Dagger

Regarding the end of episode 5... [spoiler]I'm pretty sure that a) the doctor will die, and b) his death will be what forces Juliet to make her decision about launching a real rebellion. She'll have to recognize that half-hearted measures and indecision will only lead to greater suffering.[/spoiler] I'm looking forward to seeing what happens. And [spoiler]Romeo didn't make the connection between Juliet and the Red Whirlwind, amazingly. I guess he's not quite the sharpest knife in the drawer, after all.[/spoiler] :animeswea On the other hand, the persistence of [spoiler]mistaken identities[/spoiler] [i]is[/i] a very Shakespearean theme. ~Dagger~

Oh man... I would really miss [spoiler]Sayid.[/spoiler] However, I would [i]gladly[/i] sacrifice both [spoiler]him and Ben[/spoiler] if it meant [spoiler]getting Kate out of the way[/spoiler] as well. :devil: ~Dagger~

I skim the spoiler thread at the TWOP forums from time to time, but all I've gleaned from it lately is the [spoiler]five deaths[/spoiler] hint that Shin mentioned. I was under the impression that it was [spoiler]"five deaths in May," though, so I'm counting Anthony Cooper as the first of the deaths. Here's a cursory list--not necessarily what I'll be showing my friends when we start our betting pool, but it reflects my thoughts at the moment. - Anthony Cooper (for the reason mentioned above). - I agree about Desmond and Charlie. I want to say Desmond, not because I dislike him, but because the only way I can see them getting any element of surprise out of Charlie's looming death is by having Desmond voluntarily die instead of him in some situation or another. However, I have to go with Charlie, because there's too much Desmond-related stuff that hasn't been resolved yet. - Naomi. I have a feeling that she's not going to be long for the island. - Mikhail. Second time's the charm? Alternatives: Cindy, Tom. - Ben, though it pains me to type it. It seems like they've been setting Richard up as his replacement. I hope he keeps appearing in the past, a la Ethan. I just don't think they'll kill off more than one of the core survivors. If I had my druthers, Jack would be a goner, plus Kate Blabby McBlabber Austen. But if I had to guess, I'd say that Jack, Kate, Locke and Sawyer will be basically untouchable until near the end of the series.[/spoiler] ~Dagger~

Oh, [i]wow[/i]. Next to 25, episode 29 has definitely become my favorite episode in the series so far. It was even better than I hoped. This is where the benefits of speeding up the second arc come into play. It was thrilling, not rushed, and covered a lot of ground. They'll definitely be able to finish the second arc within the remaining episodes now. It was a very good-looking episode with plenty of action. I had my fingers crossed that [spoiler]they'd give Mello his chance to shine here,[/spoiler] and Madhouse didn't disappoint. The [spoiler]hospital scene[/spoiler] was more affecting than in the manga, in large part thanks to Mamoru Miyano's acting chops. Man, talk about dramatic irony up the wazoo. There's so much to look forward to! [spoiler]Scarred Mello, Mikami, Matt, Takada...[/spoiler] I'll definitely watch this episode multiple times to make the wait feel shorter. ~Dagger~

Haha! Check out [url=http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=233][u]this VG Cats strip[/u][/url]. Priceless. ~Dagger~

Yet Bebop is the exception to Inuyasha's rule--not an example of an equally strong trend. Even the eternally milked Evangelion has been released in a thinpak. ~Dagger~

A couple of items for discussion here. 1) The Lucky Star series director, Yutaka Yamamoto, is being replaced by another KyoAni veteran, Yasuhiro Takemoto, as of episode 5. (Which makes the just-aired episode 4 the final Yamamoto episode.) This has sparked a lot of confusion, especially in light of the recent Gurren Lagann controversy. To recap, Gurren Lagann is Gainax's latest anime. Episode 4 was directed by Osamu Kobayashi (Beck, Paradise Kiss), who is a respected animator with a distinctive style. However, a lot of people on 2ch were pissed off at how different episode 4 looked from the previous episodes. They flooded Gainax's blog with nasty comments and dug up some remarks that Gainax staff members had made on a social networking site. (They called 2ch an anus, insulted otaku, etc.) The fallout from this resulted in the resignation of one of Gainax's founding members. Additionally, they've promised that Kobayashi will not return for future episodes of Gurren Lagann. Because the Lucky Star announcement happened right on the heels of this, a lot of people assumed that it was either a) a publicity stunt or parody on KyoAni's part, or b) something posted by otaku hackers who were emboldened by their success in intimidating Gainax. However, more news sites are picking it up, and it's starting to look like the real thing. Going back to Lucky Star, Yamamoto previously directed the Haruhi ED dance, a few Haruhi episodes (including The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina and Live A Live), and various episodes of other shows. His successor, Takemoto, has directed Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu and The Second Raid. Last I checked, ANN had some incorrect information regarding Yamamoto's full name and work, so it's all a bit confusing. I think there's still no guarantee that it's not a tongue-in-cheek joke or prank, since it was known from the beginning that Takemoto would be working on episode 5. So we'll see. 2) This [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGDPZDk6HCI][u]Lucky Channel fandub[/u][/url]. Actually there's not too much to say about it, except that it's both impressively done and serves to highlight the range of Akira's seiyuu. The girl fandubbing her nails most of the high parts, but she can't hit the low notes. 3) Episode 4. Most of it whooshed over my head (that'll teach me to watch this show when I'm tired). I totally identify with Konata's procrastination methods, though. ~Dagger~

