Dagger

Someone who says he's an anime fan. That's it. I've come across people who are such sakuga (animation/drawing) fans that they know the animators & animation directors who can single-handedly raise an individual sequence or episode to a much higher level. People who drool over skillful storyboarding, not attractive characters or typical action. And then there are those who like the real classics best--the World Masterpiece Theater anime, the series from the 70s and 80s that don't get screaming fangirls anymore but did pave the way for great storytelling. Maybe we could say that people who haven't seen Rose of Versailles or the original Gundam or Future Boy Conan or Urusei Yatsura (and those are just some of the obvious choices) aren't educated fans. But that's just elitist. ~Dagger~

[quote name='2007DigitalBoy][COLOR=DarkOrange]yes, this is a rather big issue with all anime (and I'm guessing you had [B]ARIA [/B'] in mind when you wrote this post, no?)[/COLOR][/quote] I wasn't thinking of anything in particular, but that's a good guess. Aria's visuals are serviceable when they could be so much more. The Jing OVA is much, much better-looking (and better written and directed) than the TV series. I liked it enough to get the R2 DVDs, although I didn't care for the show and have not read any of the manga. ~Dagger~

It's hard to think of pros and cons that apply to most (not to mention all) anime. I'd say that limited budgets would top my lists of cons, though. Even the best-animated TV shows could be a lot better. Shows that demonstrate gorgeous, creative animation in some episodes inevitably look awkward or cheap in others. And it's a shame when a series with an incredible story has to rely on uninspiring, generic animation. ~Dagger~

It definitely gets better from there (as far as I'm concerned). I hope you enjoy the rest of the show! :) The more I read about the manga's last few arcs & its ending, the happier I am that the anime stopped where it did. ~Dagger~

I'm fascinated by the recent trend toward villainous protagonists (I'm not sure if I should call them heroes, and the term "anti-heroes" has been tossed around so much that it's kind of lost all meaning). It's like the opposite of the pacifistic Vash the Stampede-style hero who pops up in anime pretty regularly. Three recent examples, off the top of my head, are [b]Light[/b] from Death Note, [b]Lelouch[/b] from Code Geass and [b]Hei[/b] from Darker Than Black. Of them, Light is portrayed most unequivocally in a negative light. With Lelouch, you get the sense that the producers want to have their cake and eat it too: generate sympathy for the character while still sending him off on bloody megalomaniacal rampages. Hei is treated with more subtlety, which gives me hope both for him and for the series he stars in. He's squarely in the James Bond class when it comes to manipulating women and doesn't hesitate to kill. What I like, though, is how the show creates the sense that he's a product of his environment. He fits in (just like the starving bounty hunters did in Cowboy Bebop) instead of sticking out like Light or Lelouch. He's not an ambitious genius or anything--just a guy with dead-looking eyes and a lot of well-concealed anger. I like moral ambiguity in my "heroes." But I'll take the type that's emerging in Darker Than Black over Code Geass or Death Note any day. ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=2007DigitalBoy][COLOR=DarkOrange] At first I thought there'd be a bit of competition betweem [B]Mana [/B] and matsuri over Yorito's heart, but Mana seems like more of the older sister type. [/COLOR][/QUOTE] Ah, if only... Almost nothing actually happens in episode 3, but it does develop the conventional [spoiler]"Mana secretly likes Yorito"[/spoiler] storyline. Much of it left me thinking that I'd kick out a girl like that in a New York minute and make my own dinner, thanks. Nosy, plain-looking and wears a fish barrette? I'll pass. Some of the comedy was quite good though, in a self-parodying way. I was all prepared to turn up my nose at it, but the part where Yorito imagines his sister [spoiler]holding up a knife and saying "I'll kill him"[/spoiler] started to break down my defenses. By the time he attempted to [spoiler]cover up Matsuri's secret with even more implausible stories,[/spoiler] I was starting to wish that this series were a full-blown comedy. Mana and Yorito [spoiler]sniping over the last time someone confessed to her[/spoiler] is way more entertaining than Mana being an insufferable busybody. ~Dagger~

