Dagger

The other forum you asked this at offered some pretty good suggestions. One of my personal favorites, Aria the Natural episode 8, doesn't mention Valentine's Day by name. It does depict a very similar tradition, though--the Festa del Bòcolo, in which you're supposed to give the one you admire a red rose. As is typical for Aria, it's beautiful and soothing and funny. ~Dagger~

[quote name='James'][font=franklin gothic medium] I think one testament to how well the film was directed was the fact that I really wasn't sitting there worrying about plot at all while I was watching. I never became bored or disinterested. There were many extended scenes that involved very simple concepts (like Jake learning how to hunt or to find water in the forest). Those moments weren't full of major plot progression, admittedly, but they were filled with beautiful visual subtlety.[/font][/QUOTE] I went into this movie with a feeling of creeping dread--my attention span for feature-length films is iffy to begin with, and the ponderous length plus what I'd heard about the story made me expect to get bored halfway through. But my experience was similar to yours. Whenever I reached the point where I could feel my mind start to stall out or wander, I found something new to look at onscreen, or the scene changed altogether. It was a weird watch in that while I never entirely let go of my reservations about the plot, I enjoyed it all the way through and got satisfyingly swept up in the visceral parts. I first started letting down my guard during the scene when [spoiler]Jake tries on his new body for the first time and goes running out to breathe the fresh air of Pandora.[/spoiler] It was the first of countless exhilarating and beautiful moments. The ideal film has spectacular visuals and a spectacular script, but how often does that combination occur in real life? The average film has so-so visuals and a so-so script. Avatar's writing may lack nuance and poetry, but its direction and CG effects are at times wordlessly powerful, lyrical, transporting, and poignant. I remember the first time I saw a trailer for Avatar, I was horrified. In a YouTube-sized window, the Na'vi looked like blue Pixar characters. I couldn't imagine taking them seriously. Promotional posters and so forth didn't do much to convince me otherwise--another part of the reason I went into the movie highly prejudiced. By the end, though, I realized I totally believed in them as living, breathing beings. The subtleties of their animated facial expressions contributed most of whatever emotional resonance the film managed to generate. As millions have said, there's a lot to criticize with respect to how it reiterates the tired old Dances With Wolves and Last Samurai myth (white man exorcises his privileged guilt by joining the native population, then reinforces his destined dominance by beating them at everything they've spent their entire lives devoted to doing), and its depiction of disability is pretty ham-handed. On the plus side, while the Pocahontas routine is equally tired, the women in the film received refreshingly balanced treatment--it didn't feel like their contributions, even in battle, were an afterthought. ~Dagger~

I started watching Canaan solely because I liked Alphard's psychotic grin in the opening sequence. Her slight ambiguity as a character--is she moderately evil or really, [i]really[/i] evil?--is seasoned by a healthy dose of unflappable coolness, mad combat skillz, and Just As Planned charisma. Too bad no one else in the show is nearly as fascinating. ~Dagger~

I gave up after the third iteration and decided to wait until it ended, so I guess overall I've been more amused than enraged by this. I will say that I'm deeply curious about what motivated them to go for a full eight episodes--it's certainly unprecedented, but that hardly seems like reason enough to take the risk (and use up a whole lot of budget in the process). ~Dagger~

Haha, this thread rocks. I hate it when female characters overreact and/or become abusive for comedic effect. The whole trope of women as uptight, humorless, and misunderstanding-prone is just as tired in anime as in Hollywood. You know what I mean--imagine a male and female character falling down a set of stairs together (or some other equally improbable but often-used scenario). He lands on top of her. She yells "Pervert!!"--despite the fact that it was entirely unintentional and there was no way either of them could have prevented it--and punches him into outer space. I fail to see how this kind of writing is supposed to be charming or clever, much less amusing. It certainly wouldn't work if you flipped the characters' genders. ~Dagger~

[quote name='Shinmaru']Oh snap. That's the OP he was working on? Well, now I [i]have[/i] to give it a shot, haha.[/QUOTE] It isn't confirmed yet, so don't let me get your hopes up too high, haha. :animeswea ~Dagger~

I'll probably end up watching some other stuff as well, but the only series that really matters in my head is [b]Aoi Hana[/b]. I'm still baffled at the fact that two of my favorite yuri manga--first Aoi Hana, and later Sasameki Koto--are being made into honest-to-goodness anime. Oh well; I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially not when it's getting directed by the Honey & Clover guy, and may even have an OP sequence done by Kunihiko Ikuhara (who directed Utena!! :animenose). ~Dagger~