To me, dubs are the clearest indicator of the fact that anime companies aren't doing so well right now. Dubs are very expensive to make. Without a dub, though, most shows have no chance of getting on TV. In the days of VHS, dubbed tapes outsold subbed tapes by a ten to one ratio. Dubs are a tremendous selling point for a lot of people who buy DVDs and don't pay much attention to downloads. More significantly, by the end of the boom, there were some really great dubs being made. Now, though, the companies that don't have in-house dubbing studios (everyone but ADV and FUNimation) are increasingly starting to outsource English vocal work to less-respected but far cheaper Canadian and Singaporean studios. And if you thought regular dubs weren't worth listening to, just hope you never hear one from Singapore. So what are companies supposed to do? Take away a dub completely, and you can lower prices. That's the route Media Blasters has gone down. But you also greatly reduce a show's potential audience & exposure. It's a vicious cycle. ~Dagger~

Episode 4 was extraordinarily blah. I hope all these lame supporting characters die painful deaths soon. I haven't felt this bloodthirsty since Fate/stay night. On the plus side, there was some nice music toward the end. ~Dagger~

I think Sun [spoiler]realized what she was about to put Jin through by using the money, but she might've hoped that he would find some way to resist... that he wouldn't turn out to be the kind of man who would kill for her father.[/spoiler] Even though he didn't, haha. I love glaring, threat-dropping, kick-*** Sun. As my friend said: "Ain't no more herbs in this remedy!" :devil: ~Dagger~

Certainly that's a factor, but most anime only make money in Japan because of merchandise sales (which includes DVDs). Since the majority of shows are broadcast late at night and/or get negligible ratings, advertisements don't really play into it. So [I]someone[/I] must be buying them. ;) ~Dagger~

Just be glad you guys don't live in Japan. :animeswea I think the argument that goes like, "Well, it's fine for prices to be higher in Japan because they can see anime on TV" is fallacious. Anyone with an Internet connection has access to pretty much everything that's airing in Japan right now. They can go through the same process, if they so desire, of watching different shows to see which is worth buying on DVD. From that perspective, Region 1-dwelling folk get a much better deal. I'll take four episodes for $16 (which is really what it amounts to if you're determined to buy the singles but also determined to shop around or bide your time for a good deal) over one, two or three episodes for $50 to $70 any day. R2 DVDs are a pain. ~Dagger~

Everything is cheap (as cheap or more so than American show sets) if you're willing to wait. Thinpaks, economy sets, clearance sales, Right Stuf sales... If you're not willing to wait, there's Netflix. Anyway, y'all try pricing anime appropriately and earning back licensing fees. You can try to lower prices and move more copies, but most anime will simply not sell very much no matter how low the prices get. Or you can raise prices and just sell to super hardcore fans. Companies recognize that this isn't a good long-term strategy. In fact, the only Region 1 company to attempt it so far is actually a Japanese company that's trying to make its own inroads in North America without the slightest understanding of how the market works. The overall DVD market and the anime DVD market are both slumping. The number of anime DVDs being released here is still pretty high, but it's dropping by a substantial percentage from year to year. The boom is over, and companies are struggling. Media Blasters has opted to release niche (although this a matter of perspective) shows without dubs, which lets them price each volume at $19. Online or during sales, that easily dips below $10--e.g. the same price as a volume of manga. But the no-dub thing pisses off dub fans and drives away some people who might've picked up a regularly priced release. If you guys have great ideas about how to lower prices without going in the red, I'm sure the companies would love to hear them. ~Dagger~

Actually, I was referring to [i]my[/i] post as veering toward the moral blathering territory. As in, official releases > fansubs >>>>>>> bootlegs. ~Dagger~

It's not a gray area, hon. You're talking about bootlegs--and plenty of the companies and people who make them, in Hong Kong or wherever else, have been arrested in the past. (I'm talking specifically about anime bootlegs; there's really no room for doubt.) My take on it? If people want to download anime, that's their business. It's not particularly honorable to do it once after a show has been legally released in one's region, but blathering about morals won't convince anyone to stop or support the official release. Those who buy bootlegs knowingly confound me, though. If you want to go down the illegal route, why spend money when you might as well take it for free? At least nobody's getting paid for ripping off other people's work that way. ~Dagger~

