Macross films/OVAs it's more serious and mature affair in comparison to tv series that spawned it. Though since the mother series was what it was we're hardly talking about Macross Plus level here. :P

but before that, list of stuff to be reviewed:

- Macross 7 Plus
- Macross 7: Encore
- Macross 7: The Galaxy is Calling Me
- Macross Dynamite 7


To start with the quickest title to deal with...

Macross 7 Plus
1995-1996
12 episodes

Basically these are 12 2-3min shorts added as bonus to LD/VHS releases back in the day. In fact I linked two in my previous review.

There really isn't much to say about these. What would you expect from 2min extras, apart from some sketchy character bits and such? Some background events for some characters, some lulzy comedy bits etc.

There were some interesting clips, like the one about Ray's past (the history he seemed to share with Akiko/manager chick being good example of substory tangent that was screwed up, never properly utilized and contributed nothing to series which is a damn shame, looking at the bonus clip here if they just could've done more mature series in tone there could've been some good drama and character development here) but majority are as rushed and haphazard as you'd expect.

Not good, not bad. Not worth of fame or infame. Just your average extras.

5/10


I admit the way Basara's disregard of bitches and whores makes Altohime look like Urusei Yatsura's Ataru greatly entertains me.
Singing My Soul For You or Totsugeki Love Heart is better time than doing some cheap harlot anyway

Macross 7: Encore
1995-1996
3 episodes

I'm not sure why but 3 episodes were left out of television broadcast for some reason, bringing the total episode number down from normal 4-cour lenght of 52 episodes to 49. These three episodes were then released as bonus eps on the LD/VHS releases.

and it really, REALLY makes me wonder why on Earth they cut these particular episodes away as two of the three are easily the best ones to come out from Macross 7 and genuinely good.


Episode 1

The least interesting part of this affair. Certainly above average episode for Macross 7 but average by general standards. Basically this episode presented - finally - a look at past of Fire Bomber members. The catch was that there were two conflicting versions presented, one supposedly real and researched tv program on their formation (with dramatizations) and other set of memories or something of Basara walking around and meeting the relevant people. Point of this whole exercise was basically "lol who knows what their background is they're here now and that's all that matters" which would've been kinda cool if episode had been put together a bit better and the lack of background didn't make them such cardboard cutouts in current time.

They had chance here to give some depths to these guys but they preferred not to, which is rather disappointing. The scene when (presumably) Mylene first met Basara was kinda nice, I guess...

Well, at least I liked The Beatles reference that the rooftop concert likely made. It's more than nothing.







Episode 2

JACKPOT

This is the one Macross 7 episode which I consider through and through great.

No Protodeviln and thus no Basara performing his annoying PLANET DANCE routine, no annoying little brats hogging up screentime and in general no wat or out of place shit. Just pure hilarity.

I guess it's no surprise the episode is so good since it's Miria-centric. In fact it was so enjoyable I can forgive the hokey setup (Miria was always a bit naive but she wasn't this DUMB...ohwait, we're talkign about M7 Miria nvm) Anyway, ms. president is suffering from cold and makes badly mistaken amateur diagnosis: she's about to die due to miclonization process shortening her life span.

So off she goes and decides to do the four things she really wants to do before dying. Get Mylene married (surprisingly to Basara since ace pilots are no good, Max is a dick after all), get someone else for Gamlin, fly in her beloved VF once more and SING for the entire fleet. And all of this needs to be done right NOW.

Needless to say, hilarity ensues.

The "showdown" with her indeed following through with the plan to sing was gold. The song she sang was also pretty nice and one of the better Macross 7 songs to boot. Hell yeah, you go Miria

Good episode, good fun


missile spamman' Queadluun-Raus, oh how I have missed you!

Episode 3: Fleet of the Strongest Women

This is the one episode from Macross 7 true to the general feel and mood of the original Macross, which is not very surprising since it's basically just one huge homage to the series and playing out the series core storyline in span of one episode.

It's pretty good and enjoyable ep to boot. Macross 7 Fleet stumbles upon hostile, unculturalized Meltrandi fleet commanded by Miria's old ace pal/rival. Cue Mylene pulling Ai Oboeteimasuka? (not that good version tbh which is a shame, Minmay's and Ranka's were easily better), Max and Milia re-enacting Hikaru and Misa, culture makan' and Basara's ORE NO UTA KIKEE spirit finally being the right move.

