Dagger

Welcome to OtakuBoards, Malak. Introduction threads are not permitted, because we prefer for new members to immediately begin participating in the discussion(s) of their choice. Feel free to browse the forums, but be sure to glance over OB's [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/rules.php?][u]Rules[/u][/url] and [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/faq.php?][u]FAQ[/u][/url] before you begin posting in earnest. I'm sure you'll find them very helpful. If you have any questions, you're welcome to private message me or one of the other staff members. Thanks. Thread closed. ~Dagger~

[url=http://overman.bandai-ent.com/][u]Official Site[/u][/url] Overman King Gainer doesn't seem to have gotten much attention... which is really a pity, given that it's shaping up to be one of the better mecha series I've seen lately. Directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino (the man behind all things Gundam), it's fun, fast-paced and manages not to take itself too seriously. As proof of this, the opening animation shows most of the characters (and the titular robot!) doing the monkey. Moreover, said robot has glowing dreadlocks. In my humble opinion, that is [i]the[/i] recipe for a truly kick-*** anime. Seriously, Gainer is a pretty cool show. It's quite funny in a low-key sort of way--that is to say, it doesn't over-play its comedy or exaggerate things too much, which makes for a nice change of pace. The main character (who is, coincidentally, called Gainer), is basically a video game nerd who ends up using his virtual skills to excel at piloting a real mecha. There's more to the story, of course--it's actually pretty rich, and the whole set-up is pleasantly exotic. It has to do with the inhabitants of a futuristic city trying to take their entire town (buildings and all) on some kind of mass exodus to the east. I've only seen the first disc (the second comes out on 4/12, I believe), but I think this anime looks like a winner, at least for me. The battles are fantastic, the characters are quirky and entertaining, and I get to have my Tomino fix while I wait to see the rest of Turn A Gundam. Is anyone else planning to check out the series? ~Dagger~

According to Anime News Network's Kamikazecon report, one of ADV's co-founders (Matt Greenfield) did comment on the status of the Evangelion film. I quoted an excerpt from the report below. [quote name='ANN']As expected, a large portion of questions revolved around the live-action version of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Greenfield confirmed that the project was very much alive, and they were currently in the process of finding a director. While naming no names, Greenfield did confirm that interest has been shown by several major directors, including one who has won an Oscar. He also mentioned that the probable location of the shoot would be New Zealand, the same country where WETA, the studio slated to create special effects for Evangelion, is located. When asked how soon the movie would be finished, Greenfield indicated it would be at least a year, most likely 3 or 4.[/quote] Kamikazecon took place a bit earlier in March, by the way, so this news tidbit is pretty recent. ~Dagger~

[quote name='ThatOneOddDude']Last nights episode had what I would consider to be one of the coolest battle scenes I've ever seen in anime. I must say, watching FullMetal is sometimes like playing a survival horror game. I am simply shocked at what the botcher was telling Al. I wonder what it is that Ed did to him...[/quote] Argh! They're still stringing us along! :animeangr More seriously, I agree with all of your comments. That episode (which I taped on Saturday and just finished watching today) absolutely flew by. I couldn't believe it made what was essentially one fight last for a full half hour and still seem fast-paced. My favorite part of the episode was when [spoiler]Ed deliberately imitated Scar--it was so cool and so creepy.[/spoiler] Additionally, Al has proven himself to be a total bad*** (I almost died laughing during his scenes with [spoiler]Barry--who, by the way, has now become one of my favorite tertiary characters in the show; he's hilarious!). Of course, their conversation at the end was definitely not funny.[/spoiler] I just hope that next week's episode won't leave us hanging... ~Dagger~