Heh heh heh. Episode 4 made me quite giddy. I'm happy about the fact that [spoiler]Romeo now knows Juliet is the Red Whirlwind--there was no reason to drag that plot point out for much longer.[/spoiler] In lieu of battles, we get a lot of nicely done character interaction scenes. And in spite of that, they didn't skimp on animation for this episode. [spoiler]Romeo's rescue at the end[/spoiler] was too grand (and endearing and silly) for words. :animesmil The absolute best part? They broke out the [spoiler]rose/name[/spoiler] line!!! Slightly changed, of course, and [spoiler]Juliet-sama[/spoiler] is the one who says it. [spoiler][i]Tatoe kono hana ni namae ga nakutemo, amai kaori ni kawari wa nai no ni...[/i][/spoiler] In translation I'd phrase it as something like, [spoiler]"Yet even if this flower had no name, the sweetness of its scent would never change."[/spoiler] It looks like [spoiler]some bad/sad stuff is gonna go down[/spoiler] in episode 5. This may have been the lull before the storm, but what a lovely [spoiler]and surprisingly sexy[/spoiler] lull it was. ~Dagger~

[SIZE=1]Oh yeah. Great acting from the lady who plays Juliet. Here's what I'm wondering: [spoiler]would Claire have been afflicted at all if the Others hadn't touched her? After the surgery scene (I think), Juliet tells Ben that the problem is something that starts at conception. Maybe you're safe if you pass that stage before coming to the island.[/spoiler] Someone I was talking to also suggested that she [spoiler]might have been sent there to abduct Sun. I don't think it's impossible for them to be aware of the pregnancy--especially since Locke would have known about it.[/spoiler] I really liked how the [spoiler]cancer, pregnancy and child abduction issues were tied together.[/spoiler] I hadn't been expecting much from this episode--the preview from last week made it look like another Jack The Great Leader love-fest. And I can't believe there are only five or so episodes left in the season... urgh. I bet they're going to stretch out the issue of [spoiler]Juliet's real plans/allegiances[/spoiler] until the very end. [spoiler]I like her better evil, though.[/spoiler] Those eyes...[/SIZE] ---------------------------------- Okay, someone tell me what the heck just happened. I can't have been the only one who shrieked at the TV. I don't even know how I feel anymore--delight, rage, insanity... argh! If this is just the end of one episode, I can't imagine what the season finale will be like. And the preview! :animestun Overall, one of the best episodes in a while. But the Korean episodes are often a cut above the rest. ~Dagger~

[quote name='Fasteriskhead]I actually find this strange. To give an example, since I like Johnny Cash I would consider myself [i]somewhat[/i] of a country fan, even if he and a few others are the only musicians there that I like. I wouldn't say that I'm not a country fan but that I make "exceptions" - I would say that I [i]am[/i'] a fan, although not much of one (or, that I have a very narrow range).[/quote] Her thinking makes sense to me. Going back to Ender's Game, she may have liked it in spite of the fact that it's sci-fi--or rather, the reason she liked it isn't because she's a sci-fi fan in some small way, but because she's a fan of books that deal seriously with children or have good character development. (Which is all speculation on my part. Sorry, Lunox. :animeswea) To use another example, I like what little I've heard of Japanese hip-hop because it's hysterically entertaining, not because it professes to be hip-hop or because I'm a fan of hip-hop in general. ~Dagger~

Episode 28 was good stuff. [spoiler]Missiles! A new shinigami! More of Noriko Hidaka's fabulous voice acting![/spoiler] The scene in which [spoiler]the SPK members were killed[/spoiler] was especially well conceived, with all the falling dice. Episode 29 is tellingly titled [spoiler]"Father."[/spoiler] From the way Mello's face was drawn in the preview, I'm going to hazard a guess that it'll be done by the same animation team as [url=http://www.designchronicle.com/memento/archives/death_note_ep14.html][u]episode 14[/u][/url], which a lot of people disliked but I felt was better than par for the course visually. I didn't think the character designs were off-model--the lighting and shading were just treated differently. ~Dagger~

@Lunox: Hence, after all this, I stand by my statement that people are anime fans as long as they claim to be anime fans. Even if they're lying (as Nerdsy said half in jest), I'd argue that it still qualifies as a kind of performative coming out. ;) ~Dagger~