Good episode. It was slightly rushed at places and WHY ON EARTH DID THEY JUST HAD TO INSERT THAT TASTELESS AND OUT OF PLACE FANSERVICE SHOT OF FLOWER GIRL (only one in the whole series, damnit) HERE I MAD but nonetheless it was without doubt the second best episode from the show and a worthy homage to SDF Macross.

I also appreciated how much money they had put into animating mechas etc. in this episode, since they were dealing with Meltrandi mechs to large extent there was barely any recycling involved and I could just enjoy the good mecha animation.


moe~

***************

Overall: Two nice episodes and one non-remarkable one. If one absolutely has to see something from Macross 7 tv series I recommend checking out Encore instead of the series itself. These all are standalone eps anyway and since there's usually zero development between Macross 7 episodes all you'd miss anyway is the "main plot" involving Protodeviln.

6/10



Greenhaired girls with Zentraedi blood are the best: confirmed for 3rd time!

Macross 7: The Galaxy Is Calling Me
1995
Film

Macross 7 "film" that was double-billed with Macross Plus film in 1995. It really is just a 40 minutes long tv series episode. Art is the same as in tv series while animation is clearly better and free of obnoxious recycling, but it isn't really "film" level visually in the way the Plus movie shown alongside with it is. Writing is certainly in spirit of long tv series episode too.

The details of plot setup don't really matter, what matters is that Basara ends up accidentally folding to distant planet covered in snow and ice and ends up meeting this awesome Zentraedi rock chick there. Cue giantess fetishism from the audience (uhh, or then it's just me) and Basara at his very best: if there's one work in the Macross 7 subfranchise in which his ORE NO UTA KIKEEE life philosophy hits the bullseye it's this film.

Their interaction is just really great watch from start to finish. One thing I criticized most harshly Macross 7 for is that it commited big sin of making music overshadow and hog attention from other aspects to ridiculous degree (no wonder Zero went the opposite way) while at the same time, catastrophically enough, also giving by FAR the most superficial and dullest treatment of the theme from any Macross work. The way music was utilized by the narrative was uniformally juvenile and there weren't any real standout scenes after one has first seen Basara's ridiculous rock scream beam spam. Oh, and I still don't like buttrock in general.

The Galaxy Is Calling Me really addressed this and gave Macross 7 its first truly iconic music scene - and it was awesome:


it was total bs that Basara managed to beat Elma (sing to swamp eh, Nick? ) with his lung capacity and the worst damn song from the whole show but screw that, this scene still rocked

Unfortunately there are some things I also don't like about "film"

- the annoying bratty kid with infantile voice was pretty rageworthy (she should've chewed him proper n' good and then swallow the remains, grr)
- the stereotypical "grr stay away from our gold" miner community which didn't even make much sense because apparently the Obtanium had run out already
- Basara's singing making those seeds sprout (lol? Kawamori...) and how this supposedly is ment to indicate a good, oh-so-green future for the planet that's been Hoth II for thousand years. Excuse me, but as far as I can tell the climate hasn't changed at all so the hell is that supposed to accomplish...

but these aren't big problems. No, what nearly ruined the fucking film was this






nice job making the film's quality and score plummet down during last 10 mins you fuckers. Thankfully once the squad made their exit it was nice enough watch again, but still: damnit

In the end it's decent watch and I recommend it over the tv series. Worth it for the epic rock duel scene on its own

6/10

*********

I know I promised to review all remaining M7 works today but I'm already =___= and need sleep. Besides, this post is kinda long as it is. Better to save Dynamite 7 for tomorrow!

[Twin Drive Sigma Aquarion]

nice job making the film's quality and score plummet down during last 10 mins you fuckers. Thankfully once the facepalm squad made their exit it was nice enough watch again, but still: damnit

You forgot their three way fusion or the fact that VALGO SHOULDN'T EVEN BE ALIVE. Did they clone him or something? They had to have!

@ TDSA: I've been meaning to ask, but how do you screencap streamed anime?

Right above the Insert button on my keyboard is this button called Print Scr. Press it, go to MS paint, go to edit, click Paste, click the dotted rectangle and stretch it to the proportions you want your screen capture, go to edit, click Copy To, save it to somewhere, and upload it with whatever image host you use.


