What anime are you watching right now? May-Nov '13

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Postby Squigsquasher » Fri Oct 25, 2013 9:26 am

Watched episode 4 of Kill la Kill. As always it was hugely entertaining (nice use of classical music, I must admit) but I did detect a huge amount of QUALITY. Which is kind of spooky, considering that the other famous and mind-blowingly GAR anime by the same people, TTGL, also had an entertaining but atrociously animated episode 4.
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Postby Gus Hanson » Fri Oct 25, 2013 9:39 am

Watched episode 4 of Golden Time yesterday and while i was feeling happy that Banri confessed to Koko his feelings, i couldn't help thinking it was so quick in this juncture of the series. Mitsuo putting all the cards on the table to Koko in regards to how he feels about her was a powerful sequence.
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Postby Nuclear Lunchbox » Fri Oct 25, 2013 12:11 pm

Currently, I'm working my way through Attack on Titan, Nisemonogatari, Future Diary, and WataMote. All of them are amazing. Each day, I watch one episode, and I'm watching the third of each today. I love my life.

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Postby Dataprime » Fri Oct 25, 2013 12:22 pm

View Original PostNuclear Lunchbox wrote:Currently, I'm working my way through WataMote.

What episode are you on? I am curious to hear you're opinion on it. I already finished it back when it first aired. It was one of the better shows
I saw in a good while.

I genuinely love how good Evangelion hurts
- Suicidahlia

She's so cute. Like crazy cute. Like "She's giving me the diabetus" cute. - Gendo'sPapa

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Postby Nuclear Lunchbox » Fri Oct 25, 2013 12:24 pm

Like I said, I've only watched two episodes. However, I think it's a nice show to be able to come home to and watch to get rid of some of the stress from my day. I'm always feeling really badly for Kuroki, though. She always seems to get the shit end of the stick.
Watamote  SPOILER: Show
The ending of that second episode, where she thought the guy cared about her enough to do that picture? Wrenched my guts a little.

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Postby Dataprime » Fri Oct 25, 2013 12:29 pm

View Original PostNuclear Lunchbox wrote:Like I said, I've only watched two episodes.

You're in for one hell of a ride son, good luck!

I genuinely love how good Evangelion hurts
- Suicidahlia

She's so cute. Like crazy cute. Like "She's giving me the diabetus" cute. - Gendo'sPapa

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Postby caragnafog dog » Fri Oct 25, 2013 6:09 pm

About 10 episodes in and Chihayafuru is wonderful beyond description.
On 11/10/14, at 8:43 PM, Merrimerri wrote:
fhycjubg beat tge sgut iyt if gun
On 6/2/15, at 10:14 PM, Delispin wrote:
> Wow. I've disgusted even myself.

https://qnuw.wordpress.com/ The hottest new meme, revived in blog form. qnuw/qnuw. qnuw/qnuw. qnuw/qnuw.

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Postby Bagheera » Fri Oct 25, 2013 6:12 pm

View Original Postcaragnafog dog wrote:About 10 episodes in and Chihayafuru is wonderful beyond description.


Isn't it, though? I just hope it gets a third season.
For my post-3I fic, go here.
The law doesn't protect people. People protect the law. -- Akane Tsunemori, Psycho-Pass
People's deaths are to be mourned. The ability to save people should be celebrated. Life itself should be exalted. -- Volken Macmani, Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra
I hate myself. But maybe I can learn to love myself. Maybe it's okay for me to be here! That's right! I'm me, nothing more, nothing less! I'm me. I want to be me! I want to be here! And it's okay for me to be here! -- Shinji Ikari, Neon Genesis Evangelion
Yes, I know. You thought it would be something about Asuka. You're such idiots.

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Postby caragnafog dog » Fri Oct 25, 2013 8:03 pm

I've heard madhouse has a lot on their plate so it seems like you'd have some waiting to do regardless. I agree though, even though I'm not even halfway through yet I hate see something go substantially unadapted. There's 22 volumes out right now.
On 11/10/14, at 8:43 PM, Merrimerri wrote:
fhycjubg beat tge sgut iyt if gun
On 6/2/15, at 10:14 PM, Delispin wrote:
> Wow. I've disgusted even myself.

https://qnuw.wordpress.com/ The hottest new meme, revived in blog form. qnuw/qnuw. qnuw/qnuw. qnuw/qnuw.

