Anime Saikano

[hawke3000]

Has anyone seen this anime? Its acctually very good. If you don't know what it is about, It's about when a guy and girl fall in love, but the girl turns out to be an "ultimate weapon" for the military and sadness insues. You should see it, it's very interesting.

[Guest rttocs77]

That's weird. I have the first three episodes downloaded on my computer, but I was under the impression that they were suppose to be comedic. Has anyone else watched it?

[Dagger]

I bought the first Saikano DVD ("Girlfriend") on Friday and ended up watching it into the wee small hours of the morning. The series captivated me even as I attempted to figure out whether or not I was going to like it. Unfortunately, Viz's release is plagued by all kinds of problems that reflect really poorly on the company and made me consider purchasing as few Viz products as I possibly can.

First, the good news. Saikano's dub is enjoyable and (for the most part, anyway) quite accurate. All of the main VAs are well-cast in the sense that their voices sound very much like those of the original Japanese seiyuus. The English Shuji does a particularly excellent job.

However, I'd still recommend watching the first few episodes both subbed and dubbed before deciding which version you want to follow. So far I appreciate the high-quality dub, but--for whatever reason--I like the Japanese voice cast more. The packaging and extras (which are allotted their own disc, something that rarely happens with domestic anime releases) are also fantastic.

And now for the bad news. Viz's subtitles are extremely disappointing; they're sprinkled with typos and grammatical mistakes. Such errors may be expected and excusable in fansubs, but I was rather shocked to see them marring a professional release.

Honorifics are left untranslated, so every time Chise says "Shu-chan," the subtitle that pops up says "Shuji." Obviously there's a reason that different people use different honorifics when addressing the main character, and Viz totally failed to account for this. I wouldn't have cared at all if their subtitles were otherwise flawless, yet the lack of song subtitles and liner notes to explain cultural references (one joke flew way over my head because I couldn't understand its context) just smacks of laziness.

As for the actual show, I can really relate to the main characters. The one thing which doesn't ring true is the fact that they [spoiler]chose to fall in love.[/spoiler] I can sort of understand how people their age would think that way, but the show over-emphasizes their decision, and after two or three episodes, it starts to feel less realistic and by extension makes them seem less sympathetic.

~Dagger~

[stormy001_m1a2]

Saikano sadness is deep, and it is story about love being tested against inhumanties of war.

The manga is however so much more superior and it is testament to the story's strength that GONZO's poor adaptation [I]fail[/I] to ruin the series.

[vash-san]

i recently finished the series and i found it to be very good.... i loved the storyline but i thought the animation was done terriblely. I felt that the characters lacked detail they were poorly drawn compared to other animes ive seen...what do u guys think???

Oh ya another thing i wanna add... whats with the warning you get in the 10 episode about the happy ending and how if you want animes to end happily then stop here!! In the end its not really that depressing, i was totally preparing my self for the worst but it surprised me how undepressing the ending was its still a great series however!!

[dragonrose]

I thought it was really good...though the drawing was kinda weird. Anyways, I thought it was good, a perfect ten. There is one difference, however. In the manga series, [COLOR=Black]the ending is [B]completely[/B] different[/COLOR] from the anime series ending. I think I spoiled it for those who haven't read the manga series, did I? Oops. Sorry.

~*dragonrose*~

[Dagger]

[quote name='Silent Shadows']Is that on on demand? -_-[/quote]

This is spam, Silent Shadows. Questions about TV schedules are best reserved for the television line-ups thread, and in any case you could find the answer much more quickly by simply using Google (or the search engine of your preference). If you have questions about OtakuBoards' rules and policies, please feel free to PM me or one of the other moderators.

Thank you very much. ^_^

~Dagger~

[Epsilon]

[COLOR=SlateGray][SIZE=1]I had gotten in a year after it's manga release back in 2000 and anime release in 2002. And have just started to watch the after fallow up "Love Song, Killed."

The plot and how the way the art style correspond is what had originally got me hooked on most of SINPre's series. Since nearly 5 of their works can tie into Saikano.

I've personally have never gotten to watch Saikano fan subbed, or English dubbed. Which is all good since the Japanese sub titles were on, and I can read Japanese and speak allot of it.

However there is one thing that confuses me within the title. The real name of Saikano is; Saishu Heiki Kanojo - 最終兵器彼女

Is called "Saikano" for short, by fans. The official translation is said to be; Saishu Heiki Kanojo - 最終兵器彼女

But the last word "Kanojo" has two different translations, making it two different names. "She, the Ultimate Weapon" or "She's the Ultimate Weapon." The other translation; ""My Girlfriend, the Ultimate Weapon." Although this is a minor problem I find; I'd like to know if anyone else knows the real translation. I'm thinking it'd make more sense for it to be; "My Girlfriend, the Ultimate Weapon." Since it fits more into the plot, though...

dragonrose, I have no clue what your really talking about. Because "The Last Love Song On This Little Plant" actually ties in fairly well, in my opinion. Mainly because it allows the reader or watcher to enjoy it more.

