Dagger

Hm. I kind of want to start watching this again, and I kind of don't. Shinji, from what little I know of him, seems like my type of character--but it's still difficult to work up any enthusiasm. I'd planned on turning to D.Gray-man for my shounen action fix, but after I heard that they were toning down the violence and already introducing filler episodes, I shied away. I guess I'll go back to Bleach if things don't work out between me and Kekkaishi. ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Ikillion][COLOR=#0e1030][SIZE=1][FONT=Trebuchet MS] ...They are 2.5 years older though right? Why is Naruto's voice almost [I]exactly[/I] the same?[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/QUOTE] I suspect that Junko Takeuchi's voice can only go so low... Come to think of it, I wonder if there's a precedent in any anime for switching seiyuu as a male character gets older. If he's an adult at the beginning, they usually use a female voice for flashbacks, but what about when the story is presented in chronological order? ~Dagger~

[quote name='DeathKnight][color=crimson']The wording of this sentence makes me warm and fuzzy inside.[/color][/quote] That's funny, 'cause I'm not even sure I know what it means. :p ~Dagger~

*yawns* Sloooow episode. But it's all worth it for the [spoiler]triple death-grip[/spoiler] action at the very end. Has DN's director been attending the Osamu Dezaki school of animation? One can only surmise. Also, the Madhouse team & the Korean/outsourcing teams need to have a get-together and decide whether Misa's eyes are brown or blue. It wouldn't be out of character for her to wear colored contacts at times, I suppose, but blue just looks way wrong to me. ~Dagger~

Hooray! :catgirl: Here's a shot from episode 6 of Kanon 2006. [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/kanon0634LG.jpg[/IMG] The guy is Yuuichi, the orange-haired girl is Makoto, the woman looking back at them is Akiko, and the blue head facing away from them belongs to Nayuki. ETA: Reduced the size a little. ~Dagger~

Try again. It should work now. ~Dagger~

[quote name='Sara][color=#b0000b][size=1]Which is the situation in the Arena right now, isn't it?[/color'][/size][/quote]Okay, obviously I [i]didn't[/i] see her point. :animeshy: I thought she was referring to consolidation and the [Game] & [Story] tags, instead of adding a PG-13 type of rating to the mix. Perhaps I should just call it a night now, haha. ~Dagger~

I understand your point, but wasn't Spaceballs made before the PG-13 rating came into existence? :animeswea ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Charles] I also think that people can put in special requests for M-rated RPGs to the staff before they create an RPG. They would make a "pitch" telling the staff of the area why their writing needs to be "M" rated and they could decide whether to allow it or not. [/QUOTE] Just to be clear--would the specially requested "M" rating also allow for profanity, or are you suggesting automatically censoring profanity and using that rating for RPGs with a lot of violence or sexual content? [quote name='John']Just censor it for an undisclosed amount of time. Get people used to the idea of making creative RPGs without fallbacks, and then reintroduce it when you think they can handle it.[/quote] I have trouble imagining this being effective. Not to be nonsensical, but the RPG/writing forums were censored before they were uncensored. Even if there were improvements during a new period of censorship, I can't help but feel that they would vanish once the filter was taken off. Also, members who joined after the censorship was removed again wouldn't have that experience to learn from. ~Dagger~