Anyway, by AMAZING luck I not only found episode 32 of Ryu Knight, but I also found yet another anime stream site! It only does series, but still! Well, it's not like it has much to offer me especially since the overall font is quite girly- HOLY CRAP WHAT IS THAT!?



They have the ultra obscure Go Nagai work of Panda-Z? Thought I'd never find that. Well, just having one obscure series is not enough for me- GOOD GRAVY!



I CAN FINISH GODDO MAAAAAAAARS! ROKUSHIN GATTAI! Well, finishing one series and finding another won't be enough- WAIT WHAT THE HELL!?



Legendary 80s military super robot based on primordeal evolution Dancouga? And Orguss? The Robotech that never was? BOTH OF THEM!?

[Alaska Slim]

Alright, finished watching the Area 88 OVA...

Have to say, much better, Shin was fleshed out, the fights and aircraft destruction were far more intricate, inclusion of actual aviation concerns such as the effects of altitude and G forces... hell, I just don't see why they remade it.

The only thing the series managed to do was give more back story to some of the characters (for Mickey, it kind of regressed), correct a few historical inaccuracies, and give the photographer character a little more relevance.

It also provided, you could say, a "better" chance for a "happy ending"... not really worth the drop in animation and story-telling quality IMO.

And concerning the ending,

SPOILER: Show

I was surprised to find they ended visually much the same (Shin flying off, quoting instrument read-outs), though entirely different in narrative. The OVA has that Sundance Kid thing going on, and it was awesome, just wish I could have seen Shin make his first kill or two, as well as the reactions of the other characters to his return.

This is what I wanted, and I'll take the rampant MiG-swatting by an F-105 as an added bonus.

[Merridian]

so after you finally return this is all you have to say to me ;_______;

sorry man, but your splooges are fucking exhaustive. I also don't have much to respond to regarding M7 given that I haven't watched it and, at this point, probably won't in the near future. Only managed to nab a word in on CP because... well...

I went ahead and watched the first two eps raw. I haven't had a chance to watch with subs yet, though. Looked hilarious, and honestly, the whole thing could be just the OP repeated over and over and I'd probably be satisfied. I'm hoping I get to see Hisui ride a dolphin, like how one of the promo images promised.

also, dem seiyuus FUCK YES FOLKEEEEEENNNNN/that mage from KnK 5!!!!!! I haven't heard him in any anime in quite a while. Man's voice is charismatic as hell.

EMIYA... SHIROU...

It's probably obvious, but he's returning for Fate/Zero.

I can evolve into Type-Mooner soon enough. Hell yeah power levels

awesome, that's horrible, I'm so sorry (I'm not sure what the proper response to this is, so included all three). TM power levels are incomprehensible and not worth trying to figure out, though. It seems obvious to me that the times Nasu isn't drunk or high, he's just trolling fans or interviewers. Kind of like Ikuhara, except without quite as much talent.

[child of Lilith]

Watched Ikoku Meiro no Croisée. Great episode this week. There were plenty of great scenes in this episode, but my favorite was the conversation between Yune and Camille at the end. For once I'm glad it didn't turn into a downer.

Also the dress Yune put on at the end was so cute it had me reaching for the insulin. A rare feat indeed.

[InstrumentalityOne]

Started watching Tiger&Bunny.
Holy toenails, how in the hell did I miss this?

[Mr. Tines]

Doing some catching up in backlog -- the first six episodes of Dirty Pair TV in glorious 240p (the old, old fansubs from VHS rips), the way real men watch their Chinese cartoons. Cute girls doing manly things -- fuck yeah!

If you want a graphic example of how

In the broadest terms, moe has replaced 'future.'

it's to compare current day offerings with this sort of series. And that's in more than just the way that you can have Kei wandering around in her underwear (rather than her WWWA battle-bikini) for half an episode without annoying "Buy the DVD BD" censor stickers.

I don't know if the original material like Daati Pea no Daibouken counts as an LN or not (the English translation is no more than novelette length); but the contrast in styles shows that the change in fashion happened in more than just the medium of anime.

@ TDSA: I've been meaning to ask, but how do you screencap streamed anime?

When I've done it, it's pause+alt print screen+save as new image+crop.

Which brings me to the subject of what a meatgrinder this show is.

And this is a light-hearted Tomino series.

[Xard]

You forgot their three way fusion or the fact that VALGO SHOULDN'T EVEN BE ALIVE. Did they clone him or something? They had to have!