As for; [spoiler]They chose to fall in love.[/spoiler] I could never really understand it from Saikano. Other then; [spoiler]Because, Shuji knew that she could destroy or save the planet and he chose to ignore that fact and still love her. (Rather then going for a deeper relation ship with his best friend Akmei or Fuyumi. Chise chose not to draw away from Shuji's decision to get closer to her. And rather then turning into something like a killing machine, choice to keep her humanity and take the pain she had to endure all to be able for Shuji and Chise to be able to be together.
[/spoiler]

Other Stuff: I personally don't find Saikano depressing. Favorite character is; Chise and Atsushi. Simply in love with the art, and think the Japanese voices are better then the English ones. I think it is a simply beautiful story, and would recommend it to anyone who asks.
[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[dragonrose]

[COLOR=DarkSlateBlue]Sorry, I tend to confuse people a lot. I'll quote my source on this one, so that I don't confuse anymore people.

[QUOTE]Very little was changed in the transition from manga to anime, with one exception; the endings of the two are entirely different.

- Animerica, Anime Spotlight of April 2004[/QUOTE]

Again, sorry about that. :)

~*dragonrose*~[/COLOR]

[Dagger]

Volume 2 came in the mail a couple of weeks ago, but I only recently finished watching it in Japanese as well as English. There are fewer subtitle errors this time around. However, I'm still irritated that the OP and ED lyrics are left untranslated.

While I recognize the tragedy of Saikano's story, seeing it play out on a television screen doesn't seem to affect me much emotionally. Chise could use more depth--I really liked the scenes which showed glimpses of her [spoiler]other personality or self.[/spoiler] The anime's artwork and animation continue to be top-notch. I love the way Saikano is directed, and it does a great job of combining sheer visual crispness with rounded, gentle-looking character designs.

In any case, I'm excited about reading the manga.

~Dagger~

[vash-san]

i heard that they were makin 2 oavs for the series it called Saishu Heiki Kanojo: Another Love Song (tenative title) i guessing that it will occur sometime after the events of saikano but im not sure... if u wnat more info take a look here official site [url="http://www.saikano.net/ova/"]http://www.saikano.net/ova/[/url] unfortuantely teh site is in japanese so it might not help that much unless u can read japanese.

[COLOR=#503F86][SIZE=1][b]Please watch your spelling and grammar in future; using abbreviations is against the site [URL=http://www.otakuboards.com/rules.php?]Rules[/URL]- anything too poor in quality will be deleted as spam. -Solo[/COLOR][/SIZE][/b]

[Dagger]

Personally, I'm convinced that the OVA pretty much has to be some kind of side story. After all, at the end of the television series, [spoiler]the entire world is destroyed and every single character dies (with the possible exception of Shuji, but even that is debatable). What is there left to tell?[/spoiler]

I suppose there's a possibility that the OVA will serve as a follow-up to the manga rather than the anime, since other posters have mentioned that the manga and anime follow strikingly divergent paths. I can't speculate too much on this, though, as I haven't read the manga. Exactly how does its ending differ from that of the anime?

~Dagger~

[[SKY KEEPER]]

They said that the manga ending is more depressing than the anime's, is that true? If so, I'm gonna read the manga instead.

[Dagger]

[quote name=''[SKY KEEPER]'']They said that the manga ending is more depressing than the anime's, is that true? If so, I'm gonna read the manga instead.[/quote]

Wow, seriously? o_O

It's hard to imagine anything more deliberately and brutally depressing than the anime's ending--I hate to say this, but there was such a surfeit of tragedy that it ended up feeling pretty gratuitous.

For those interested, [url=http://www.saikano.net/ova/promo/saikano_ova320.mov][u]here[/u][/url] is a link to the upcoming Saikano OVA, "Another Love Song." The animation and artwork look beautiful, as expected. However, the plot remains a mystery, and a rather perplexing one at that--will it be a side story, as I had previously guessed? An alternate universe re-telling? Some kind of prequel? Either way, I'm looking forward to seeing this.

~Dagger~

[dragonandante]

[QUOTE=vash-san]i heard that they were makin 2 oavs for the series it called Saishu Heiki Kanojo: Another Love Song (tenative title) i guessing that it will occur sometime after the events of saikano but im not sure... if u wnat more info take a look here official site [url="http://www.saikano.net/ova/"]http://www.saikano.net/ova/[/url] unfortuantely teh site is in japanese so it might not help that much unless u can read japanese.

[COLOR=#503F86][SIZE=1][b]Please watch your spelling and grammar in future; using abbreviations is against the site [URL=http://www.otakuboards.com/rules.php?]Rules[/URL]- anything too poor in quality will be deleted as spam. -Solo[/COLOR][/SIZE][/b][/QUOTE]

I believe it is one oav and a live action movie, but correct me if I'm wrong. Anyways, I think that the oav will revolve around the storyline, but it will be taken from another person perspective.

Check out the following site the [url="http://www.saikano.net/"]official site[/url] and look for the word ova that links to a trailor for the ova...