Heh, I'm rubbing my hands in anticipation of Afro Samurai as well, if only for the expensive-looking animation and Samuel L. Jackson. But it's kind of unfortunate that the DVDs won't have a Japanese language track (since it's being broadcast over here first). Hopefully the rest of the English cast is good. As for those of you with an interest in Haruhi--don't be shy, go check it out! Just try not to let anything you've heard about the series color your expectations for it. And watch Episode 00 to the end before judging it. :p In terms of other shows that will be airing soon or soon-ish, I'm not excited about that many... at least not yet. But here are a couple more I'll watch (or keep an eye on until they're licensed). - Lucky☆Star. It's based on a 4-koma manga with humor a little bit like that of Azumanga Daioh. Most of the characters are female, but what sets them apart is that they're otaku and gamers. - Claymore (based on a Monthly Shounen Jump manga which is apparently pretty awesome). - [url=http://www.nodame-anime.com/][u]Nodame Cantabile[/u][/url], which I also know very little about, but which seems to involve orchestras. It gets extra points for being liked by a lot of people who also like Honey & Clover. - [url=http://www.nippon-animation.co.jp/lesmise/][u]Les Miserables: Shoujo Cossette[/u][/url]. Yeah, try guessing what this one's based on. To be truthful, I have a gut feeling that the anime will not do its source material justice; the heavy emphasis on cute little Cossette is worrisome. - [url=http://gr-anime.com/][u]Giant Robo[/u][/url] has very little chance of being as awesome as the older Giant Robot OVA, but at least it seems like a labor of love. On the OVA front, I'm most interested in [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_o81f61mMo][u]Murder Princess[/u][/url] (

At Ichigo's Boot Camp for Pansy Bishounen: "Drop and give me fifty, *****!"

Just to be clear, the "movie" I put in quotes earlier in the thread was released a while ago. Maybe we should start calling the new one movie 2 or something. I'm not sure whether it'll be similar in length to the first movie, or more like a regular feature film. @bell: I believe it's based on a novel chapter called "The Sick Country" (Byouki no Kuni). ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Lady Asphyxia] [size=1][color=DarkGreen][b]What theories about Book 7 do you have? [/b] I have to say that I'm a huge fan of the redeemed!Draco and Snape theory. I still firmly believe that Snape is [i]not evil[/i] and that Draco will turn good [if still snarky!] because that's the way I like him most! [/fangirl] [/color][/size][/quote] Word, word, word. Actually, canon Draco has basically turned out to be a completely wasted character, and JKR has so much to do in Book 7 that I can't really see her making him useful and/or interesting. Lots of love for fanon Draco, but I have trouble caring about what she does with him in the last book--since chances are strong that it won't be anything I'm inclined to like. At least Snape still seems salvageable... [quote=Lady Asphyxia][size=1][color=DarkGreen][b] Who would you be most upset about dying? [/b][/color][/size][/quote] Lupin, I guess. That would just be the death blow (har, har) for me after what happened in OOtP. On the other hand, my objection to his hypothetical death is more a matter of principle (keep one of the old-schoolers alive!) than anything else. I don't think I'd cry over any of the current characters unless the situation of their deaths was particularly moving or tragic. I'm curious about how she'll approach the ending, because it seems that there's no way to work in a truly unexpected twist. It's predictable for Harry to defeat the big V and live, but it's just as predictable for him to defeat the big V and [i]die[/i]. The only ending that (for me) would be completely unpredictable is Harry getting rid of Voldemort, losing everyone he cares about and becoming old, bitter and miserable. JKR obviously can't do that, so the big twists are going to have to be on the road to the end. (I am hoping for Harry to die, however. She could definitely kill him and still have a "good," if not joyous, ending. But in that case, Ron and Hermione would probably have to survive.) ~Dagger~

[quote name='bellpickle][SIZE=1']I agree that the creators took a risk with L's character design, but I think they definitely had fangirls in mind when creating some of his personality quirks. Most of his eccentrities, from his eating habits to his decidedly cutesy sitting pose to his weirdly adorable facial expressions, are all things that appeal primarily to girls and make him loveable, despite him having "psycho eyes." Add the fact that he's on the "good" side, and he makes a great alternative for the girls who think Light is too big of a jerk to fangirl over.[/SIZE][/quote] The cute-icizing of L kind of started to creep in after the fact, though, didn't it? Then again, the grin he delivers with "seigi wa kanarazu katsu" comes pretty early on, so maybe my memory is just haywire. By the time you get to the [spoiler]handcuffs,[/spoiler] it's obvious that fanservice of [i]some[/i] sort or another is going on, of course... :p I said that other series haven't tried to create L-clones, but that was a little thoughtless, as the introduction of [spoiler]Near and Mello[/spoiler] was an obvious attempt on the part of DN's creators to continue capitalizing on L's popularity. It worked to a certain extent, but there was also a sizeable backlash, [spoiler]especially in the case of poor Near. By the end, they succeeded in differentiating him from L, but it was a pretty bumpy road.[/spoiler] The main point of distinction, I think, is that whereas they knew exactly what they were doing with [spoiler]Near and Mello and had them demonstrating key characteristics & oddities from the first chapter in which they came in,[/spoiler] L's portrayal didn't quite settle down until a while after his face was revealed. It's as if they were still feeling out L's weird traits (beyond his appearance), which became more pronounced as the series goes on. ~Dagger~

