Dagger

No episode 20 until the end of the month. :animedepr I've put off watching 19 because of that. I did peek at the future episode titles (everything up to 23 has been announced). [I] Very[/I] suggestive... ~Dagger~

[quote name='Matt'] And then, there's Vagrant Story. Now, this may come from the people who made Final Fantasy XII, but it goes without saying that this is an amazing game.[/QUOTE] As imbalanced as they are in terms of graphics and scope, I think I like Vagrant Story as least as much as FFXII. Awesome battle system, although the bosses get recycled too much. It's a lonely game in terms of structure--you can go ages and ages without talking to another character--but that adds to its mystery. It's too bad they didn't put more effort into making the plot clear. I'm still on Tales of the Abyss--specifically, on the Tales of Dragon Buster mini-game. It's tremendous fun and almost makes me wish I had the chance to play the original Dragon Buster. ~Dagger~

A little Darker Than Black here, a little Baccano! there... I'm giving Shana one more shot; I'll dive into the first disc tomorrow, assuming Tales of the Abyss doesn't suck all my time away. I saw the first episode some time ago and--although I actually enjoyed it--was left feeling somewhat meh about the show's future. [quote name='2007DigitalBoy'][COLOR="DarkOrange"] I'm guessing a plot twist will be thrown into the midst somewhere along the line.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] *says nothing* ~Dagger~

I think [b]Nadia[/b] would be in my top ten were it not for the awful middle (island & Africa) episodes. The rest of it is so wonderful that it's in my top twenty despite the filler. It's also interesting to look out for Evangelion parallels as you make your way through it (for instance, Electra & Ritsuko). Its themes and epic scope make it feel much like Castle in the Sky. The "sequel" movie is beyond atrocious. I choose not to acknowledge its existence. ~Dagger~

I have become totally confused about Fish Eye's gender. Does this ever get cleared up on screen? Anyway, I love Moon Gorgeous Meditation--Usagi's poses are so cool. :love: Am hoping to finish SuperS this month. [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/sm1.jpg[/IMG] I took [url=http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/9332/smlp6.jpg][u]several[/u][/url] [url=http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/4820/sm2mt7.jpg][u]other[/u][/url] [url=http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/4974/sm3om0.jpg][u]pretty[/u][/url] [url=http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/6633/sm4mg0.jpg][u]caps[/u][/url] [url=http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/9999/sm5ko7.jpg][u]as[/u][/url] [url=http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/728/sm6nj8.jpg][u]well[/u][/url]. It was rather nice to see Naru again; I was pretty sure that the writers had forgotten about her. ~Dagger~

Thanks for the second link. Also, there's some new footage in [url=http://www.emimusic.jp/hikki/beautifulworld/index_j.htm][u]this excerpt[/u][/url] from Utada's Beautiful World PV. The lyrics amused me. It helps that, as a song, it's way better than her Fly Me to the Moon. ~Dagger~

[quote name='2007DigitalBoy'][COLOR="DarkOrange"]Wasn't [B]Black Lagoon[/B], like, guaranteed to be on [B]AS[/B]? Anyway, I'm gunna check out [B]Figure 17[/B] first. I didn't expect so many recs so quick ^^;;[/COLOR][/QUOTE] I wish. Doesn't seem likely to happen now, however; it's already coming out on DVD. I guess the extreme profanity proved to be too much or something. ~Dagger~

Yeah, same director. Geass would be great on AS--I sure hope so. (Actually, thanks for the reminder... I'd totally forgotten that Bandai had said it would be on TV one way or the other.) Also, you should watch [b]Black Lagoon[/b], because [url=http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/2733/balabo1.jpg][u]these ladies[/u][/url] will come kick your butt if you don't. ~Dagger~

You like Gilgamesh's art and dislike Red Garden's? I have no idea why, but I'm kind of impressed, haha. [quote name='2007DigitalBoy'][COLOR="DarkOrange"] [B]Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha[/B]: I've heard both good things and bad things about this series to both extremes XD I know it's huge in Japan right now... This one is like 72 eps though O_o[/COLOR][/QUOTE] The third season (StrikerS) is still running, so you can pretend it doesn't exist--and then all that's left are two sets of thirteen episodes. The first two seasons each have satisfying and complete-feeling endings. I won't pretend this is some inspired work of genius. Even so, it fulfills a deep need within me--a need we surely all possess!--to see cute girls beat the living **** out of each other with attacks that would make DBZ characters cry. ;) Side note: Cossette was directed by Shinbo. Have you seen [b]Code Geass[/b]? ETA: Uh... Neo Ranga? Haven't seen it for myself, but I've never heard a single positive thing about it, except for occasional remarks about how the OP is deceptively interesting. ~Dagger~