Oh shit, you're right. Since the whole fusion part was no big deal to anyone it should've taken place somewhere 40+ and by that point Valgo already was dead... lol, how do I into continuity

Well, doesn't really matter that much to me but...

sorry man, but your splooges are fucking exhaustive. I also don't have much to respond to regarding M7 given that I haven't watched it and, at this point, probably won't in the near future. Only managed to nab a word in on CP because... well...

(you do realize what I thought CP was acronym for and how much this post thus mindfucked me, don't you?)

Well yeah but it's not like I haven't posted about anything else

EMIYA... SHIROU...

Had to rewatch clips from youtube today

Why can't I have voice like that...

awesome, that's horrible, I'm so sorry (I'm not sure what the proper response to this is, so included all three).

Well, at least I can then afterwards go and watch that film

Shoild I start with Tsukihime or F/SN?

Doing some catching up in backlog -- the first six episodes of Dirty Pair TV in glorious 240p (the old, old fansubs from VHS rips), the way real men watch their Chinese cartoons. Cute girls doing manly things -- fuck yeah!

There're DVDs out there by now, y'know. I think that's how Merridian watched the series, quality should be better...

I don't know if the original material like Daati Pea no Daibouken counts as an LN or not (the English translation is no more than novelette length); but the contrast in styles shows that the change in fashion happened in more than just the medium of anime.

Well, for 80s LN scene we got Slayers and Teki wa Kaizoku for sure so yes, the scene has undeniably changed quite a bit....

*************

Whale time?

WHALE TIME! KUJIRAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"So this is what artist's are like" no girl, that's just how Basara is


So anyway, Macross Dynamite 7 review time!

SPOILER: Show

[URL=http://img571.imageshack.us/i/snap2011081200h16m24s21.png/][/URL]
Macross Dynamite 7
1997-1998
OVA
4 episodes
Studio Nue

This OVA sequel to Macross 7 (made to celebrate Macross 15th anniversary in 1997) taking place one year after events of the tv series is a considerable improvement on the original. For one I can pretty much forget all grievances about production quality as the screenshot above makes rather apparent. The art and animation are good through and through and the Zolan planet is MUCH, MUCH more interesting and vivid setting than the Macross 7 fleet ever was. This is one good looking 90s OVA. It's definetly no Macross Plus but it's still quite delicious.

Come to think of it, I guess it's not a coincidence that animation is so much better as this was animated by Studio Nue.

Basara, being the inconsiderate and selfish dickhead he is, one day realizes he wants to do some travelling and just leaves his band and Macross 7 convoy behind and ends up on tropical, paradiselike planet populated by Zolans (nice to finally see the guys from whose lineage galactic playboy presumably got his elf ears from in Frontier...IIRC Michel had Zolan blood). The place looks sweet and hippy enough as it is but what really makes the place notable are the SPACE WHALES roaming in, you guessed it, space around the planet.

These space whales are being illegally hunted to get raw material for starships (uhh yeah they're kinda like energy beings, not literally blue whales or something) and the central conflict in the OVA is between poachers and Zolan border guard/police/actually-I-am-not-sure-what-exactly. To muddle things up Captain Ahab walked out of Moby Dick, turned into a giant and fittingly enough now has a personal beef with white space whale. Meanwhile while his cute Fire Bomber obsessed daughter Elma meets the walking dick with guitar...

Cue Basara walking in the whole mess and deciding it would be cool to sing to the space whales (which fits plans of dirty hippy scientist who wants to prove they're conscious, living beings and not masses of energy), LOL this fucking guy...

[URL=http://img692.imageshack.us/i/snap2011081200h31m21s24y.png/][/URL]
not exactly subtle about influences, are we...

The Good, The Kinda-Good and LOLKAWAMORI Good

[URL=http://img9.imageshack.us/i/snap2011081200h12m33s19.png/][/URL]
In astonishing moment of subtetly Shoji starts the OVA with shot of what exactly he had been smoking while coming up with the scenario...

Anyway, the main story is actually pretty well put together and as hilarious I find the whole SPACE WHALES (okay okay I stop with the colour now...) deal the story revolving around them is infinitely more engaging than the one in Macross 7 proper was. It also helps that their designs are actually pretty damn cool looking with some nice lighting effects, making the herd vastly superior bunch of SF critters in comparison to those detestable Protodeviln.