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Postby CJD » Sat Oct 26, 2013 12:23 am

View Original PostMr. Tines wrote:But did she have all four limbs?


Still the best thing to come out of Elfen Lied.
You know you have some fucked up characters when a screenshot of them smiling is the biggest piece of fanservice possible in the series. - Anonymous
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Postby Bagheera » Sat Oct 26, 2013 4:35 am

Coppelion 4: Lolololololol!!! Now I have some idea as to how Valvrave fans feel every week, as this episode was just hilariously bad. I kept saying "I must be drunk! The ep can't possibly be this stupid, so I have to be drunk, right?" But then I realize that no, I'm not drunk, it really is that overwrought and generally terrible. And to think I was so taken in by the first ep . . .

Ah well. Dropped like a bad habit.
For my post-3I fic, go here.
The law doesn't protect people. People protect the law. -- Akane Tsunemori, Psycho-Pass
People's deaths are to be mourned. The ability to save people should be celebrated. Life itself should be exalted. -- Volken Macmani, Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra
I hate myself. But maybe I can learn to love myself. Maybe it's okay for me to be here! That's right! I'm me, nothing more, nothing less! I'm me. I want to be me! I want to be here! And it's okay for me to be here! -- Shinji Ikari, Neon Genesis Evangelion
Yes, I know. You thought it would be something about Asuka. You're such idiots.

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Postby Paranoid » Sat Oct 26, 2013 6:36 am

View Original PostBagheera wrote:Now I have some idea as to how Valvrave fans feel every week, as this episode was just hilariously bad.

Coppelion doesn't have a tenth of the entertainment value VVV does. If you understood how we VVV fans feel, you wouldn't drop Coppelion; you'd be anxiously waiting for another dose every week.
I like food.
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Postby A.T. Fish » Sat Oct 26, 2013 12:41 pm

View Original PostBagheera wrote:Coppelion 4: Lolololololol!!!


That's the perfect summary for that episode. It killed me when the countdown timer appeared on screen.

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Postby Xard » Sat Oct 26, 2013 1:17 pm

View Original PostDr. Nick wrote:Gankutsuou final thoughts


Thanks for this Nick. It was very interesting read as someone who has never read the original book.

View Original Postchazthesilencer wrote:I'm still waiting for that 1/10 review, Xard.


Well chaz, issue is I'm not sure I've ever written proper review for any of the few titles I've rated 1/10 unless you count creating this thread:

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Secondly, I'm afraid it would most likely terribly disappoint you because there's no direct correlation between extremely low MAL score and emotion of contempt I feel for title. There's multitude of 2/10 series I think are atrocious but there're no intense emotional response to go with said judgement. Fractale was series quite bit like OreImo in the sense it rustled my jimmies way worse than most anime, including ones I've rated lower than it.

So taking cursory glance at my short list of 1/10s only Apocalypse Zero seems like likely candidate for emotional venting...but AZ just fills me with disgust instead of vitriol and bile like OreImo and School Days did. You get best rage out of me when something I've liked and become to some degree invested in goes to hell (OreImo) or when the ourage reaches downright moralistic shades (School Days). Mere disgust doesn't cut it.

***********

Watched bunch of animu films before rounding up Ideon and rewatching Be Invoked.

Junkers Come Here

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Now this here was family movie I really wanted to love but didn't. Directed by Junichi Sato in early 90s (in fact it was this film that forced him to step down from director's position on Sailor Moon) Junkers is a book adaptation focusing on life of 11 year old girl and her talking dog (titular Junkers). Her parents don't get along, she has a crush on uni student lodging at their place etc. fill the spunky girl's heart with variety of concerns and we follow how she deals with them and develops as character. So basically it was nothing out of usual for the genre. The social angle esp. regarding divorce was a bit unexpected and commendably strong, the characters were well rounded and especially in MC's case quite well developed and last but not least I loved the animation direction imposed on characters. Unfortunately these weren't enough and the film never properly meshes together. It kinda fizzles on through its somewhat bloated running before stupid and inexplicable deus ex machina ending arrives to save the day. Alas. 5/10

Summer Days with Coo

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This film was Shin-chan director Keiichi Hara's great leap outside the franchise and I remember it made quite few splashes when it came out, even pushing Eva 1.0 off from winning JAA's best animation of the year. A move which I find as obvious as wrong to make now that I've seen it. I thought Hara's later Colorful was great, surprisingly morbid youth drama/moral tale film so I was quite eager to see Coo. Unfortunately I don't think Coo quite reaches those heights. What still stands out in Hara's directing are his unusually subdued, naturalist leanings in depiction (this even extends to not too bright colour palette and unassuming char. designs) for the genre and some unexpectedly serious elements. For example I don't think you could have opening scene as gory as this in any sort of "kid finds cute critter" feature outside Japan and even in that context it was shocking. Secondly there are signs of social issues that would take center stage on Colorful to a degree and in a way quite unusual for film of this genre.