Apologies if you've seen any of these... [b]Figure 17[/b]: Combines slice-of-life pacing with alien-fighting action. There are 13 episodes, but each one is about twice as long as a normal anime episode. Very sweet, sincere story. [b]Munto & Munto 2[/b]: Two short fantasy OVAs. I mention them in part because they're a KyoAni side project. Great eye candy, of course, but I also liked the emotions in the first OVA. [b]Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha[/b]: This was made for you, lolicon-san. Seriously, the first season takes a while to settle in, but these are the most bad-*** little girls you'll ever see. [b]Texhnolyze[/b]: The next logical step after fare like Boogiepop and Lain. Very dark, artsy and sometimes downright grisly. Unusual first episode with virtually no dialogue. [b]R.O.D the TV[/b]: I can't remember if you've watched this or not... anyway, it's cleverly connected to the OVA. Entertaining action + a very strong focus on the cast's relationships. [b]Princess Tutu[/b]: Okay, okay, don't run away just yet. Deviously intelligent metafictional shoujo. It plumbs the darker depths of Western fairy tales. [b]Kaleido Star[/b]: About joining the equivalent of the Cirque du Soleil. Amazing acrobatic sequences and the most lovable, wonderful, charming heroine in any anime ever. Food for the spirit. [b]Gilgamesh[/b]: There's no way around it--you're going to hate the art. But it has a damn good story. If you end up going for Texhnolyze, give this a shot as well. Post-apocalyptic tragedy. ~Dagger~

Volume 5 kept my interest. I like how the series starts fresh each episode--jumping around in time, or at least appearing to, in order to keep you guessing. That said, two dream episodes in a row is a bit much. The [strike]Disney[/strike] Smile Land episode reeeaaaally did not work for me, although I did like the [spoiler]Vincent as part of Re-L[/spoiler] episode that came after it. It's unfortunate that with all this inventiveness on display, the show tends to return to the status quo instead of shaking things up. ~Dagger~

[quote name='Avenged666fold']Some people have told me it's the next Cowboy Bebop.[/QUOTE] One thing's for sure--it's a lot more brutal than Bebop. I polished off volume 2 earlier today. Revy: [spoiler]"Hey... is she taking it up the ***?"[/spoiler] Balalaika: [spoiler]"Sure is."[/spoiler] [i][later][/i] Balalaika: "Somebody shoot me." Tagged to protect the innocent. So you kind of have to watch it for yourself, but that scene (from episode 7, "Calm Down, Two Men") just gets funnier each time I see it. Favorite characters, anyone? Balalaika is mine, but it's so hard to choose. Black Lagoon has an almost unfairly high proportion of awesome characters, especially women (Revy, Shenhua), but also men (Dutch, Mr. Chan). It's way more ethnically diverse than most other anime, even those that involve exotic locales. ~Dagger~

[quote name='Athena'][size=1][color=darkslateblue]Everything from what the word means to how homosexuals have intercourse. [/size][/color][/QUOTE] If it can be done by a homosexual couple, it can be done by a straight couple, too. Might be useful information no matter who you want to have sex with. :p I live in a liberal part of the US. Even here, teachers are only allowed to bring up homosexuality in detail if a kid asks them specific questions about it. Other than that, all they can do is mention that some people have feelings for members of the same sex. (Like an eighth grader won't have already figured that out.) Minus details, I'm a tad skeptical about this story. I can't really see it happening... except maybe in California, haha. Whether the students are ten or sixteen, sex-ed classes should cover homosexuality. The appropriate age at which to start sex-ed classes is a separate issue. ~Dagger~