Are Chinese manga generally sold alongside manwha (Korean manga) and regular manga? If so, I'd be willing to bet that many people just don't know the difference. Quite a few manga buyers--even those who also buy manwha regularly--think that manwha is just "flipped" manga (since manwha reads from left to right). I honestly doubt that fans are being close-minded about Chinese manga; they could very well read it regularly without even being aware that there's a distinction. Unless, of course, Chinese manga looks very different from manwha & normal manga (which some might find off-putting), or is difficult to find. In that case it can simply be chalked up to limited access; in my experience, most people just buy whatever they can locate on the shelves of their local bookstore, regardless of whether it's Japanese or Korean in origin. I don't think I've seen many--if any--Chinese manga in stores, but Korean & Japanese manga are quite abundant. Interestingly, the only people I know who actively avoid Korean series are heavy collectors who had bad experiences with some manwha and thereafter decided to stick only with Japanese manga. Then again, I might feel the same way if the first manwha I finished was Les Bijoux. :animeswea ~Dagger~

Well, Monster may be dark, but one of its main strengths is that its characters are extremely well fleshed-out and realistic. It's not at all a fighting series, by the way--it's a little hard to sum up, but I guess I'd describe it as a suspense/drama anime (although the word "mystery" also fits well enough, I hesitate to use it because it brings to mind detective shows, and Monster is most definitely not a detective show). Which isn't to say that a series can't be light-hearted and also have good character development. To answer your question, I buy a lot of DVDs. Good (legal!) deals aren't that difficult to find if you live in the States and are able to shop online. I also watch some unlicensed series (like Monster), but as you've seen a bit of Naruto, I assume you know how one would go about doing that. This is kind of off-topic--so for future reference, if you have a question for a specific user, try PMing him or her directly. If you want to start a general thread, just skim the first page or so of the forum to make sure there aren't any similar recent topics. :) ~Dagger~

[quote name='Jygoro']What twist did you like most? The end of episode 28? or episode 30? or the fabulous episode 37? or the entire Munich arc? or the stunning episodie 44? hehe This series plot is awesome. :animesmil[/quote] The Munich arc is definitely my favorite part of the series to date. All of the supporting characters involved (such as Lotte, Richard and... er, the old psychologist guy whose name I keep forgetting) really appealed to me, and I liked how the relationship between [spoiler]Karl and Schuwald[/spoiler] was emphasized. Everything came together in an amazingly tense multi-part climax--at times, the wait between episodes became nearly unbearable. Plus, Johan reached even greater heights of awesomeness as new information about his mysterious past was fed to the viewer little by little. I can think of more than a few anime and manga antagonists who could learn a lesson or two from him. [quote]Eva? Who is that? :p Really, I almost forgot that character since we are in episode 44 and Eva last apparition was in episode 24.I like her too but my fav character right now is Grimmer. :)[/QUOTE] Haha, yeah, it's true that she hasn't shown up lately. Grimmer is very intriguing, and the [spoiler]torture[/spoiler] scene in episode 42 was [i]so[/i] well done--I almost had to stop watching, even though I'm normally able to stomach animated violence. I also appreciate his laid-back and seemingly clueless personality. Episode 44 absolutely shocked me! I was pretty confident that [spoiler]the girl Suk met couldn't be the real Nina,[/spoiler] but I hadn't expected [spoiler]"her" to be Johan. I'd seen non-manga readers make similar predictions in a non-serious, joking sort of way;[/spoiler] however, I think a lot of people who didn't have previous knowledge of the story were taken aback by that twist. ~Dagger~

I like to think that my punctuation is mostly proper & correct, but I do have some quirks. I use dashes almost as often as Emily Dickinson (heh), and I have a thing for semicolons. And somehow I've gotten in the habit of using ampersands to connect words that seem intrinsically associated and/or close in definition. Although I make certain to edit the ampersands out of formal writing, they tend to stick around when I'm posting at forums and such. I don't have any real pet peeves when it comes to punctuation--the kind of stuff that bothers me is usually more grammatical in nature (i.e. people using "they" as a sex-neutral singular pronoun when the gender of the one being referred to is unknown). ~Dagger~