What are you looking forward to? What are your general hopes for the year? I've said this a bit too often, but I think 2007 is going to be an amazing year for anime. On the North American side of things, the anime market seems to be picking up a little after its recent slump, which will hopefully result in companies licensing more obscure/risky series. Meanwhile, despite doomsday predictions about the good-to-trash ratio of the anime debuting in Japan, there are still a lot of great shows out there just waiting to be discovered and loved. Here's some stuff I'm anticipating. - The new [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebuild_of_evangelion][u]Evangelion movies[/u][/url]. - The North American DVD release of [url=http://asosbrigade.com/][u]The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya[/u][/url]. - The North American DVD release of [url=http://www.bandaivisual.us/gunbuster/][u]Gunbuster[/u][/url]. - The North American DVD release of [url=http://www.blacklagoon.jp/][u]Black Lagoon[/u][/url]. I really want this to air on Adult Swim... - Watching future discs of [url=http://www.ergoproxydvd.com/][u]Ergo Proxy[/u][/url]. - The new [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showpost.php?p=761709&postcount=15][u]Kino's Journey movie[/u][/url]. - GONZO's take on [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=55922][u]Romeo and Juliet[/u][/url]. - [url=http://www.moribito.com/][u]Seirei no Moribito[/u][/url], an upcoming series from the director & studio behind GitS: SAC. - [url=http://5cm.yahoo.co.jp/][u]Byousoku 5 cm[/u][/url], the latest project from Makoto Shinkai (the director of Voices of a Distant Star and The Place Promised in Our Early Days). - More [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=55352][u]Death Note[/u][/url]. ;) Makoto Shinkai's work has its flaws, but there's a reason he's so lauded: he brings the beauty made possible by animation to increasingly higher heights with everything he produces. Seirei no Moribito probably won't be lacking in the visual department, either--and if it's anywhere near as good as GitS: SAC, a lot of people are going to be happy. Meanwhile, Romeo x Juliet offers GONZO another chance to prove that they're not just the studio of creativity-free mediocrity and lame budget shortfalls. Gunbuster's licensing is a rather big milestone (I just feel lucky that I didn't have to wait years and years to see it on DVD!). Haruhi Suzumiya offers a chance for DVD buyers and fansubs watchers to get excited about a show together and prove that they aren't mutually exclusive groups. There are whispers that FUNimation may have snagged Mushishi, and a recent hint from a Geneon representative has led many to believe that a Rozen Maiden announcement is in the works. We'll have to wait and see whether any of that shapes up to be more than speculation, but it gives me reason to hope. ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Phenom] Like I said though, I took a sudden interest in the series because of the reviews at Anime on DVD, and right now it cost $8 a piece at Right Stuf (right up my alley for cheapness :animesmil ). And seeing that I'm in the need of something new (and I'm a sucker for samurai types), I want to know if I'd be wasting my time if I were to be buying it? People were saying that the voices don't match or whatever. I don't really mind them not matching at times, but what I do care about is if there are voices in it that will cause me to cringe? That's what normally turns me away from most animes.[/QUOTE] It's not the worst dub ever; it's tolerable. It does have rough spots, though. If you like ADV dubs, you'll recognize a lot of familiar voices, including many actresses and actors who are generally praised for their work. I still think the subbed version comes across much better, but if you don't like subs, I wouldn't let that totally kill your interest in the series. Some things to keep in mind: - PMK is a samurai series and has some fabulous action scenes, but it's not an action series like, say, Kenshin. It's mainly character-driven. - The manga on which it's based is [i]very[/i] good and was recently licensed by Tokyopop. If you don't mind waiting, I would suggest getting the manga instead, since 1) that lets you sidestep the dub/sub issue, and 2) since you can take the manga at your own pace, its balance of slice-of-life material and drama might feel more natural to you than if you watch the anime version. (The manga currently being released by ADV under the PMK title is the sequel to the original manga. The license for that manga has transferred from ADV to Tokyopop, but TP has not put out their version of it yet. Yeah, the situation's a little complicated. :animeswea) - The show completes a great character development arc but is in other respects pretty open-ended. And a disclaimer: I don't want to scare you away, but I would feel guilty if the enthusiastic comments I've spewn throughout this thread prompted you to drop money on PMK. It's not a bad show, but the parts of it that held huge appeal for me may leave other people going "Eh?" On the other hand, the AoD reviews take an extremely balanced approach to the show, and if they're the main part of what's gotten your interest going, then go for it. By the way, I should have mentioned this earlier, but you can hear some dub samples from the first DVD [url=http://www.dubreview.com/readreview.php?reviewid=00000208][u]here[/u][/url]. Hopefully that'll help. ETA: Fixed my link. ~Dagger~