All in all Coo remained charming but mixed viewing. At its massive way over 2 hour running time it's way too long for one, fact not helped by how slow moving and uneventful the narrative is for the most part - and I don't mean in the good Ozesque way. Secondly it seems somewhat haphazard in terms of focus and certain story threads and themes feel more dabbled in than properly explored. Third I personally find Hara's barebones directing style just as often boring as refreshing, issue that was not covered by strong story and tight focus like in Colorful. Then there are some issues I have with storyline beyond its general lazy rhytm and unfocusedness: at one point progression of drama depends on almost deux ex machinaesque coincidence hax, some character development comes seemingly out of nowhere and some reactions people have to cute little kappa are anything but beliavable. Most notably the nonchalant response to Coo by Koichi's parents strikes me as utter fantasy. It was good film but more interesting for what it suggests in terms of Hara's following career than what it delivers in itself. 7/10

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica Movie 1: Hajimari no Monogatari

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Turns out removing about hour worth of "non-essential" scenes for compilation does bad things to pacing and developing emotional connection to characters. First Madoka film was jerky, even downright rushed affair untill Kyoko appears and film gets into more natural rhytm. I particularly disliked and was surprised by how per se small changes managed to ruin the first episodes in particular. Still, as this is 99% identical footage to television series only with worse pacing etc. there's no reason to watch this. Well, I guess the new OP sequence was cute. The strenght of original work manages to shine through so this isn't bad film per se but this is definetly NOT the presentation you should see it in. 7/10

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica Movie 2: Eien no Monogatari

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still best scene

If first film stuttered under pressure of trying to cram 8 tightly scripted episodes into bit over 2 hours second Madoka film has the luxury of being pretty much just Madoka's 4 final episodes put together almost as is, only with OP and ED sequences removed between episodes. While the film features the climax to Sayaka storyline and it still is only moment that trikes me in some respects as noticeably weak and forced in terms of writing it also features episodes 10, 11 and 12 aka the absolute high peak of series almost untampered. Speaking of said tampering, I guess it was given ep 10 would fit film structure poorly but I don't really approve of the odd way they went and threw the episode contents AND tv series opening into middle of it. Just...wtf filmmaking with logic alien to me.

That aside strenght of story and lack of cuts make sure 2nd Madoka film is per se very good watch but again, there's absolutely no reason to bother with inferior presentation of material that is 99% taken from tv series as is. If you've seen Madoka tv series there's no good reason to watch this film either. p.s. while Madoka is indeed Godoka she's more of a Boddhisattva figure than anything else. 8/10

Mardock Scramble: The Third Exhaust

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Only genuine pleasure I derived from viewing this was knowing I'd need to never again bother with Scrambled Eggs. What a miserable, anticlimactic ending this was to film series best described as pretentious Ghost in the Shell wannabe with some of the shoddiest directing and writing I've ever seen in my serious business science fiction anime. Just awful all around beyond technically high quality of animation and art. Third Exhaust wastes half of its runtime on overlong poker scene, rushes over shittily done mindfuck sequences and half-arsed action scenes to end with a scene that is only memorable for its rather offputtingly obviously 3DCG animated car. Like Anno would say: too bad. 4/10

Space Runaway Ideon

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The way that the story was presented in this particular work may not be good — but it's a story where even though humans and aliens have been annihilated in a battle, there is still hope. - Yoshiyuki Tomino on Ideon


I feel more than a bit silly about first reviewing Ideon instead of magnificent Turn A Gundam (which I finished three weeks ago) but alas. I need to get this out of my chest after finishing it or I'll never do, I think. If Turn A Gundam was Tomino in generally positive sense then Space Runaway Ideon was Tomino in generally negative sense - and I'm not (only) referring to tone of stories being told with that. If I had to sum the series up in one sentence it would be this:

Ideon is a very good story told incredibly poorly.