I greatly enjoyed the writing and the sort of old-fashioned characterization (I'm not really sure how else to describe it, haha). The only aspect of the story that particularly disappointed me was the ending--although based on the opinions of other people I've talked to, I seem to be alone in this. I thought that it (the ending) was much too [spoiler]open-ended (if I want a lack of closure, there are plenty of anime I can watch for that; I expect an 800-page novel to deliver a bit more in terms of wrapping things up. It was strongly sequel-ish and just left a sour taste in my mouth. To be honest, I wouldn't have minded at all if the last page said "To be continued," cliched though that may be. I'd be satisfied if the novel were intended to start off some kind of series, but the ending did not convince me that it could wholly stand on its own. Without any real confirmation as to whether there will actually be a continuation, I can't help but feel unsatisfied.[/spoiler] One thing I have to admit is that the "gentleman with the thistle-down hair" really helped sustain my interest in the book. For some reason I just love characters like that. I actually picked up [i]Jonathan Strange[/i] on my sister's recommendation; when she was finished it, she told me that this particular character was exactly my type and used that to convince me to read it. Of course the other characters are great as well. The relationship which I thought could have used more development was (spoilers for the entire novel) [spoiler]Jonathan's marriage. Arabella was sort of a bland character to me, especially amid such a diverse & eccentric cast. I didn't feel much sympathy for Jonathan's grief over her, either, as he seemed to have basically forgotten about her for a big stretch of the book. And it annoyed me that he was able to get her back; it seemed so anti-climactic. I know her return was meant to be realistic and bittersweet and all that, but....[/spoiler] Awesome book, overall. Definitely one of the higher-quality fantasy novels I've read lately. Ever since the Otaku Book Club first started, I've been meaning to recommend it. The footnotes definitely help make it a unique experience. ~Dagger~

Meh. Maybe I've become desensitized to this sort of thing, but I think that sexy clothing (or character designs) is rather innocuous. What I sometimes find questionable (and much more insidious) are anime in which the female characters completely base their lives around a certain male. But if the girls in a show are portrayed in a way that kind of irks me, I just won't watch it. In any case, I think the point raised by the original poster is based on an unfair generalization. One can easily find fanservice-y women in certain specific genres, but it's not something that's characteristic of anime as a whole. I also don't see why a plethora of unusually well-proportioned female characters should be considered offensive or unrealistic when so many anime are quite stylized in terms of everything from visuals to comedy to action. EDIT: And in fairness, male-harem anime and bishounen anime (you know, the male equivalent of bishoujo anime) [i]do[/i] exist. There's a balance to be found, if you don't mind watching shoujo. :catgirl: ~Dagger~

[quote name='EVA Unit 100']As with Paranoia Agent, they'll need digital bikinis and mutes on curses of course and episode 3 would have to air with a special warning like the one episode 10 of GitS got. Other than that, AS has loosened up enough to allow most of the content.[/quote] Mm, I'm not too sure about that. One of the episodes on the second disc (I think it might be episode 6) shows a young girl discovering that [spoiler]her father has installed cameras in her bedroom and has been taking pictures of her undressing and so forth.[/spoiler] It's not very graphic, but the implications are pretty bad. And episode 8 pushes the line in a number of respects, as it turns [spoiler]multiple suicide attempts[/spoiler] into comedic material. It's not that I don't have faith in AS, but I'd be surprised if that remained unchanged. ~Dagger~

For the time being I'm going to close this. I'm surprised that someone hasn't already come along to debunk it, actually. I just don't see the point of letting a topic like this propagate itself; it won't lead to any kind of meaningful discussion, and as far as I can tell, it doesn't have a raison d'etre beyond letting people in the know play "gotcha." Those of you who are wondering why I locked the thread may want to Google dihydrogen monoxide. Thread closed. ~Dagger~