I'm going to work for about six weeks, hit the beach and then--if all goes well--head to France in August. It's too bad that I've managed to forget everything I learned in my four years of taking the language... but at least I have friends who speak it. :animesigh ~Dagger~

Oh, he does? My bad. :animeswea And yeah, episode 3 reinforces that impression. This is probably a spoiler for future episodes, albeit a vague one, but there's some RxJ material (either on the Web or from a magazine; I can't remember) which states that Mercutio [spoiler]resents Romeo for being Montague's heir.[/spoiler] That could lead to some interesting situations. ~Dagger~

Chronology for 26 and 27: [spoiler]The "four years later" material came at the end of episode 26. It was a little odd, because they showed Light four years later, then went back in time to show Near and Mello at the orphanage as the final scene, and then zipped forward again for the beginning of 27.[/spoiler] One of the reasons I like Mello is because, in a twisted way, he's the most honest person in the main cast. Light, L and Near all profess to pursue justice but are driven by selfish motives. Near and L chase Light through the justice system, although the restrictions it places on them are ultimately as artificial to them as the rules of a game. Mello wants to win the game by breaking out of it. He acknowledges that the law means nothing to him, compared to winning, and he refuses to hold himself to it. It doesn't make him admirable, but it's nice to have a character who refuses to inhibit himself like L or Near. L is a slightly darker character in the manga than in the anime... but even in the manga, Near is a much darker character than L (or so I believe). It's not something that's presented in an obvious way, like Mello's theatrics, and there are probably a number of ways to read him. Maybe it's that soulless quality he has, anyway, but Near kind of terrifies me. Mello is entertaining; Light is despicable; L is endearing. Near is a black hole. ~Dagger~

I want to say 24/26 episodes, but I don't think we know for sure yet. The current pace would seem to suggest that, though. Mercutio appears for the first time in episode 3, and Tybalt is nowhere in sight. Episode 3 was fairly mild-mannered until the explosion of action at the end. It's pretty clear that they're saving budget up for those big scenes, but I don't mind. Especially since the battles in episode 3 were, if anything, more dynamic and fluid than those in the first two episodes. Key points for this episode... - [spoiler]Cordelia learns that the person Juliet has been seeing is a noble.[/spoiler] - Willy's mother pays a visit! :animesmil - [spoiler]Mercutio tells Montague that he'll keep an eye on Romeo.[/spoiler] - [spoiler]Montague goes to visit "Escalus."[/spoiler] Now, I had to look this up (*is embarrassed*), but in the original story, [spoiler]Escalus is the prince who tries to get the two families to make up.[/spoiler] In this version, I suspect that [spoiler]Escalus is a supernatural being, guardian or god of some sort. The mysterious green-tinted person in the opening is probably the spirit of the tree.[/spoiler] I wonder why Montague believes [spoiler]he has its blessing? He defied Escalus' will to take down the Capulets...[/spoiler] - [spoiler]Romeo visits his mother, who left the castle when he was young. I guess she's living estranged from Montague?[/spoiler] - [spoiler]Lancelot (the doctor) is taken prisoner by city guards for conspiring with the Red Whirlwind. Juliet comes to break him out while he's being tortured. Romeo, returning home on his flying horse, descends and tells the guards that he'll take care of it. He notices the scent of irises, and as he takes up his sword, he tells her quietly that they should pretend to fight and then fall from the tower. This allows Juliet to get away.[/spoiler] - [spoiler]Afterward, Juliet finds out that Romeo is Montague's son. He asks her not to tell anyone that he helped her. It's not 100% clear whether he's guessed at who the Red Whirlwind is, but I think he definitely has suspicions.[/spoiler] - The next episode preview shows [spoiler]Romeo and the Red Whirlwind getting cozy. Faux-BL, anyone?[/spoiler] :p I thought it was cool how [spoiler]Romeo helped Juliet instead of seriously fighting her.[/spoiler] It was unexpected, but it made sense & was perfectly in line with his character, considering [spoiler]how he saved the Red Whirlwind in the first episode and doesn't exactly adhere to his father's beliefs.[/spoiler] It also seems like Mercutio [spoiler]is not going to be the nice guy he was in the play[/spoiler] (as if his character design didn't already betray that, haha). It doesn't bother me, but his fans might be disappointed. Now excuse me while I go watch those fabulous action scenes again. ~Dagger~

