Anime What are You Watching/Reading Now?

[Dagger]

I loved both seasons of Honey & Clover, but one aspect of the end of season 2 left a bad taste in my mouth. It really irritated me, because the main elements of the ending were so perfectly done, and it was only one little thing, and I couldn't level any concrete criticism against it except that [i]I just didn't like it[/i], and now it sticks out in my head whenever I think about the wonderfulness that is the rest of H&C. Argh. Will be interesting to see what you think of the end.

Anyway, I semi-marathoned H&C and since that worked out well, I'm planning to do the same for Nodame Cantabile sooner or later... must get on that...

~Dagger~

[Fasteriskhead]

[quote name='Deus ex Machina'][COLOR="DarkOrange"]This weekend I'm going to watch ALL of Eureka Seven. (That is, assuming I don't go '**** that, this is more important!' and finally watch Yamamoto Yohko live I've been saying I would for almost 2 god damn months)[/COLOR][/QUOTE]Oh, trust me, you won't. E7 gets its hooks in like no other mecha series in recent memory (there's a bit of lag in the middle, but by that point the thing's got so much inertia already that it doesn't matter much). The only issue that might be a problem is the sheer length of the show - there's fifty episodes, which means watching for about ten hours a day. You might want to break out the catheter for this one.

[Heaven's Cloud]

[color=indigo]I have been watching the subbed episodes of Bleach that litter You Tube. I don?t know why I am so fascinated with the show. Perhaps it is because the series later episode (the Bounto arc and beyond) has a horribly drawn out plot similar to that of DBZ (though the stare downs don?t last nearly as long) where little action seems to occur over the span of three or four episodes.

Still, I enjoy the characters and it is a fun, addictive show.[/color]

[Gavin]

[quote name='Heaven's Cloud'][color=indigo]I have been watching the subbed episodes of Bleach that litter You Tube. I don?t know why I am so fascinated with the show. Perhaps it is because the series later episode (the Bounto arc and beyond) has a horribly drawn out plot similar to that of DBZ (though the stare downs don?t last nearly as long) where little action seems to occur over the span of three or four episodes.

Still, I enjoy the characters and it is a fun, addictive show.[/color][/QUOTE]

[SIZE="1"]Bouto Arc = Filler, stay away from it HC, 'tis bad stuff, the series starts again proper around episode 110. I'd also use MySpace over Youtube, you won't have to deal with episodes being in parts then.

I actually hadn't noticed that about the stare downs being similar to DBZ, but you're right, I can't believe I didn't see it before. That said, I did notice the similar flaring auras any time there's about to be a big fight i.e. Ichigo vs. Kenpachi or Ichigo vs Byakuya.[/SIZE]

[Heaven's Cloud]

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE="1"]Bouto Arc = Filler, stay away from it HC, 'tis bad stuff, the series starts again proper around episode 110. I'd also use MySpace over Youtube, you won't have to deal with episodes being in parts then.

I actually hadn't noticed that about the stare downs being similar to DBZ, but you're right, I can't believe I didn't see it before. That said, I did notice the similar flaring auras any time there's about to be a big fight i.e. Ichigo vs. Kenpachi or Ichigo vs Byakuya.[/SIZE][/QUOTE]

[color=indigo]Actually, I am up to episode 151 now, so I am well out of the Bounto arc now. Thanks for the MySpace tip though.

I think the comparisons can be drawn pretty easily between DBZ and Bleach, at least when it comes to formatting. Ichigo, like Goku, has vast potential, even amongst his peers and has to train to use it. At some point during his adventures he will have to stop and train while his companions fight, a definitive trait of DBZ. Once his training is over he rushes in and saves the day right in the nick of time. Eventually his companions realize that Ichigo has surpassed them so they undergo serious training to keep up. Again, a very DBZ like trait.

It actually makes for a nice plot, though it is predictable.[/color]

[Gavin]

[quote name='Heaven's Cloud'][color=indigo]Thanks for the MySpace tip though.

I think the comparisons can be drawn pretty easily between DBZ and Bleach, at least when it comes to formatting. Ichigo, like Goku, has vast potential, even amongst his peers and has to train to use it. At some point during his adventures he will have to stop and train while his companions fight, a definitive trait of DBZ. Once his training is over he rushes in and saves the day right in the nick of time. Eventually his companions realize that Ichigo has surpassed them so they undergo serious training to keep up. Again, a very DBZ like trait.

It actually makes for a nice plot, though it is predictable.[/color][/QUOTE]

[SIZE="1"]No problem, glad to be of help.

As for the similarities between DBZ and Bleach, yeah, they're all pretty obvious when you spell them out like that, I tend not to notice things like that, heh I'm not really a deep thinker or comparer when it comes to different animes. Still though, even if it's predictable, as you said, it makes for a nice plot.[/SIZE]

[jen_sa]

I've been watching Ranma I have the complete series so I've seen them all already. I also watch One Piece I luv that too.

=>Jen

[2010DigitalBoy]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]So, I just finished Eureka Seven, and color me blown the **** away. I?m not going to make any satements about this being a masterpiece or anything, but for me, personally, this show did just about everything right.