[b]Love:[/b] Er, that's a hard one. I guess [b]Nana-chan[/b] from [b]Elfen Lied[/b] would fall under this category. [b]Respect:[/b] I respect [b]Maya Toomi[/b] from [b]Soukyuu no Fafner[/b]. She's a sympathetic, compelling character who puts others first without making herself into some kind of pitiable martyr. I particularly admire how she works so hard to [spoiler]bring Kazuki and Soushi together[/spoiler] when she herself has feelings for [spoiler]Kazuki, and Soushi is the person standing in her way.[/spoiler] Her selflessness, strength and passion make her so much more than your typical token love interest. Plus, her [spoiler]ice-cold demeanor during battle[/spoiler] is just awesome. [b]Hate:[/b] I really, utterly loathe [b]Poe[/b] from [b]Turn A Gundam[/b]. I think the last time I hated a character this much was when I was watching the first season of Sailor Moon, and I saw the episode in which Queen Beryl kills [spoiler]Zoisite.[/spoiler] Anyway, Poe is very hot-headed, with an annoying tendency to shout about how she's going to get revenge. I could accept this if she were a tough & powerful character, but she's just pathetic; she bursts into tears whenever she doesn't get her way. That type of behavior simply isn't flattering in a woman who's obviously working overtime to prove that she's as competent as her male co-workers. :animeangr [b]Adore:[/b] Because I just finished the show, I'd have to say [b]Hideaki Asaba[/b] from [b]His & Her Circumstances[/b]. He definitely needs his own series. :animesmil ~Dagger~

[quote name='EVA Unit 100']Bandai pitched and pitched and pitched the show for Toonami to hell and back. Sean Akins, the creator of Toonami, said it would be "The Perfect Toonami Show" just about a year ago. Now that it is on AS after so many years of trying to get the show on Toonami makes me worry that Toonami won't get any faithfully dubbed anime for a while (Naruto will hopefully prove me wrong, though).[/quote] Oh, thanks for clarifying. I had high hopes for Naruto... until I started watching Zatch Bell. Both ShoPro and Toei are apparently doing their best to prove the old axiom that no one screws up anime like the Japanese. :animecry: Paranoia Agent is going to be a big litmus test for Adult Swim, in terms of what kind of content they'll allow to bypass the censors. SAC has shown that violence is no longer a concern, but the disturbing/questionable content in Paranoia Agent goes far, far beyond simple violence. Certain episodes ("Happy Family Planning" comes to mind) are just plain twisted. ~Dagger~

Welcome to OtakuBoards, rise against. You might want to begin by checking out OB's Rules and FAQ, which can both be found by clicking the links in the blue navigation bar to your left. Unfortunately this thread is so vague that I'm not really able to provide much in the way of guidance; if you have some specific questions, you're welcome to either private message a staff member or post them in the Suggestions & Feedback forum. Please bear in mind that OB is a discussion-oriented message board, and we try to maintain fairly high standards when it comes to post quality and the like. Making your posts readable (by using proper spelling, punctuation, grammar and so forth) is important, as is creating threads that will help encourage/generate a discussion or debate. With that in mind, I'm going to lock this topic. Again, feel free to contact me or another staff member if you have any questions. Thread closed. ~Dagger~

duoikari, please edit in reasons for your choices--just follow the example set by the original poster and everyone else who has replied to this thread. Thanks. [quote name='AzureWolf][COLOR=blue']Says the creator of the Yaoi/Yuri thread. :p[/COLOR][/quote] Well, I'm not exactly the game's target audience. :animesmil Lunox's post reminded me that there are a couple of anime I came very close to adding--Nadia is one of them. I almost put FMA in Hunter x Hunter's slot, but I think I want to see more of it first. I may have to find a way to get Turn A Gundam on my list, although I'm not sure what it would replace... Elfen Lied, maybe. I never thought I would be this crazy about a Gundam series, but Turn A is really great. And I find Romi Paku's Loran a lot more appealing than her Ed (just in terms of simple vocal work, not personality or dialogue or anything). ~Dagger~