[strike]That's not answered in the novels?[/strike] (Then again, asking that probably takes all the fun out of it. :p) Personally, I like to think that Kyon didn't "bottle out," as you so colorfully put it. Either she didn't believe him, or [spoiler]Yuki and co. convinced him that telling her would be somehow disastrous.[/spoiler] ~Dagger~

Quick impressions... The first half of the episode was excellent. I was wowed by the slice-of-life parts, with great character animation & the portrayal of the children's contrasting personalities. That appeals to me much more than the idea of this game or whatever. Especially since the mecha are full CG--ugh. The character that interests me the most so far is the kid with glasses who keeps putting down his little sister. I developed an instant dislike for the girl with the weird hair. GONZO seems to have a lock on great OPs for this season (with Uninstall and Inori ~ You Raise Me Up). The character designs are very well adapted, although I have a feeling that either this or Romeo x Juliet will suffer from weakening animation. They can't both be GONZO A titles (in terms of visuals, at least). ~Dagger~

Oh, absolutely. Although heaven only knows when that'll be, given how long it's been since I had time to rewatch anything. :animeswea I remember the one time broadcast order made me angry was when they split up the murder mystery. Don't mess with detective stories, dammit! :animesmil Cheeky indeed. ~Dagger~

Watch it in TV order. It'll make sense with time. Ironically, it's a much better experience as far as the flow of the story goes. ETA: Not that I'm one to really talk, haha, but being able to surmise that without having watched chronological order is something you might not buy into until you've seen it in broadcast order for yourself. So go watch! :catgirl: ~Dagger~

I haven't yet watched Haruhi in chronological order, although I'll definitely try it out once I get the DVDs. Should be an interesting experience. You hit on the main reason why they scrambled the chronology--to position the climactic story arc toward the end (where it would normally have gone). I haven't read ahead in the novels, and I'm trying to stay away from spoilers, so all I can do is speculate about this... still, though, I wonder whether that will continue to be a problem in a potential second season. If not, might they change the chronology anyway in order to incorporate side stories or something? Would people complain if they didn't come up with a special TV order, assuming the story no longer demanded it? ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=medafunk] I'm very curious about those new (mildly creepy) characters. The story has taken quite a turn, and it's going to be very interesting to see events unfold...[/QUOTE] Kukuku. "Mildly creepy" doesn't even begin to describe them. :toothy: I'm really pleased with Noriko Hidaka as Near. I feel more neutral about Nozomu Sasaki's Mello, but I don't think any seiyuu could have been as totally insane as I had been hoping. I think the anime staff must like Near quite a bit. They lavished a lot of attention on his drawings in an episode that was overall quite poor in terms of budget. Mello didn't get as much love, but they did fast forward through a lot of material in order to play up his crazy side, which was enough to pacify me. He's my favorite character in DN. That younger photo of him... crazy jailbait. And I'll stop now before I start really weirding someone out. :animenose On a side note, Masaya Matsukaze is going to be in the series and will probably voice Mikami. He also played Kyouya in Ouran High School Host Club, in which Mamoru Miyano--aka Light--starred as Tamaki. It'll be like an Ouran reunion! :animeswea ~Dagger~