That the OVA has environmental themes and subtext really should go without saying after writing all that, and Kawamori's stab at his own country gets really blatant when the poacher boss basically goes "My father was a whaler. I fulfilled his wishes and made this organization big. I won't let that white whale interfere" but it never really bothered me. It was just LOLKAWAMORI and "oh you" exemplified. The sheer cheese factor was hysterically funny, as were Basara's idiotic KUJIRAAAA antics, and honestly Japan's "scientific whaling" business is something I really don't mind people getting preachy over. In general I enjoyed the hippie sheen the OVA had, in part it was justified and in part it was just too (unintentionally) funny to get mad over.


[URL=http://img820.imageshack.us/i/snap2011081202h03m46s13.png/][/URL]
Okay, Ranka singing Aimo is one thing but this really felt borderline-OOC for Basara


Despite all the space whale lulz I actually really liked the climax and the way they mixed in real whale noises there was just beautiful (which in turn made me realize those wordless vocals by Basara towards the end actually mimicked "whale singing" melodically, cool).

Just beautiful stuff all around and the song, Angel Voice, is really damn good. It's way above the other Macross 7 songs in my eyes. The simple, straightforward melody, mix of acoustic and electric instruments (for some reason the acoustic/electric guitar background reminded me of Neil Young of all things) and rather subtle buildup and Fukuyama's really soulful vocals made it one damn good song. The terrific, truly creative finishing touch was to add whale noises in parts towards the end - I initially thought that was guitar feedback so I had mind = blown moment when I realized what really was the case (too bad the version played in OVA itself doesn't have as much subtle arrangement goodness, being more stripped down). It's the one song from all of Macross 7 that would make it to my list of best Macross songs, if I actually managed to do one. I was wondering how the song like that ended up getting written because it's so different from the rest (there isn't even a proper chorus here)... well lol, turns out Kanno wrote and arranged it in 1998 around the time she was doing Bebop's stuff. What a positive surprise (and contribution to M7)!

Other songs were pretty decent, rather unmemorable but at least none of them were as bad as worst songs from tv series so the music never grated me.

And before I forget I must mention the Ending sequence which is really interesting and quite well-made. Basically they added Basara to footage Kawamori had shot in his trips around the globe in 80s (the era after SDFM when he was visiting spiritual places in India and Nepal etc. and as a result ended up turning into such a hippie) and I find the final result fascinating, even if the song is slightly annoying.

Overall the directing etc. is also definetly better done than in tv series too, though some scenes were weirdly rushed while others were dragged on and on (most blatantly the bathing scene in ep 2...blergh, more on that later) when they didn't warrant it which resulted in pacing being rather wonky and unsatisfactory. And while the storyline was decent, it really didn't have meat for 4 OVAs and there was a lot wasted potential. In the end there's incredibly little development and events in two hours running time and the same time could've been utilized much better to develop and build up character relationships, bad guy plans etc... as it is it's really light and feels unfulfilling.

Ending was also kind of sudden and awkward and strangely enough left me thinking one more Macross 7 title was needed because to end the subfranchise this way just abrupt. (Not that I really hope they actually make it, perish the idea)


So, overall the storyline is kind of dumb and preachy but at least it is there and it's somewhat properly developed and surprisingly engaging. Animation and art are good, especially the mecha action in space and the space whales are visually impressive. Angel Voice is a good song and while Basara is still retarded I found his ridiculous whale antics funny so it's ok.


The Bad, The Stupid and I MAD

While the simplistic core storyline was pretty decently executed, I enjoyed the setting and Angel Voice was great the OVA did repeat the failures of the tv series with meaningless substory tangents and sudden bouts of incoherence that never lead to anything. In these regards the directing is just as haphazard and disappointing.

Most notably:

There was no need to involve any other Macross 7 character in addition to Basara in this OVA as he was the only one who played truly meaningful role in Dynamite 7's storyline of space whales and the OVA would've been better work if it had kept this focus and developed the new characters and main narrative more

Instead a lot of screentime was sacrificed to cutaways to people back in the fleet doing stuff that had no bearing on the main storyline. Mylene being Mylene, Gamlin being Gamlin, Fire Bomber having a concert etc.

It's blatant only reason this was done was so that fans wouldn't be disappoint due to not seeing their favourites again. But again, this was no good when quality of the work is concerned. Many edits and scenes were clumsily inserted to the main story taking place in Zolan planet and the material was simply POINTLESS. This screen time could've been better spent.