"Have you heard of....?" threads don't usually last too long around here; when starting a series-specific topic, it's best to provide some information on the anime in question. You can summarize the plot, state how you personally feel about it, whatever--just give other members some kind of context to work with. Thanks. If you have any questions, you're welcome to private message me or one of the other staff members. Thread closed. ~Dagger~

[quote name='EVA Unit 100']Anyway, things look good, but wasn't Sean Akins describing Scryed as "The Perfect Toonami Show"? Yes, I know Toonami has the rest of YYH, Naruto, and Bo^7 up its sleeve, but given 2 out of the 4 new animes Toonami aquired for this year are Americanized and Toei has a knack for screwing up dubs, that makes 3 out of 4 highly likely Americanized animes and if majority rules (hopefuly it won't, given that Perriot seems to be more respectful to their properties than Toei, but it easily could happen) then Scryed might end up being the last nail in the coffin for faithfully dubbed anime on Toonami once YYH ends.[/quote] Eh? Based on what I've read elsewhere, I'm pretty sure s-CRY-ed is coming to AS... how does that relate to Toonami? But in any case, s-CRY-ed is old news, at least in the sense that it's been fully out on DVD for quite a while (which is why I didn't think it would ever have a real TV run, as opposed to just being available on VOD). I can only assume that the dub was therefore made without a mainstream TV audience in mind. I've heard that it's actually pretty good... and Crispin Freeman is in it, which is always nice. It looks like Samurai Champloo will be taking over FMA's timeslot. Apparently FMA will be taking a mid-series break while they finish dubbing the remaining episodes. At least, I think that's right. ~Dagger~

01. [b]Revolutionary Girl Utena[/b] - If I could watch only one series for the rest of my life, I'd pick Utena. The first season is alright. The second season is exponentially better. And the third season simply tops everything else I've seen. For me, Utena has more replay value than pretty much any other anime out there. I'm always amazed at how my thoughts on the show change as I re-watch it. The movie, while different, is nice enough in its own way. 02. [b]Soukyuu no Fafner[/b] - Fafner is not perfect, but it has a ton of heart. I enjoyed this mecha anime more than Evangelion and RahXephon put together. The first six or seven episodes are rather pedestrian, but it slowly and sneakily starts getting better; they switched script-writers for the second half of the series, and it really shows. The main themes are interwoven with incredible skill, and it all comes together in one stunning emotional climax. 03. [b]Melody of Oblivion[/b] - For starters, anything that resembles Utena is okay in my book. MoO is best described as a shounen/sci-fi Utena on acid. If that sounds scary... well, it is. MoO owes an obvious debt to Utena, but at the same time it's quite unique. The two series complement each other perfectly. 04. [b]RahXephon[/b] - I feel sort of strange describing RahXephon as "comfort food," but for me that's essentially what it is. RahXephon looks great and has a wonderful story. It's quite re-watchable, and the movie provides a much-needed alternate perspective on the events of the show. 05. [b]AIR TV[/b] - It's beautiful. It's moving. It actually made me want to play an ero-game, which is no small feat. 06. [b]Brigadoon[/b] - Often overlooked, Brigadoon is well-directed and surprisingly dark. It provides everything from silly comedy & fanservice to unexpected romance to brutal mecha-style battles. And beneath it all, there's a tightly written, intricate plot. 07. [b]Full Moon wo Sagashite[/b] - FMwS has the best anime ending of all time. Really, it does. And the rest of the show isn't half bad either. 08. [b]Kaleido Star[/b] - Unfortunately I've only been able to watch the first season--in fact, that's the primary reason I haven't placed this any higher. However, half of the show was enough to give Kaleido Star a place in my heart. 09. [b]Elfen Lied[/b] - If you can look past the nudity and violence, Elfen Lied is a very sincere and hopeful series. It has some of the strongest (both physically and otherwise) female characters you'll find in any anime. 10. [b]Hunter x Hunter[/b] - The greatest shounen action anime ever made (and no, I don't think FMA quite fits into that category). Yoshihiro Togashi completely topped himself with this one--it outshines Yu Yu Hakusho, which is a huge accomplishment in and of itself. It's refreshing to see a show of this style that doesn't involve trying to save the world. Most of my choices are fixed, but some of the individual rankings may be subject to change (i.e. I might decide to bump AIR up or down depending on how the last episode goes). Ironically I haven't even finished two of the shows on this list; I guess this means they're just that good, haha. This could be really fun if it becomes a regular thing (and people actually try to list reasons)... I'd be interested in seeing how the list changes from year to year. ~Dagger~