There is intriguing, dark science fiction story in here, loaded with high concept themes and religious eschatology that mixes well desolate militaristic setting with touches of cosmic horror.

There is also this series bogged down by every stereotypical Tomino storytelling sin imaginable as well as some general issues with robot shows of the era. Shitloads of filler, twodimensional characters, poor act-well, let's just go through these case by case.


1. Certain standout episodes excluded directing is average at best and piss poor at worst. When things work there's nothing really notable about it - it has that typical "artless" early 80s robot show attitude to storyboarding and framing - and when things get bad it goes to bottom of Mariana Trench. There're the general issues with depicting character interaction, building and maintaining tension as well as Tomino's at worst unbearable reliance on expository dialogue and characters motormouthing most ridiculous things in weirdest occasions hey man, I wanna become the big goddamn aristocrat so I can rest my lazy bones and let you guys do all the work mwahahha let me shout this all aloud to my underlings so audience knows what I think because obviously there's no other way to portray my ambition and internal monologue does not exist either. But really, instead of wasting words I can just put this goddamn clip in here and move on.

2. There's shit ton of filler. This is putting it mildly. It's no wonder how first compilation film took barely any material from series's first 20 episodes(!!!) after the beginning because there's so little meaningful content in it. It's pretty notable you can turn 32 episodes of into 1½ hour long compilation film and still get coherent story that hits all the main point and largerly cuts away flab. Most insultingly the endless stream of fat piece of shit time sink commanders Buff Clan big shots keep sending after Solo Ship goes on to very last stretch of the show. Hey Tomino, if your show gets cancelled under your ass and you're running out of room to finish your series how bout you boot off number of meaningless engagements against Fatso of the Weeks, take plot critical elements of said engagements and roll them into one or two major plot critical battles? That's exactly what you did with fight scenes for eps 27, 29 and 31 in Ideon: A Contact so don't pretend you don't know how the idea works.

Endless stream of repetitive filler just makes Ideon pain in the ass. At least with White Base in Gundam it could be said they were swept along tides of war here and there alongside moving battlelines, they had clear goal during entire Earth campaign (Jaburo) and most major movements of story contributed to story or character development of main characters in some way. Not so in here.

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WELL STOP SENDING THEM ALREADY


3. Ideon is repetitive as hell Related to above naturally but Ideon is 90% endless rehash of Buff Clan attacking Solo Ship (either floating aimlessly in space or landing on some planet with catastrophic consequences for it) with their stupid looking mechas and getting promptly their asses kicked (punched) by OP as hell titular mecha, 5% interesting science fiction and 5% character development.

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4. Action sucks for long time and there's a LOT of it
. First two thirds or so of the series largerly consist of Ideon pounding on feeble and generally retarded looking mechas and fighter jets, hilariously enough with its FISTS. More than anything else Ideon keeps on punching the bitches down, despite how ludicruous it looks like and how retarded the enemy pilots must be to fly close enough for Ideon to be actually able to do it. Did these guys never watch King Kong? Add some lame missile spam from arms and legs of Ideon and you're pretty much ready. There's very little tension in any of these fights because Ideon (and Solo Ship to lesser degree) is overpowered as hell and even when slightly threatened you know you can wait minute or two for little kid start crying and Ideon getting power boost...which happens utterly inexplicably without kid bawwling few times too but never mind that. In any case for longest time action scenes are utterly sleep inducing and given how disproportionately large part of series is spent on said action scenes, well...

5. Mecha designs are awfully ugly and giant toy in space doesn't exactly scream "COSMIC HORROR HOLY SHIT YUI IS GOING TO EAT YOUR S2 ENGINE NAOW". It doesn't help that said action is performed by some of the stupidest looking mechas I've ever seen in real robot show. It pains me to know Okawara designed all these fuckers but there's simply no excuses to be made for Buff Clan's astonishingly bizarre aesthetics:

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There's nothing that screams "Buff Clan's strongest mecha" harder than horrific abortion that looks like mix of metallic frog and television set.

This ain't no Zaku boy, no Zaku. Then on the hero side we have the titular Super Super Super Robot that waltzed into real robot series. Ideon is one of the most powerful mechas around but far more importantly it's supposed to be this godly being, equally a god of justice and a demon, but rather than cosmic horror it looks like massive, blocky Transformersified GM:

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cover in fear, zeeks! God of GMs is here!