[SIZE=1]I hope they're getting paid a lot for that... I didn't even realize that Pizza Hut had a presence in Japan. The first time, I could dismiss it as a random sort of thing (like the Wicked-esque sign in Red Garden), but the fact that the product placement involved an entire conversation this time around... wow. :animeswea Um, yeah. I love how this show just turned into School Rumble. I'm having a harder time disliking Lelouch now that I've seen him fall into a bush. [/SIZE] --------------------------------- Episode 11: I give up. It's time for an unconditional surrender--Zero and C.C. have defeated me. I'm in this for the long haul now, and all because of the mecha battles. Dear God, the mecha battles. I could watch plotless fights like that for twenty-six episodes and be as happy as a clam. So dynamic. Sooo slick. (I guess this betrays my big weakness!) Yeah... I'm so glad I have no knowledge of real-life battle tactics; it's much easier to just pretend that all of this is feasible. The wigged-out flashback montage was handled superbly. If Goro Taniguchi is going to keep delivering more of this, I'm willing to let him pull the wool over my eyes with fancy visuals. I'm as much of a sucker for trippy stuff in mecha series as I am for the mecha battles themselves. I wish I had been able to predict that [spoiler]Suzaku would end up being the one who killed or somehow participated in killing Lelouch's mom and/or adding to little Lelouch's misery,[/spoiler] since in hindsight it almost seems like an obvious step. But no matter. This type of show is more enjoyable when you don't try to figure out what's going to be revealed next. Also, [spoiler]Orange-kun[/spoiler] is alive! Yes!! ~Dagger~