The important things that result from this are a) Gamlin leaves to search for Basara b) Mylene later leaves to search for Basara and Gamlin. But the duo NEVER gets engaged in the plot properly and by the time 4th episode is over they had done nothing but hogged up precious screentime.

(I was still happy to see more Gamlin though)

Some of this footage was also horribly random and terribad fanservice, like the whole instance of Mylene GETTING DRUGGED BY LESBIAN "FAN" AND NEARLY DATE RAPED (my mind is full of fuck WAT).

To make a list of stupid FAILS in Dynamite 7:

[URL=http://img153.imageshack.us/i/snap2011081201h57m55s16.png/][/URL]

what the flying fuck? This came literally out of nowhere...it's just.... there.

This whole scene was like extremely bad case of random LOLTOMINO

[URL=http://img200.imageshack.us/i/snap2011081202h01m02s39.png/][/URL]
[URL=http://img807.imageshack.us/i/snap2011081202h02m58s17.png/][/URL]

Sacrificing at least 1/3 of ep 2's running time to (stoned) Basara bathing with loli? The hell? Okay, I may call characters like Ranka loli all the time but that's just me being lazy with descriptions, Emma is "real" loli and thus way too loli for me. Even more absolutely pointless fanservice!

Next time some old school fans bickers about fanservice in F I don't know what to do, this was as out of place and pointless as it gets.

[URL=http://img543.imageshack.us/i/snap2011081203h10m15s82.png/][/URL]

In one of 100% pointless 7 Fleet scenes Ray went FULL RETARD. Dude, if both of your main vocalists are elsewhere you cancel the gig, not bring freaking cardboards of them to the stage.

The writing revolving this concert was as bad as in typical Macross 7 filler ep and just as brain dead. Worst of all, Ray was always pretty smart in M7 so why make him blithering idiot here?

THE TROLL
[URL=http://img7.imageshack.us/i/snap2011081202h40m01s12.png/][/URL]
Macross 7: “Despite all the time we spent together the whole series, all the times you saved me, that one time you nearly died and the fact the other guy has treated me like a douche all series, I can’t say yes because I love him just as much for reasons I can’t explain. I just sure hope he doesn’t decide to go chasing space-whales because that’d be even weirder than the fact we’ve developed technology to turn Yoshiki Fukuyama’s singing into robot kamehamehas.”

(not mine words but couldn't put it better myself)

Fuck you Mylene. Fuck you Kawamori. Fuck you whoever came up with this blatant trollbait that had ZERO RESULTS in the end. It's beyond me why they did this. I knew this was going to happen but I was still so mad! All the screentime given to Mylene and Gamlin in this whole OVA was only directly related to THIS, and what do they do with it in the end? Precisely nothing.

I was quite mad.


The Moby Dick inspired revenge quest substory was also left unresolved and was rather half-hearted, which was a shame.

**************

CONCLUSION:

[URL=http://img694.imageshack.us/i/snap2011081203h24m48s11.png/][/URL]
Gamlin is still awesome

In addition to Gamlin's awesomeness (even if he didn't do anything important), this is still pretty good and enjoyable OVA. Sure, it has its problems and some random wtf inducing shit pictured above, unsatisfying ending and all but overall it's still a good watch. I'd recommend this Macross 7 title if one has to see only one. The production values are much higher, story is (relatively) better, setting more interesting and Angel Voice is awesome. These are things it has over other titles

6/10

It's finally over.... hell yeah

...oh right, Aquarion

Tomorrow, tomorrow...

[Mr. Tines]

There're DVDs out there by now, y'know.

And I have a set on the shelf in my study. A bunch of .avi files make more convenient viewing, though.

[Obstermaxmaster]

Started watching Tiger&Bunny.
Holy toenails, how in the hell did I miss this?

Glad you're liking it so far :) , just wait till you get into the later episodes, especially episode 19. What a plot twist!! Also, how far have you gotten into the series?

[Twin Drive Sigma Aquarion]

Since the whole fusion part was no big deal to anyone

Except for people like me that like monster fighting.

...oh right, Aquarion

Don't be so glum, I look forward to your thoughts like the monsters of the week, the assault type aquarions, the title mech, and everything else inbetween. If you want help I'm here.