@Lunox: Yeah, that isn't a point I would necessarily choose to argue--stuff like Advent Children (which I couldn't get through very much of) made me see how much the gameplay aspect adds, and I say this as someone who started playing games primarily for their story. :p There are definitely "games" where the actual gameplay aspect is minor to nonexistent, and maybe it's not surprising that a very high ratio of these get adapted to manga. In cases where I'm already a fan, I certainly don't mind them making the effort to expand the story as a media franchise. At worst, it's something I can just ignore, and at best, it might end up being arguably better than the original work in some respects. That said, I generally don't read manga adaptations for games I haven't played. I'm sure there are manga versions that don't detract from the source material at all and would make a great starting point in and of themselves. It's just that I tend to spend more time on story-heavy games than on manga itself anyway, so the natural flow for me is to go from game to manga. Often the manga ends up being just one of many supplementary products, most of which are inevitably hit or miss--drama CDs, novels, artbooks, doujinshi, online radio, action figures, anime, etc. The same game might have superbly produced drama CDs but a crappily written novel adaptation, for instance. What makes manga a little different is the fact that it's serialized--if it's good enough to get new fans, or at least has a popular artist, it can keep going for a long, long time after the game's release date. It's nice to see people's interest stay alive like that. ~Dagger~

Neutral about this one for the time being. I think it comes from being a DC native--I simply can't get past the security lapses**, particularly in contrast to the uncannily accurate depiction of everything down to the Spy Museum's signboard. And the word 'prince' sticks in my craw, but I blame that on Utena. :p Will keep watching for the Oasis OP and, of course, those delicious production values. **Had a really hard time sympathizing for Saki after that coin-tossing incident, haha. Being a clueless Japanese tourist is a pretty lame excuse. On the other hand, yes, it is anime, but the patches of realism sure throw me off. :animeswea ~Dagger~

Nice first episode; I think it's original, but it basically serves as an introduction before they go into the flashback arc with episode 2. That's how things seem to be shaping up, anyway. Love, love, love the OP. I'll let you guys decide whether you want to do individual ep. threads or what. ~Dagger~

The first episode of Phantom rocked my world. It definitely has the potential to be the first not-really-sucky Nitro+ adaptation (fingers crossed). I absolutely loved how they used physical movement to portray [spoiler]Zwei's raw talent, what with him scrambling around Ein's bullets and so forth.[/spoiler] This show will be very enjoyable for people who liked the style & concept of stuff like Noir/Madlax/etc. but hated how slowly they moved. There's also onscreen blood in this one, thank heaven. Am tickled with delight that others here plan on watching it. The OP and ED are great, especially the ED sequence--it's like Mashimo got inspired by Shinbou Akiyuki (the Shaft-Zetsubou guy). Someone post a thread when it gets subbed! ~Dagger~

Kyougokudou

Fairly long [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A-9RQorG9E"][u]camcorder trailer[/u][/url] from the Tokyo Anime Fair; watch it while you can. Yeah, this is going to have some pretty sweet animation. ~Dagger~

The [url="http://randomc.animeblogger.net/2009/03/22/fullmetal-alchemist-cm5/"][u]latest commercial[/u][/url] is narrated by Miki Shinichirou. Rock on. ~Dagger~

I'm biased, of course, but I think he has pretty incredible range. Grain of salt: I say this because I've heard him play such an astonishing variety of roles in BL drama CDs. :devil: ~Dagger~

[url="http://video.yahoo.com/watch/4630063"][u]Trailer #4[/u][/url] (Yahoo Video link) Yeah, it looks like they're definitely remaking all of the old material in full. I have a feeling that this will make at least the first few episodes an odd experience rife with deja vu, but no matter; if you're going to do something, might as well do it thoroughly. ~Dagger~

[quote=Canned Dogs]Edward Elric: No change Alphonse Elric: No change Winry Rockbell: Toyoguchi Megumi -> Takamoto Megumi Roy Mustang: Okawa Toru -> Miki Shinichirou Riza Hawkeye: Neya Michiko -> Orikasa Fumiko Alex Louis Armstrong: No change Maes Hughes: No change Jean Havoc: Matsumoto Yasunori -> Ueda Yuuji Vato Falman: Murozono Takehiro -> Hamada Kenji Maria Ross: Saiga Mitsuki -> Natsuka Kaori King Bradley: No change Scar: Okiayu Ryoutarou -> Miyake Kenta Lust: Satou Yuuko -> Inoue Kikuko Gluttony: Takato Yasuhiro -> Shiratori Tetsu Envy: Yamaguchi Mayumi -> Takayama Minami Kimblee: Ueda Yuuji -> Yoshino Hiroyuki[/quote] I would've been furious if they changed Ed or Al, but I don't particularly mind about any of the others. It's too bad that Okawa isn't coming back as Mustang, but Miki Shinichirou is one of my all-time favorite seiyuu, so I can't complain that much. Also looking forward to hearing Yoshino Hiroyuki as Kimblee and Inoue Kikuko as Lust. ~Dagger~