Before I launch into my reply, here's a little something just for fun. [IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/light_ryuk_kasvoswappi.jpg[/IMG] [quote name='Sandy']Isn't every other anime protagonist like that? And I'm not even going to his personality.[/quote] That's exactly what I'm saying. If they wanted L to automatically be a fangirl-bait character, they would've given him conventional good looks like Light. I don't know how many times I've seen Light fans essentially excuse his behavior because he's hot and does villainous things with style. You see Light-esque faces in countless anime and manga because they're guaranteed to bring in fans. Lelouch, the main character of Code Geass, has a few key similarities to Light in terms of personality and his role in his series. He, too, has the typical clean, sharp bishounen face and devious expressions, and--no surprise here--he's become a massively popular character. Even though L is very well-liked among DN characters, though, there haven't been any serious attempts to duplicate his popularity in other anime or manga. It's because the DN manga-ka did something so singular and unexpected with his character design and demeanor that rip-offs would be way too obvious. I never meant to suggest that L doesn't have fangirls [I]now[/I]; in the live-action movies, his role was so popular that he's getting his own spin-off film. But his appeal is unconventional, especially for a purportedly "good" character. To draw what might be a clearer analogy, Misa (bless her little heart) is fanboy bait through and through. Her perkiness, her gothloli taste in clothing, etc., are all traits known to make fanboys feel warm and fuzzy inside. Now, if she were an androgynous, antisocial, subdued, intellectual--come up with your own combination of unexpected traits for a shounen manga heroine--type of character, then her popularity would be more akin to L's, in that it would be somewhat surprising. Another thing to consider is that eccentricity is a hallmark of literary detectives. Sherlock Holmes, famed for his precise methods, is a cocaine addict. Hercule Poirot is a short, plump, egotistical Belgian with a mustache the size of a ferret. Miss Marple is a sweet, fluffy, elderly lady with a mind like a steel trap. Or, for a more modern example, look at Monk (from the eponymous TV show). His salient trait is his OCD-derived obsession with cleanliness. L, with his food fixation and his poses, fits perfectly into this pattern--but you'd be hard-pressed to find a similar detective anywhere else in anime/manga. I guess the closest you might get is Conan Edogawa, who happens to be a teenager trapped in a child's body, but in every other respect (including how he acts and thinks), he's totally normally for an anime detective. Kindaichi (Kindaichi Case Files), Ayumu (Spiral), Kyu & company (Detective Academy Q) are all clean-cut, socially acceptable, ordinary-seeming young men. Even the recent Poirot & Marple anime "sanitized" Agatha Christie's classic characters by ironing out their eccentricities. If DN's creators had just wanted to make sure that L would gain a fanbase comparable to that of Light, then they would have patterned him after the detectives found in established, highly successful detective manga (Spiral, Conan, Kindaichi and Q all fall squarely into this category). But they didn't play it safe--and boy, am I ever glad for that. Anime could use more characters that break out of the expected norm. Heck, the other day I was looking at the cover of my copy of FFXII and was rather disturbed to realize that virtually all of the playable characters have the same coloring. They could all be siblings or something. Creepy. Generally speaking, you don't create iconic characters by going with the established bishounen (or whatever) norm. L ended up becoming a popular and memorable character because DN's creators took risks with him, not because they sat around trying to design a character that would rope in as many fangirls as possible. ~Dagger~

There's a new Kino movie coming out, and you can view a trailer for it [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsdhUH-F_O8][u]here[/u][/url]. The same guy is still directing it, but the character designs are closer to the novel illustrations than the designs of the original Kino anime. There have also been mutterings about a second season, but I don't think it's been formally announced or anything like that, so who knows. ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Sandy] As for L, I see him as a mouse of a boy lost in grown-ups world - out-of-place and helpless. I don't hate him, he's quite intriguing as a character, but something in him just radiates the "fangirl-service cute bishi poser" -aura. :P[/QUOTE] Wow! It's interesting that you should say this. In the manga, many readers were shocked when his face and form were originally revealed, because instead of having typical bishounen looks like Light, he just seemed slovenly. The artist tried to make him look weird. Of course, now that people are used to his face (and he's found loads of fans anyway, haha), it doesn't have as much of an impact. Apparently something similar happened with Ryuk--originally the artist and writer were going to make him a bishounen type, but in the end they found a grotesque character design to be more satisfying. I think you'd like the guy in Ezekiel's avatar, but he might not even appear in the anime version. :animesigh [QUOTE=Ikillion][color=#d2b43b][SIZE=1][FONT=Trebuchet MS] And for those of you who have read ahead,[spoiler] Will Rem eventually give her life up for Misa in some way? I have a feeling that the foreshadowing in the whole Jealous incident that Rem will go as well. That is if Rem is a male and if she's not then...yeah[/spoiler][/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/QUOTE] Since you asked vaguely, I'll answer vaguely. (Others should watch out, as there are [b]future spoilers[/b] here-->) [spoiler]Rem is definitely female (or as close to being female as any shinigami can get... but she loves Misa anyway.[/spoiler] ~Dagger~

Vote on [url=http://asosbrigade.com/auditions/arandomfile.php][u]Yuki's[/u][/url] voice! Also, the video on the main site has indeed been subbed. (Speaking of which, they subtitled "psychics" as "espers." Wow, they really are trying to make everyone happy. :animeswea) [i] [/i] ~Dagger~

This game is pure love.