[quote name='Lunox'][font="trebuchet ms"] I think they mean 'slick' as in more frame rates per second. Slick animation is always a good thing, but slick character animation is always something dependent upon the talent of the animator. I don't fully understand what you mean by 'totally smooth' animation, though. Do you mean in terms of character animation or just frame rate? [/font][/QUOTE] I was referring to frame rate, but can the two really be divorced from each other? [b]Dennou Coil[/b] is a recent example of great character animation--the kids all move like kids, and they have individual gaits. The animator-added flair elevates the series above other TV shows with solid production values. That said, with fewer frames it would start to look like a flip-book, which would render the most creative drawings & angles moot. Often I'll be watching a show with the usual animation short-cuts, and all of a sudden some minor detail gets a huge frame rate boost. Whether the extra smoothness is used for a fight scene or physical comedy, it says a lot stylistically. And then some shows leave you feeling that the animators knew exactly how to maximize their budget by using just the right frame count for each scene and each movement. It's hard to explain in words, but I guess what I mean is that knowing what deserves a more intensified frame count--deciding what should be super-smooth and what shouldn't, beyond just talky scenes and action scenes--might be an important skill, too. But that's all a bit OT, I suppose. :animeswea ~Dagger~

[quote name='2007DigitalBoy'][COLOR="DarkOrange"]When was the last time you saw an anime with no moe characters in it that had any regular-looking anime characters in it? Even [B]Kino[/B] is moe, BTW. These days it's unavoidable.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. There are still plenty of anime without 'moe characters'... and anyway, the important thing is that moe is in the eye of the beholder. You may think Kino the character is moe, but that doesn't necessarily make Kino's Journey a moe anime. (I guess it's okay to say that a show that's obviously gunning for a moe reaction is a 'moe anime,' but on the whole, moe is a feeling, and it's one that comes from the viewer. Cute characters have never been totally avoidable. But moe--as an emotion, an attraction, whatever--is 100% avoidable.) Technically there are no moe character designs... just character designs that you personally think are moe, designs that other people are likely to think are moe, and designs that try so damn hard to be moe that you kind of have to acknowledge their efforts no matter how you actually feel about them. Calling these sorts of designs moe is an expression of personal opinion, just like calling them beautiful. [quote name='2007DigitalBoy'][COLOR="DarkOrange"]And what the hell, there is no nudity in NGE!!![/COLOR][/QUOTE] Guess you didn't watch EoE. :p ~Dagger~

[quote name='Sandy']How about if the subforums to AL and Hardwired were not based on franchise or platforms, but rather [B]genres[/B]? [/QUOTE] Wouldn't work for anime. Too many series are sci-fi & romance & comedy & fanservice & whatever all at the same time, without a clearly dominant element. I suppose it would be possible to divide them into shounen/seinen and shoujo/josei. Doing so would defeat the purpose, though, in that it would lump together diverse series that have nothing in common other than being shoujo or shounen. ETA: Of course, it would be possible to cover some easily identified areas (mecha, magical girl), although that would still leave the majority of shows uncategorizable... ~Dagger~

So you're saying "style" is the sum total of whatever makes it look the way it looks--character designs, how it's animated, etc...? One thing I've realized I like about anime in general is the variance in frame rates. People complain about anime not being as slick as Western animation, but to me, unvaried smoothness is a much bigger problem. Animation doesn't have to duplicate human movement perfectly, but it should at least show an amplification of natural movement. And the thing is, people don't move smoothly. They stumble. They hesitate. They jerk around. When I see totally smooth animation, I can't get into it. That's also why I don't like full-CG anime, even when they're cel-shaded to look 2D. The movements don't feel right--they're too graceful and continuous and alien. Overall I care about art much less than animation. Whether it's simplistic or as frilly as old-school CLAMP, I'll learn to like it if it's animated with panache. [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/merchanthp7.png[/IMG] That said, in terms of style, one of my current favorites is [b]Mononoke[/b] (above). It doesn't have a lot in the way of character movement. But the settings are so, so stunning, and the designs are deliciously unusual. It feels like watching a painting or some other kind of flat art come to life. ~Dagger~