Whenever Ideon actually manages to emit aura of "oh shi here comes reckoning" it's in spite of its design, not because of it.

6. Characters are twodimensional, poorly written and generally incredibly unlikeable cunts. There's not much to be said about character development in this show. This is because there's close to none for most characters and what little there is to be found tends to suck. Characters are basic stereotypes with barely any traits beyond what said stereotypes dictate. They're certainly not strong enough to carry the show.

Just as a case study let's compare main character of Tomino's previous show, Gundam, to Ideon's. Amuro is this nerdish kid prone to obsessiveness and singlemindedness with broken family background and multitude of relationships to other characters. He's very prim and formal in large part of his interactions and speaking but also has this aggressive, rebellious streak under it. He vacillates a lot between hating the horrors of war and getting lost in geekish fashion in improving his performance in Gundam and taking great pride in his abilities as pilot. His relationship to his dad is distant but he seeks his approval on some level while his mother "abandoned" him long ago and he seeks for that love when he finally meets her again. As for his mates on White Base he has this somewhat strained yet respectful relationship with Bright, a childhoof friend/potential romantic interest in Fraw, friend and potential love interest in Sayla, friend and competitor in Kobayashi, friend and occasional snarker in Kai etc. Then there's of course whole Char deal, Newtype shit with Lala etc. In any case Amuro's character has many sides to it and he develops considerably much over the course of story.

In contrast Cosmo has his magical space afro and...uhh, he's angry? Angry some more? Angry a bit more? Has inexplicable moments of waxing philosophical and pacifist before going to being angry FUCK BUFF CLAN again? He is in couple of scenes together with Kitty Kitten (lol) and suddenly they're L U V for life? Except not because she dies whoop spoilers. Angry again? Ehh?


There's just barely to anything go by and it doesn't help by unintentionally ambiguous writing in case of some. For example more oftne than not Cosmo's pacifist moments come and go inexplicably as if he was another character and sometimes having any understanding of character motivation is hopeless despite Tomino's fondness of having everyone clearly say what they have on their mind. For example at one point Sheryl has clearly acted whole episode out of guilt due to one death only to have ep end with Cosmo going "tell me the truth" "lol I was thinking of running away to feddies". What the flying fuck? That was not indicated any way. By far the worst example of beyond shoddy character development in this sense comes from one buff clan dude who joins the crew fairly late in series because his fascination with Ide's power simply became too much for him to resist. Except there's ZERO indication of this interest before his heel face turn. Soon after his feel hace turn that was based SOLELY ON INTEREST IN IDE AND OTHERWISE HE IS LOYAL TO BUFF CLAN he's openly weeping over death he wrought on Solo Ship in past.

Seriously what the fuck is this bullshit?

Then in turn it doesn't help most of these characters are angry cunts and thus unlikeable to boot. For example there is this massive pink haired bitch Sheryl:

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No not you. You:

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It doesn't help with Macross connection she's voiced by Misa Hayase's seiyuu, hence when I now hear Misa's voice I hear voice of Pink Bitch

Who must be one of the most spiteful characters I've ever seen anime to pose as one of the good guys.


There's also bit of that delightful odd Tomino misogyny around with numerous characters going about feminine traits in negative fashion and major female commander of Buff Clan gets painted as tragic victim because she had to become warior instead of getting to be "woman" like she's supposed to be.

7. Character relationships and writing in general being whatever the fuck half the time. I already brought up the "great romance" between Cosmo and Kitty Kitten. Most others fall under this category. I couldn't count all illogical shit that happens in this series if I wanted but character relationships are prime examples of LOLWHUT of Ideon's poor writing. The series's central romance between Bes and Katara is as lauhably executed as it is quicklypushed aside and barely acknowledged despite its result becoming the major deux ex machina at the very end (in fact it was unclear for me most of the time just how far said relationship had went because really, why focus on characters when you have so many interesting mecha fights to do!). You really could sum it up with one picture:

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Me Jane, you Tarzan. Let's fuck wildly and cause massive war between our species because fuck rationality.


At another point Pink Bitch goes ballistic over death of incidental character she met for the first time in same episode and barely interacted with as if he was love of her life whereas deaths of many of her closer maters didn't affect her much.