[quote name='Ikillion][COLOR=#0e1030][SIZE=1][FONT=Trebuchet MS]The only thing that I was really annoyed with was that they were high schoolers that looked more like middle schoolers (I know this was mentioned in the opening post but I either forgot it or something). Its the one thing that can usually turn me off from a series but in this case I think the overall cuteness of the character design counteracted that. I mean seriously, if you want to make a series about high school sophomores, make them [I]look[/I] like high school sophomores. In my mind doings something like this is the equivalent of getting some ten year old, slapping an 18+ age marker on their forehead and throwing them into a hentai film.[/FONT][/SIZE'][/COLOR][/quote] This is something that has really bothered me in the past in other series (with Doki Doki School Hours / Sensei no Ojikan being the worst offender; the main character is a twenty-seven year old who looks like she belongs in elementary school). Generally I can swallow it as long as the characters aren't overtly sexualized--either by the animators or by other characters. So far Lucky Star seems to be all right in that regard. I try to think of the character designs as being deliberately done in a kind of SD style. The cuteness helps, as you said. Episode 2 had a lot more references than episode 1, including some [spoiler]Hare Hare Yukai[/spoiler] goodness. Overall I think it was better balanced than the first episode, in that they didn't linger on any one topic for too long. My favorite part was when Konata used [spoiler]"May sickness"[/spoiler] as her excuse for missing school, but I also liked her and Kagami's conversation about the issue of a series having two different vocal casts for its drama CDs and its anime. (Lucky Star is an example of this! The anime cast is totally different from the drama CD cast. I was kind of upset by this at first, because Konata's CD actress is one of my favorite seiyuu. I love the weird voice that Aya Hirano gives her, though.) I'm still in awe of Akira's vocal gymnastics during the Lucky Channel segment. ~Dagger~

I'm always delighted to encounter other Kaleido Star fans. :catgirl: I've been thinking of rewatching it again, but I'm not sure if I should just see the second season, the first season, or both. (I've seen the first season many more times, since I would go back to it again and again as I waited for more DVDs of New Wings to come out). In any case, I hope that ADV someday releases the Golden Phoenix OVA. Even though Kaleido Star feels complete without it, it's beautifully done and such a great watch for Layla fans. Sora remains one of my favorite anime heroines. But the cast as a whole is sympathetic and interesting. I came to appreciate even characters like Yuri, Leon and May. As you said, it's the characters that really carry the show. ~Dagger~

Like you said, the weirdly fascinating thing about this production is that it looks, sounds, smells, etc. like any other ero-game adaptation--but it's actually an original work. (The manga is running more or less concurrently with it, so it's not an adaptation of that, either. Apparently a game really is on the way, too...) The first two episodes left me with mixed feelings. I like the older man & loli-in-a-box couple, but all the other characters are too by-the-book. You could pick up Mana, Yorito, Koyori or Aono, exchange them for their archetypes in any other bishoujo game or anime, and no one would notice the difference. Matsuri is more interesting (okay, mainly because it's cool to hear Noto Mamiko in a role that's different from what she usually plays), but I'm not sure I'm happy about where they seem to be going with her character. [spoiler]The experienced yet innocent vampire/monster heroine[/spoiler] has already been done to perfection in Tsukihime, and Yorito is not nearly as appealing a protagonist as Shiki. I love Nanao Naru's work, and her original character designs for this series don't disappoint. However, they don't seem to translate well to animation (just look at the beautiful ED illustrations to see how big the contrast is). Oh well. I'll see where this one goes. ~Dagger~