Wai!! I was just lucky enough to snag & view a brief Tsubasa promo (I've also attached some screencaps to this post). While I'm very disappointed that it appears to be 4:3 rather than widescreen--although I guess the preview may have been cropped or something--the animation actually looks pretty nice. Unfortunately the quality isn't that great, so the caps may not do justice to how the characters looked in motion. ~Dagger~

[b]s-CRY-ed[/b] is coming to Adult Swim!? Hallelujah!! Excuse me whilst I go make sacrifices at the double altar of Bandai Entertainment & Turner Broadcasting. As it happens, I've been wanting to see s-CRY-ed for a [i]very[/i] long time. I believe that it's a post-apocalyptic anime about a group of young people with psychic powers--you know, pretty standard stuff. But it's reputed to be really action-packed, and the trailer (available at Bandai's main site) certainly makes it look that way. The character designs are by Hisashi Hirai (who's also worked on Gundam SEED and Infinite Ryvius), which may be a point of interest for some fans. I can't even count how many times I was a mouse-click away from buying the s-CRY-ed DVDs, heh. I'm pleased that Samurai Champloo & Paranoia Agent are coming in only two months. I had expected them to arrive in June or July, not May, so this is very nice. And of course, s-CRY-ed is a tremendous added bonus. And the Escaflowne movie? That's a slightly unexpected choice, but I hope it does well for them. Three cheers for AS! Seriously, at this point the only thing which could complete my happiness would be if they announced that they were going to air Fafner. Hey, a girl can dream. :animesmil ~Dagger~

Welcome to OtakuBoards, hyper123. We generally ask that threads have some kind of specific subject material; as it happens, "anything" is a wee bit too broad to function as a topic of discussion. With that in mind, I recommend that you take a moment or two to glance over OB's [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/rules.php?][u]Rules[/u][/url] and [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/faq.php?][u]FAQ[/u][/url]. Reading those will help you gain an understanding of how the site works, as well as an understanding of the basic expectations we have for our members. You may also find that simply browsing around for a bit will give you a better feel for this forum. OB places a fairly strong emphasis on post quality, more so than many similar message boards, so it's ultimately up to you to decide whether or not this is the type of community you're looking for. If you have any questions, you're quite welcome to private message me or one of the other staff members. Thanks! Thread closed. ~Dagger~

Try clicking [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?p=640549][u]here[/u][/url]. Does that get you to the last page of the thread? I split that thread to remove some off-topic posts about a week or so ago, so something may have gone wrong in the process. I checked it afterward and thought it seemed fine, but just now I got the same message you mentioned. What's weird is that I can still access it by using the search function. :animestun EDIT: Okay, I think I fixed it. Can you check the link on the main page of the Anime Lounge and let me know if everything works for you now? ~Dagger~

Once again... sources, please? And it's a bit unfair to blame different opinions on the American "news media" when chances are that the media produced the very interview upon which your most recent comments are based. :animeswea ~Dagger~

I have not been following this case very closely, but most of what I had read in newspapers and heard on the radio made me lean toward the husband's side. On that note, would you mind providing some sources to back up your assertions? You've made him sound positively diabolical, heh. ~Dagger~