8. Story would stop working the moment universe's inhabitants stopped acting like idiots and there's shitloads of illogical shit all over the placce

I don't have much to say about idiocy here except that Ideon's story would stop rolling forward in quite few places if every military commander in Universe wasn't about as smart as Kämpfer's Natsuru.

As for illogical shit I just give couple of examples:

- humans on planet X start massive hateraeg and attacking Solo Ship because they brought Buff Clan after them. Yet said colonists are ready to work together with said aliens later against Solo Ship because obviously they hate partial cause of their destruction more than their direct devastator. What the fuck.

- Solo Ship is getting supplies from city on moon when suddenly they're attacked and driven away. What the fuck? Why would you first open your bays and all for them only to drive them out 5 mins later?

- On one occasion Solo Ship crew decide to abandon the ship and blow it into bits. The earth military dudes move in to do defuse the bombs and Buff Clan soon attacks. At this point, because of Buff Clan attack, they decide to return to ship because they can't leave it for them. Well, ok... except that there's 5 mins untill explosives go off, they know they don't have enough time to defuse the bombs even with help of earth military dudes AND Buff Clan ain't anywhere close enough the ship by the time it was supposed to blow up. Uh, hello?

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9. Everything above together with Tomino's blatant milking with deaths render most of them emotionally unaffecting - prior to Be Invoked, at least. Because characters are so underwritten and often unlikeable Tomino once again ends up employing his favourite ploy of bringing focus on minor character just to kill him off immeaditly. It's not as bad as Victory Gundam (lol shrike team) but still, it's incredibly hamfisted and poor way to do it even in smaller scale. There's only one death in tv series proper that comes as genuine surprise (or would if the preview did not spoil it) and is somewhat effective. Rest are either just dumb or contrived and heavily signaled in this stereotypical Tomino way.

10. There are things about Ide plotline that don't quite make sense to me, Buff Clan what the fuck and plot holes general

I want to avoid major spoilers so I don't discuss Ide stuff much (esp. since ambiguities in that don't bother me all that much and were at least partly intended) but as far as series main theme goes Buff Clan kinda fucks it up. I mean, nice job making it MUTUAL SIDES OF ASSHOLES DESTROY ALL IN KARMIC CYCLE theme when in actuality Buff Clan consists of Nippon Banzai dudes from 30s dressed up as Space Elvises and being militaristic and aggressive as hell. Characters even often say they can't give Ideon up to such group and y'know what, they're right. Trying to make two sides equally dickish when majority of conflict exists and continues in first place because one side is militaristic jingoist funland while others are mainly civilians attacked indiscriminately by said nutsos on the run... uhh, I've seen better tries. Also the voice of Peace and Love and Understanding Karala caused whole thing in the first place by acting in utterly incomprehensible fashion. LOLTOMINO

As for plot holes it's heavily "implied" Ideon keeps spamming these massive meteor swarms to both Earths - that of humankind and that of Buff Clan since both races are assholes. There's just one issue here. Ideon was awakened in ep 1 but bombardment has continued for two years already. So either whole series is nefarious scheme by Ideon itself (interesting but stretched theory) or then there's plot hole.

11. LOLTOMINO

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11. Horrible ending

With which I'm referring to tv episode 39 of course, not Be Invoked. Essentially instead of even attempting to resolve shit Tomino plays out ep 39 as usual till final two minutes when absolutely incomprehensible montage of would-be Be Invoked scenes play. The End.

haha

Every cloud has silver lining

Having said all that (and it's been while I was being this negative in detail on anything) Ideon has its upsides and thankfully series considerably picks up towards the end. It never gets entirely rid of its core flaws - terrible characterization, filler, boring combat, poor writing and directing in general - but all are greatly lessened in its final third while its positive attributes get brought up a notch.

In particular the war setup between two races is rather good and Buff Clan gets humanized towards the end, if only a bit succesfully. But moreso than that the science fiction storyline revolving around Ide energy - the part that is most obvious influence on Evangelion in here - is genuinely fairly captivating and during series last third it starts to receive increased focus. It's not all fun and games with this either but in general I think ths part of storyline was well done - if left unfinished in series proper, of course.

Related to above the series was also groundbreaking and occasionally very succesful in driving home the desperate, desolate fate of Solo Ship and its crew. At the moments when Ideon gets its more cosmic horror moments and weird shit keeps on happening you can really feel as if the characters were toys of some childish god, alternating between malicious and benefactory.