For statarters, I want to admit that I absolutely loved the story and the characters, however, neither would have made this show one of my favorites. It might have breached my top 20 with it?s themes that match up with my beliefs, the excellent pacing (shocking for a 50-episode series!), and several win cahractrs (Stoner is mah homeboy). But it?s placement in my absolute favorites is due to something else entirely.

The romance. Eureka and Renton are officially my favorite anime couple ever. For me, the bleeding romantic I am, it was the perfect love story. However, obviouslyy it?s not like it?s the most original love story ever told, so it would seem odd to proclaim E7 as my favorite over similar ones. however, Renton and Eureka themselves were just all around great. Expecially Eureka. She tapped into almost ALL of my weeknesses.

Note: Digital Boy?s Weaknesses: Short hair, small breasts, intelligent yet emotional, romantic, has kids. The only one left out of Eureka?s case is: Smokes, however tapping into all the others is a feat accomplished masterfuly, lol.

The biggest defining moments for me were something that has NEVER happened to me watching a show before. There have been plenty of times where I have teared up from a sad scene in a show (que Mai-HiME and the Key shows) and I teared up before because of something that blew my mind (Neon Genesis Evangelion) however, in Eureka Seven was the first time I have EVER teared up out of sheer, ubridled happiness. This show brought me a joy like I?ve never seen before.

So yeah. ****ing naisu.[/COLOR]

[Panache]

[B]Kamichu 13-14[/B]

Smex...Ok so no real plot developed but still...smex. It's like whispers of the heart done better and a series.

[2010DigitalBoy]

[quote name='Avenged666fold'][B]Kamichu 13-14[/B]

Smex...Ok so no real plot developed but still...smex. It's like whispers of the heart done better and a series.[/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]one of the best shows EVAR.

Anyway people, since begging doesn't work, I have to find some way to get you to watch Baccano. However, I think my latest convert can say it much better than I can.

[QUOTE=Konata][img]http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa320/KonataIzumi/digitalboy.png[/img]
[/QUOTE]

That would be my favorite cahracter, Rail Tracer. A million thanks to Konata for the badass fanart!!!![/COLOR]

[Dagger]

Wow@the fanart. :)

Yeah, Baccano is loads of fun (albeit yet another casualty of my tiny attention span). Kind of hoping that they even out the animation for the DVDs, though. Some parts of it look so great and some are so... awkward.

It's also a nice source of OP parodies. The [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htyQif4QofQ][u]Gundam 00 version[/u][/url] is the best I've seen, I think. The Lucky Star one isn't bad either.

~Dagger~

[2010DigitalBoy]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]I liked the LS one a lot (skipped out on G00 since, well, I can't stand it) but yeah, totally awesome. The beginning with the running was perfect XD.

Anyway, how can the show with the shortest attention span ever not satiate your attention span?! It's the most crack-addict-nine-year-old-without-ritalin show evar! XD You should probably re-watch as a block if you didn't the first time. [/COLOR]

[Panache]

[QUOTE]one of the best shows EVAR.[/QUOTE]Aww your just saying that cuz the lead character is probably the best moe character evar...seriously though this show has changed my opinion of moe.

[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtBWoeZuVTI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtBWoeZuVTI[/URL]

Oh and that Ending Theme is so epic...sure it's not to complicated but the dance...oh the dance.

[Dagger]

[quote name='Deus ex Machina'][COLOR="DarkOrange"]
Anyway, how can the show with the shortest attention span ever not satiate your attention span?! It's the most crack-addict-nine-year-old-without-ritalin show evar! XD You should probably re-watch as a block if you didn't the first time. [/COLOR][/QUOTE]
Yeah, you've got a point there. :animesmil I think I petered out around episode 8 or something... will probably take you up on that suggestion when the winter break doldrums hit.

~Dagger~

[2010DigitalBoy]

[quote name='Avenged666fold']Aww your just saying that cuz the lead character is probably the best moe character evar...seriously though this show has changed my opinion of moe.

[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtBWoeZuVTI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtBWoeZuVTI[/URL]

Oh and that Ending Theme is so epic...sure it's not to complicated but the dance...oh the dance.[/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Bah! You don't understand moe at all. And she barely expresses it, if at all. I wouldn't even call yurie moe. However, she is in my top 5 favorite characters evar.

And Dagger ZOMG you didn't even get to the major Rail Tracer parts!!! Go watch plz!!![/COLOR]

[Dagger]

Hold on, now! Moe is 100% subjective. All it means is that Yurie is moe for him but not for you (or, to put it more technically, he's moe for Yurie, but you aren't). But insofar as one can objectively say that a character looks or seems moe, I'm surprised you don't think Yurie falls under that category. Small for her age, cute, sleepy, shy...

~Dagger~

[Panache]

[IMG]http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb213/Aboywearingvans/050721_cd_kamichu.jpg[/IMG]

Pfft Yurie IS moe!

[Fasteriskhead]

[quote name='Dagger']Hold on, now! Moe is 100% subjective.[/QUOTE]I'm not so sure. I guess there's support for this, given that the term is now sometimes used as a verb (in the sense: "I moe'd over Eriko-chan"), but there is a tendency towards "moe" indicating certain facts.