I think that's a really good point, Lunox (as posted above me & earlier in the thread). However, I think that people who only like a specific show or two for a specific reason are probably inclined to recognize that they're not "anime fans" and may go out of their way to make sure others don't call them that. (e.g. a Go fan might watch Hikaru no Go for that reason--or Hajime no Ippo or Ashita no Joe for boxing, or a historical series because of his interest in that Japanese time period, or a culturally specific comedy because of his interest in Japanese culture in general.) Is that the sort of thing you were thinking of? Then again, it's harder to come up with that kind of scenario for Naruto... ~Dagger~

[B]Director: [/B]Tensai Okamura [Wolf's Rain, parts of the Cowboy Bebop movie, storyboards for many episodes of Cowboy Bebop TV] [B]Animation Production:[/B] BONES [FMA, Wolf's Rain, RahXephon] [B]Music: [/B] Yoko Kanno [Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain, Escaflowne] [CENTER][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/dtb.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER] So! This series is an urban fantasy that mashes together the likes of Witch Hunter Robin and Cowboy Bebop and yet manages not to feel completely derivative. It has a bi-episodic structure, and the director has said they'll use this to introduce both comedic and serious stories. Its mythology is a little complex. Near Tokyo, a territory called Hell's Gate appeared and made the city lose its real sky. In its place appeared a sky filled with fake stars, each one of which represents a Contractor with paranormal powers. Each time he uses his power, a contractor has to pay some kind of price (which can range from breaking his own fingers to--I kid you not--eating dandelions). Along with the Contractors emerged the soulless mediums called Dolls. The main character, Hei, is a Contractor who carries out missions from a typical shadowy organization while meeting pretty, tragic women and dodging the police. He's a great actor and manipulator and generally very good at what he does. His power involves [spoiler]electricity, and the price for it appears to be eating obscene amounts of food.[/spoiler] :animeswea Anyway, it's not as self-consciously cool as Bebop, but both the show and its protagonist have a kind of smooth assurance that makes them fun to watch. ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Fasteriskhead][SIZE=1] For my money, the distinction here isn't between "real" and "fake" people - that is, if someone has a crush on a character in a TV show, I don't think it makes any difference whatsoever whether the show is live action or animated.[/SIZE][/QUOTE] I agree with most of your post, but even if we grant that there's not a core difference in the nature of how people feel about the character, you're brushing off important perceived distinctions. For instance, people who have a crush on a character in a live-action production almost invariably have a crush on the actor as well. If that actor turns out to be reprehensible in some regard, the disillusionment tends to extend to the character as well. (And to think I used to be a Tom Cruise fan...) In addition to the narratives of the shows/movies/etc. in which they appear, live-action actors are constantly engaged in the meta-narrative of their actual lives, which get distorted or selectively reported into tabloid soap operas that plenty of people find at least as engaging as their fictional work. The more out there and recognizable the actor is, the thinner the illusion of fiction on camera and the greater the illusion of reality in Us Weekly. There's nothing comparable for anime characters--figures and doujin are all very well, but it's not the same as going to a film because it has Angelina Jolie and then fanning yourself over her as her character. Your pane of glass analogy holds truer for anime than for live-action stuff. People have a much greater sense of being able to get close to human actors, whether through getting autographs or stalking them or just reading magazines. There are (rather scary) people who consider love toward an actor they've never met to be totally legitimate. Chances are that this love is based mainly on his/her characters with maybe a sprinkling of whatever they've been able to glean from People. The closest you get to this in anime are seiyuu, but the character and actor are (for most people) clearly divided, and the actor doesn't own the character in the same way. You can be a huge fan of a character without being able to recognize her seiyuu's face. Crushes on live-action actors involve as much "resistance," as you put it, as crushes on anime characters. (The lack of resistance is what makes people with life-size "wife" dolls so damn creepy.) The fact that people don't view them the same way is, perversely, what makes them different. The mirage of realness in anime stops when the show ends; the mirage of realness in live-action material never ends as long as there's an actor there to bridge the gap. The issue is that some people genuinely don't know what it's like to be in a two-way relationship. (Hence those awful dolls.) Nice gif, by the by. ~Dagger~

Hey, guys, how about answering the important questions? Like: what the heck happened to [i]my[/i] man-slaves? :mad: ~Dagger~

Cute banner/av, Des! [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPartZH1RY0][u]Motteke! Sailor Fuku ~Michael Jackson Version~[/u][/url] I do believe that link speaks for itself. :toothy: The part of episode 3 that really made me giggle was the conversation that followed when Kagami asked Konata for help with a game she had borrowed. It was also fun watching [spoiler]Konata totally pwn her at various PS2 games.[/spoiler] Lots more references in this one, including [spoiler]Cromartie and Pani Poni Dash bits.[/spoiler] The karaoke ED is Sore ga Ai Deshou, the opening to Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu. There's also a great scene that plays off the [spoiler]ponytail[/spoiler] gag that appears in both Fumoffu and Haruhi. ~Dagger~