[url=http://www.blacklagooncompany.com/][u]Official site[/u][/url] [size=1][includes a ton of trailers][/size] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lagoon][u]Black Lagoon[/u][/url] @ Wikipedia [url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6159][u]Black Lagoon[/u][/url] @ ANN [center][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/revy.jpg[/IMG][/center] I can't believe there's no thread for this series--it's only the best action anime to come along in years. The main characters are a group of amoral mercenaries struggling to make money and not get killed in a fictional South Asian city. Here's a list of just a few of the things that make Black Lagoon awesome. - It has one of the best English dubs ever - And the Japanese track is just as fantastic - It's got killer maids, killer babes, killer children - Yet the stories it throws them into feel gritty and human... - Despite the well-animated, over-the-top action. - There's no clear-cut good or evil - It's thought-provoking, often uncomfortably so - But you can still turn off your brain & enjoy it. - Amusing use of profanity - Catchy (if incomprehensible) opening song I'm currently on the second DVD, which came out in stores recently. This is the second or third time I've rewatched these episodes, and they're still fun. The show also gets better and better as it goes along. ~Dagger~

I never managed to finish watching this, although I love the premise. (A Canadian ghost? A Canadian ghost named [I]Pete[/I]???) I'm glad I saw at least a few episodes of it, though, because I still listen to the opening and ending a lot. (The OP is Dual by Yellow Generation; the ED is Energy by Inoue Marina). They're rather addictive and go well together. ~Dagger~

Are you talking about the designs as they would appear on a character sheet, or the designs as they appear in the anime itself? (e.g. nasty faces in a Naruto filler episode.) Your post makes it sound like a bit of the former and a bit of the latter. ~Dagger~

After over a year, I've finally gone back to watching Sailor Moon SuperS. It's been so long that I just decided to start over from the beginning. On a whim, I pulled out the first volume this evening and ended up knocking back six episodes as if they were nothing. There's no looking back now. I'll post in the main Sailor Moon thread when I'm further along in the season. ~Dagger~

I was paid $75 for participating in a three-week study earlier in the year. It just involved answering questions a couple of times a day, so it was basically easy money. I don't think I'd do anything that involved needles or a heavier time drain, though. ~Dagger~

I've read chapter 0. With a premise that should've been hysterical, it wasn't actually funny. Middling art. [b]Tonari no 801-chan[/b] (which started as a blog, was released in graphic novel form & is getting a live action adaptation) is a lot more charming. ~Dagger~

I couldn't count how many times I went "Yes! It's so true!" in response to episode 5. Balding men with long hair, getting a luxury TV for a tiny apartment... I wonder if this series will ever run out of issues to tackle? So far it's going strong. ~Dagger~

This historical folklore-horror series is a spin-off of Bakeneko (“Demon/Ghost Cat”), which in turn is an arc of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayakashi][u]Ayakashi[/u][/url], whose other arcs have absolutely nothing to do with either it or Mononoke. Confused yet? :p Don't think too hard about it--Mononoke stands just fine on its own. The main character is a nameless medicine seller who is able to defeat spirits (mononoke) when certain conditions are met. The series has unconventional character designs and psychedelic backgrounds; visually, it comes off as a mix of traditional Japanese art and pop art (plus a dose of superflat). [b]Story arcs so far[/b] [I]Zashiki-warashi[/I] [episodes 1-2]: A zashiki-warashi is a type of child spirit said to reside in houses. In this opening arc, a pregnant woman seeks refuge at the inn where the medicine seller happens to be spending the night. [i]Umibouzu[/i] [episodes 3-5]: An umibouzu is a sea spirit that capsizes ships. As of now I've only seen episode 3, in which the medicine seller meets an eccentric group of characters while traveling on an even stranger vessel. [b]Links[/b] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mononoke_%28anime%29][u]Mononoke[/u][/url] @ Wikipedia [url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=7890][u]Mononoke[/u][/url] @ ANN [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NybfsliwYw][u]Opening sequence[/u][/url] Mononoke provides a lot of stuff to talk about. For now I'll keep this short, so here are a few quick observations. Zashiki-warashi appear in plenty of other anime, but the cute female zashiki-warashi of xxxHOLiC and the ghastly infants in Mononoke seem worlds apart. This show finds something raw and squirm-inducing in familiar creatures & tales. The man vs. mononoke scenarios feel more like survival of the fittest than good vs. evil. Most of the characters in the first arc are portrayed in a negative light (the innkeeper, for instance, comes off as being almost inhumanly cruel). The second arc makes you question whether the medicine seller himself is just as bad. What's his motivation? As an Agatha Christie fan, I grinned at the whodunit homages that came up here and there in episode 3. ~Dagger~