While filler never goes away it's lesser in volume in series last third as stakes get increasingly high for all sides and fights more often carry immeadiate meaning with higher sense of danger. Ideon's OPness keeps that at bay to degree, of course, but less so than earlier. At the same time action gets a lot better as in late 20s Ideon gets

- Ideon Gun
- Swords of Light

which make combat far more visceral (and occasionally horrifying) in general and thus exciting. Just as important is improving action choreography. In fact it's in late 20s episodes Itaro Ichino starts to develop his famed circus for real. Late Ideon becomes testing bed for soon to follow Macross and while Itano's circus isn't generally as developed yet it's still lightyears more interesting than sterile action that defined early series. It's incredible what irregular flight patterns for few missiles can do, really.

All this ment that late in Ideon (30s) I was fairly involving, even if filler and wtfretarded moments and the like still made me roll my eyes in frustration. The growing sense of doom and gloom was also to my liking.

So really, if you focus on the interesting story at the bottom of it and are less bothered by my long ranting list of dislikes I think Ideon can be fairly enjoyable work to you, especially if you're used to kinks of old school mecha anime. Similarly keeping in mind how groundbreaking certain story elements at the time were etc. will probably notch the appreciation up a bit.

Still, as for me I can't bring myself call Ideon good series. Anime as deeply flawed and with as many serious, recurring issues can't entirely save itself with partial facelift during its last third.

4/10

It can, however, turn series into tolerable buildup for...

Image

Space Runaway Ideon: Be Invoked


This film though is still fantastic experience and one of my favourite anything by Tomino. In some sense series was "lucky" to get cancelled the way it was because the apocalypse definetly benefits from big screen release and higher art and animation quality (after early reused clips of tv series final episode).

Be Invoked is quite simply very visceral experience that took me away with it again, just like first time I saw it years ago. Not even underdeveloped and often unlikeable personalities of many cast members can stop from feeling several punches in the gut the film unleashes in its nihilistic orgy of death and destruction. The extreme nature of action on the screen walks hand in hand with Ide storyline reaching its intense climax and final epic showdown between Solo Ship and Buff Clan going down in fashion suitable to old science fiction epic. There's shitloads of action in this film and none of it is boring like so often in television series. It's captivating, horrific watch and the sheer bizarreness of some of Tomino's story ideas really add to the disturbed mood. Be Invoked is eschatology for karmic sinners and I truly love the catharsis it presents.

As if this wasn't impressive enough whirl of destruction and nihilism in itself it is then followed by transcendental denouement in the same supreme sense 2001 and EoE's climaxes can be called transcendental. The two main sections of the film (former of which is by far longer) could not be more different but they fit together perfectly.

Be Invoked is not perfect film - the hilariously botched and confusingly edited opening scene tells you that from the getgo - and it storytelling might be in places crude and choppy but these aren't really blockages on the way of tidal wave of death and rebirth that is Be Invoked.

Proto-End of Evangelion may not be cinematic masterpiece its 90s successor would be but still helluva good watch, even with its numerous rough edges. It also has amazing, amazing soundtrack that surpasses already quite good OST of the television series.

Strange thing about Tomino is that even in his weaker works he seems to instinctually know how to end things with bang. None of his endings, though, go out with bang quite comparable to Be Invoked, a good film finishing off series that was very mixed bag.


8/10


ps. I recommend just watching the compilation film Ideon: A Contact and Be Invoked instead of series and Be Invoked. Usually with compilation film tactic you'd miss forming emotional connection with characters but in Ideon's case tv series won't do jackshit to help with that either. It probably just makes you dislike some of the characters more :lol:

Which is not to say some things aren't more confusing in films only viewing experience but that isn't much of a prize in comparison to swamp of filler and shitty action in tv series.

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Postby Paranoid » Sat Oct 26, 2013 1:39 pm

View Original PostXard wrote:

This is probably the thing I remember (and want to remember) most about this series. This and the slapping match. Basically I agree with everything you said.

When I watched Haruhi's Endless Eight, I thought to myself that it was, at the very least, an interesting experience in that it lets you feel the frustration of the timeloop by letting you, as the viewer, experience it for yourself. It now occurs to me that Ideon is much the same; except lasting much, much longer and without half as much moe.
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Postby Dr. Nick » Sat Oct 26, 2013 3:12 pm

Image

Yes, that sounds like Ideon alright. But here's the shocking thing you realize after watching retarded amounts of 1970s and 80s mecha schlock: Tomino may cram his shows full of pointless robot action, but in terms of quality, his robot action is usually miles ahead of competition. Godmars is one example I like to bring up over and over again. At least the titular robot in Ideon got to punch and kick things and light the night on fire with rudimentary Itano circuses. Godmars had an "I win" button installed on its dashboard, with predictably boring results.