@Gavin: Badass eyepatches FTW. [quote name='Shinmaru']Des is [i]far[/i] from undercover, haha.[/QUOTE] Damn, this is what I wanted to say. :animesmil We've resolved the blurb question for the time being, but I wanted to ask something else (it's kind of early to bring this up, but whatever). Have a fairly high percentage of people here been keeping up with the manga? And if so, do you think it would be worthwhile to have a minimum of two discussion threads when the series starts airing? Which is to say, one would follow typical common sense when it comes to spoilers (be courteous, don't talk about stuff that hasn't happened yet, tag gigantic twists), and one would be a no-holds-barred, all-spoilers-go thread for people who are already familiar with the story via the manga. There are a lot of other ways to do something similar--such as a catch-all spoiler/speculation thread where it's okay to bring up stuff from the manga that hasn't come up in the anime yet, and then new threads for each episode which follow the normal spoiler-tag policy. Obviously you guys should feel free to start whatever threads you feel like, but it's something to think about. ~Dagger~

If they don't, someone else might! In that sense, it could be quite educational. :animesmil ~Dagger~

I think the reason there haven't been any posts here yet is because it's such an intimidatingly huge subject, haha. This show [i]is[/i] its characters--okay, that sounds like a truism, but it applies more to FMA than to a lot of other series, I think. Which, of course, makes this a nice idea for a topic. :catgirl: I can't offer much of a response re:Mustang except to say that the blogger did a spot-on job of explaining his appeal as a character. What I do want to bring up, though, is what makes Ed such a compelling protagonist (at least for me). Behind all their power-ups and contrived but exciting battles, sports series and fighting series and so forth are essentially about that one key moment when the main character grits his/her teeth and stands up under the most hopeless of circumstances. Ed goes from despair to impossible determination movingly and convincingly because his stubborn need to survive and his grit aren't aspects of himself he occasionally discovers under extreme duress; they're the absolute core of his being. When watching the first series, I remember wanting Ed to make it out okay so badly... he's easy to root for because you honestly believe that he could take the worst kind of emotional/physical beating, clench his hands--and, when he really needs to, when he gives himself no other choice, get up anyway. Not because it's necessary or convenient for the plot--because that's who his character is. ~Dagger~

Edit made. I'm not gonna lie; I giggle a little every time I look at it. ~Dagger~

Argh, too many good ones. Since people are already advocating it, I'm going to go with Ace's version of the miniskirts one for starters (unless there are any strong objections). We could also run a poll. Of course, with all these great ideas--and no doubt more will occur to us once the new series begins running--it might be fun to change the blurb every month or two. And now for an exceedingly trivial question. Which of these two do you prefer? "Miniskirts" "Mini-skirts" Speak now or [strike]forever[/strike] hold your peace. ~Dagger~

Re: the issue of where it'll pick up--by most accounts, they're rebooting from the very beginning... which is probably the best way to do it. We'll see. ~Dagger~

I could've phrased this so as to dodge the censor--but somehow, it just didn't have the same ring. You guys know what I mean. [quote name='Sangome'][SIZE="1"]It's just the decay of our society. [Or theirs. Either or.][/SIZE][/QUOTE] Let's try to keep things in perspective. This is some seriously dumb ****, and dumb **** is eternal. People have done seriously dumb **** since the beginning of time or whatever. People will always do dumb ****. There is really no way to completely eradicate dumb **** from society--nor can I imagine that any society throughout history has succeeded in doing so. Things like oppression, pillaging, genocide, civil war, mass starvation--those, I would suggest, are symptoms of societal decay. But this? This is just an example of dumb ****. :whoops: ~Dagger~

Here's the latest preview. [youtube]idozY4yijIw[/youtube] It's not often that one gets to enjoy nostalgia and the thrill of something new at the same time. I feel totally vindicated in dumping the manga now, by the way. Now I get to chew my nails over a whole new set of plot twists. :animesmil I do prefer the anime character designs used in the previous series, but then, I was never a big fan of how Arakawa draws faces. ~Dagger~