First, a quick note--episode 12 aired this week, but Death Note (like most other series) will be taking another break for New Year's. So we'll be graced with episode 13 in 2007. In a funny and unexpected way, episode 12 encapsulates why I find this series so exciting. It was hysterically over the top. [spoiler]L's ridiculous, priceless reaction to the shinigami revelation is heightened soooo much by the fact that the whole process of him freaking out and toppling out of his chair is animated instead of shown in still panels.[/spoiler] The animators lavished attention on peculiar, amusing little things. [spoiler]Ryuk's apple-eating jaw movements got a lot of frames. So did L's shifty eyeballs (in one scene, anyway). Also, this isn't quite what I mean, but I was shocked into laughter when I saw the pretty, sparkling Kira video made by L, Light and company.[/spoiler] Comedic lines snuck in without interrupting the flow of the story. [spoiler]I especially relished the razor-edged banter between L and Light.[/spoiler] When a thematically significant scene arrived, it was executed with panache. [spoiler]The story of Jealous turned out to be surprisingly stylish and powerful. I found it to be more moving here than in the manga.[/spoiler] Rem, who I liked in the manga but didn't pay much attention to, has a stronger presence in the anime (thanks in large part to her perfectly cast seiyuu). I may yet become a Rem fangirl. Speaking of voices, I need to renege on what I said about Aya Hirano playing Misa. She uses a different voice in episode 12 than in episode 11, and it works. It definitely works. Color me sold. Misa's character design hasn't translated as well from page to screen as most of the other characters, but it doesn't mean she looks bad or anything--just a tad different. The end of the episode would have been just as appropriate in a [spoiler]romantic drama. Or comedy, perhaps.[/spoiler] :animeswea Anyway, the story about [spoiler]the shinigami Jealous[/spoiler] was clearly the highlight of this episode. It might be one of my favorite parts of the anime so far, for that matter. By the way, [spoiler]Jealous[/spoiler] was voiced by Kenichi Matsuyama, who played L in the live-action Death Note movies. [quote name='Syk3]Also.. [spoiler]I noticed that Light's eyes seem to slowly narrow during the manga chapters I was reading, which doesn't seem to occur in the anime. In particular, if you look at where they are in relation to the anime (chapter 25), and then look back at the first chapter, Light looked a lot younger and kinder.[/spoiler'] If that was intentional.. fantastic. lol[/quote] That was definitely intentional. Death Note's artist is superb at those kinds of gradual transitions. Something similar can be seen in Hikaru no Go; the characters age dramatically over the course of the series, but the changes are so smoothly executed that you hardly notice them as you're reading. Since the anime doesn't feature the same kind of character design shift, I'm guessing that they'll rely more on Light's seiyuu to convey the contrast [spoiler]between his earlier and later selves. Thinking back, his voice seems to have grown a lot darker and lower since the beginning of the anime.[/spoiler] [quote name='Syk3']I had read your post before so I was looking out for that part of the manga (chapter 14, volume 2), and.. it seemed to explain it just fine.[/quote] Fair enough. Like I said, it had been a while since I looked at the manga myself, so I was mostly basing that on my memory of people posting the [spoiler]two-page spread of Aizawa, Light and Naomi and demanding to know what it was all about. Some even had to ask who Aizawa was, heh.[/spoiler] ~Dagger~

I watched a little less than half of Moon Phase before it was licensed. Now I'm collecting it on DVD. :catgirl: (

AIR was recently released on Blu-ray in Japan. The BD box set came with a special extended opening sequence, which you can see [url=http://stage6.divx.com/members/241472/videos/1063078][u]here[/u][/url] (or at YouTube, if you must, although the video quality there really won't do the visuals justice). Anyway, it's lovely, and the animation is almost all new. It also hints at a lot of scenes, comedic and otherwise, that didn't make the transition from game to anime. ~Dagger~