[url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=4404][u]Beck[/u][/url] sounds like what you're looking for. (The official English site isn't fully up yet, but you can see the main page [url=http://www.beckanime.com/][u]here[/u][/url].) [quote name='ANN description']Tanaka Yukio, better known by his nickname Koyuki, is a 14 year old who feels disconnected from life in general. Through the act of saving a mismatched dog, he meets guitarist Minami Ryuusuke, and becomes involved in Ryuusuke's new band BECK. Koyuki's life starts to change as the band struggles towards fame.[/quote] Another show you might be interested in is [url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=401][u]The Legend of Black Heaven[/u][/url]. [quote name='ANN description'] Oji Tanaka has a wife, a child and a mundane job as a salaryman in Tokyo's modern society. But life wasn't dull for him to begin with; 15 years ago, he was known as "Gabriel," leader of a short-lived heavy metal band called Black Heaven. Oji's life gets a sudden change in direction when he is invited by a mysterious blonde woman named Layla to pick up his Gibson Flying V and once again display his "legendary" guitar skills, not knowing that his music generates power for a massive weapon in an intergalactic war.[/quote] Also, The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi only has a guitar featured in one episode, but it's such a memorable and well-done scene that you should definitely try to watch a clip of it or something. ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Dodeca][size=1] [i]Monopoly[/i] and [i]Risk[/i]. Best board games [i][b]ever[/b][/i]. [/size][/QUOTE] I declare this thread over. ;) A lot of games are still diverting--Stratego, Battleship--but only Risk and Monopoly can stay interesting for such a long time. They're different from the games I might take out once in a while for nostalgia (e.g. Enchanted Forest). ~Dagger~

Try selecting "Mark Forum Read." ~Dagger~

Yep, Willy is exactly who he seems to be. I was amused by how, in episode 2, he talks about writing [I]As You Like It[/I] (a play whose heroine cross-dresses). :animesmil I was worried, but the second episode did not let me down. Here's a rundown of some salient plot points (listed out of order). The story is developing quickly, but it doesn't feel rushed. - [spoiler]Romeo learns Juliet's name, and they promise to meet again in the field of irises.[/spoiler] (That scene was almost beautiful enough to give me the shivers.) - [spoiler]Montague announces Romeo's engagement to Hermione.[/spoiler] - [spoiler]Juliet plays the Red Whirlwind again in order to save some girls. She gets wounded--not badly, but the camera focuses ominously on her injury.[/spoiler] - [spoiler]After her sixteenth birthday party, Conrad (the old knight who saved her) takes her to a graveyard and tell her about her real identity. A handful of people still loyal to the Capulets have gathered there to hail her as royalty--the rightful occupant of Montague's throne.[/spoiler] - The preview shows [spoiler]Romeo fighting Juliet as the Red Whirlwind.[/spoiler] From this we can probably infer that [spoiler]she finds out that he's Montague's son, although I'm betting that he won't learn who she is for a while yet.[/spoiler] This is basically borrowing another viewer's words, but I saw someone offer a good explanation for why the appropriation of the Romeo & Juliet mythos is so effective in this series. One can't argue that they may as well just have been bold enough to make it a totally original story rather than a loose, loose "adaptation." Simply the names and the bare framework of families in conflict puts a cloud over the show that would be impossible to match with any amount of foreshadowing, flash-forwarding or what have you. It's because they're called Romeo and Juliet that the endearing innocence and young joy of the characters is poignant. I just want to reach into the screen and protect them what's about to unfold. It's not a 100% departure so much as it is the Shakespearean equivalent of a fractured fairy tale. (On this note, that's a good point about the [spoiler]role reversal at the ball.[/spoiler]) ~Dagger~

Blame Kadokawa, not Bandai. Japanese buyers didn't get broadcast order on DVD, and it's a miracle that we [i]are[/i], even if only in the special editions. ~Dagger~

Yeah. The only way to get broadcast order is to buy the special editions, which contain a subbed-only broadcast disc as well as the regular bilingual disc. Bandai had to fight very hard for that, apparently (which might have been why they had, like, five polls on the ASOS site about broadcast order versus DVD order--to show Kadokawa that fans do have strong preferences). It's one of the rare cases in which the R1 release of an anime has stuff that the R2 release never offered. If the show ever airs on TV in the US, though, it'll have to air in broadcast order. Contractual stipulations are weird. ETA: Michelle Ruff is Yuki. ~Dagger~