Buff Clan consists of Nippon Banzai dudes from 30s dressed up as Space Elvises


This is very accurate, and it actually reminds me of Anonymous giving a brief summary of Fafner: "Existentialist Bros fight against Nihilists from outer space and G Gundam villain rejects."

View Original PostParanoid wrote:This and the slapping match.


Which one? Because there were several.

But now I really want to see Xard sink his teeth into the original Dancougar, as he's still young and full of energy to grind through these long-ass filler operas. After all, Dancougar is a weirdly popular show, what with being a staple entry in the classic SRWs and all, but it is also monstrously flawed. It has laughable QUALITY moments from very early on, absolute acid trip filler episodes like the one where the Cyber Beast Force infiltrates New York City Snake Plissken style (in fact, that episode is the reason why I still keep the entire damn series archived on my HD), and it features Norio Wakamoto voicing this fashionable fellow.

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Postby caragnafog dog » Sat Oct 26, 2013 5:31 pm

Did Xard ever review Char's Counterattack? Does he have an archive of his reviews somewhere?
On 11/10/14, at 8:43 PM, Merrimerri wrote:
fhycjubg beat tge sgut iyt if gun
On 6/2/15, at 10:14 PM, Delispin wrote:
> Wow. I've disgusted even myself.

https://qnuw.wordpress.com/ The hottest new meme, revived in blog form. qnuw/qnuw. qnuw/qnuw. qnuw/qnuw.

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Postby Redtophat » Sat Oct 26, 2013 7:50 pm

Yamato 2199 ep.26 (end): This was a great series, I started following it back in April or May and have been eager for each release. The conclusion was better than I could've hoped for and really gave me a real emotional jolt.
Yamato, Omedetou! :salute:

I just started watching White Album 2 and the first episode was pretty cool, Touma is one chill grill.
Last edited by Redtophat on Sun Oct 27, 2013 1:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Postby Dataprime » Sat Oct 26, 2013 10:30 pm

I tried giving Kill la Kill another shot today, it just couldn't get into it. Sorry guys.

I genuinely love how good Evangelion hurts
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She's so cute. Like crazy cute. Like "She's giving me the diabetus" cute. - Gendo'sPapa

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Postby EvangelionFan » Sat Oct 26, 2013 10:38 pm

View Original PostDr. Nick wrote:Gankutsuou final thoughts:

View Original PostXard wrote:Thanks for this Nick. It was very interesting read as someone who has never read the original book.

I read the posts a few weeks ago but I liked it too. Cheers Nick.


View Original Postchazthesilencer wrote:Finished Eren battles the pink robots Titans..

OHHHH YOSHIIIMEH :rimshot:


View Original PostXard wrote:If I had to sum [Space Runaway Ideon] up in one sentence it would be this:

Ideon is a very good story told incredibly poorly.

You know, sooner or later I'm going to see something from the mind of this Tomino fellow. I'd probably prefer to see Ideon over say, the Mobile Suit Gundam films. I do recall reading mixed responses to Ideon before, but your post - and your critical eye - has certainly brought a few things to my attention, notably that as per your recommend I do feel I'd be better off seeing Ideon: A Contact so I can proceed more quickly to Be Invoked. Your post on this was a good read, and much appreciated.


View Original PostDr. Nick wrote:Yes, that sounds like Ideon alright. But here's the shocking thing you realize after watching retarded amounts of 1970s and 80s mecha schlock: Tomino may cram his shows full of pointless robot action, but in terms of quality, his robot action is usually miles ahead of competition.

... so I think I'll strike two lines through anything else of that kind for the time being and continue with my regularly scheduled program of 'not giving any time to watch anime' :gravedig:


View Original PostJune wrote:Yamato 2199 ep.26 (end): This was a great series, I started following it back in April or May and have been eager for each release. The conclusion was better than I could've hoped for and really gave me a real emotional jolt.

I have this series on my list, but I haven't heard from anybody else around here about it lately. I feel I'm probably better off drawing out an earlier Yamato title for a sampler.
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