A friend of mine, I think, put it quite nicely when he took moe to mean "a pet you can masturbate to." It's not just that moe girls don't have desires (aside from eating delicious sweet things or whatever), ideals, long term goals, or anything of that sort - it's that it doesn't [i]matter[/i] that they don't. Yurie can be pretty indecisive, but that's because she often really doesn't know what to do or genuinely fears failure. In contrast, when a moe girl is indecisive it's a [i]character trait[/i]. It has nothing to do with the feelings, thoughts, and choices of a human being, and everything to do with the character [i]manifesting[/i] certain well-known, predictable behaviors for the benefit of the viewer. The aim is appearance and spectacle rather than personality. I tend to think this is best shown by the newly-dubbed "kuuderes," the withdrawn "cool" girls (and, full disclosure: if I have a weakness to moe, it's the kuudere). The thing about them is that their withdrawing is actually just about the most extreme kind of spectacle you could have: the camera goes right to them while they're reading a book or sitting alone or shrugging someone off. They radiate "not getting involved" as a way of being right in the center of whatever scene they're in. So, while it's true that different people will "moe" towards different characters, that could just mean that they "moe" at differing traits that are all moe from the start.

Moe characters don't change or grow or demand interpretation. Everything relevant about them is right there in the open for every scene. If they ever change, it's by the viewer suddenly being thrown some new, "deeper" trait (which doesn't mean you have to go back and reinterpret everything before - everything a tsundere does before the big scene where she gets all blushy and flustered is still perfectly understandible by her tsun side). And, because the moe girls being mechanisms to show off traits (rather than thinking, feeling beings) allows them to shift moods really quickly (without having to worry about things like why such a shift makes sense), they can go from cute to homicidal instantly. And yes, I'm pretty sure even being kill-crazy can be moe. I know a girl whose favorite cat, despite her better judgment, is the one who constantly attacks all the others. There's a lesson in this; it's why Higurashi is one of the most moe shows ever.

Okay, tl;dr. Moe girls are nice because they're predictable, showy, and act entirely for our benefit (aside from our watching them, they really don't exist at all). And, if you manage to hit a flag that triggers an event, you can do horrible things to them without any of that messy stuff like dating, intimacy, premature ejaculation, heart-to-heart conversations, lying, breakups, STDs, etc.. Pets you can masturbate to, indeed.

[Dagger]

[quote name='Fasteriskhead']So, while it's true that different people will "moe" towards different characters, that could just mean that they "moe" at differing traits that are all moe from the start.

Moe characters don't change or grow or demand interpretation. Everything relevant about them is right there in the open for every scene.[/QUOTE]
This explains my being able to consistently predict my favorite girl/guy in games based on character design alone. :animeswea Which plays into your point--I'm not nearly as good as doing that when it comes to anime, because the anime characters don't necessarily have to be on parade to the same extent as in an eroge.

Your post sort of suggests to me that a moe type of character is a character that's made to be moe for people who go moe for the specific attributes found therein. (Tongue-twister?) I lean toward the "moe is an emotion" side, though, in part because of its potential for bleeding out of anime etc. that try to evoke that warm & fuzzy (in the heart, loins, or wherever else) sensation. Ex: the other day my friend was pathetically ill, and when I saw her curling up and lolling around, it was like I got a Zeus-caliber lightning bolt of moe awareness through the head.

Setting real life aside, though, moe spills over into just about everything, to the point that I think it becomes troublesome to sort out who was always moe and who was made moe after the fact by the fandom. I also like the idea that you get to decide who's moe for you because it cuts out the need for debate over whether or not a character is moe in the first place. I guess that's a concern for me because I straddle the fujoshi and male otaku fandoms. If I think both [url=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/tonya.jpg][u]this girl[/u][/url] and [url=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/DaggerIX1/yuuki.jpg][u]this guy[/u][/url] are moe, I don't like having to justify it to either camp.

[quote name='Fasteriskhead']I'm not so sure. I guess there's support for this, given that the term is now sometimes used as a verb (in the sense: "I moe'd over Eriko-chan"), but there is a tendency towards "moe" indicating certain facts.[/QUOTE]
The Japanese Wikipedia entry for 萌え is practically a dissertation-length piece on usage and so forth (it's worth noting that the word is a shortening of a verb). I barely skimmed it, but there's an emphasis on moe as a feeling toward a specific "target."

I've never looked before, so I was surprised--its content and the content of the English entry are totally different. As far as the English fandom goes, moe as a feeling has never gained a lot of traction, but that's where the roots of the concept lie. Which helps explain why fujoshi and members of other fringe fandoms use it just as freely as fans of the types of characters that are more readily recognized by foreign fans as moe.

~Dagger~

[2010DigitalBoy]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Faserisk basicall summed up exactly what I was thinking. Nothing against moe, though, just agreeing lol. I do have my weaknesses. A lot of them.

However, Dagger, you are right that anyone can be moe for a person. However, if you're using the term 'moe girl' it's FAR more dangerous.[/COLOR]

[Panache]

Whoa. I just thought moe meant a cute and sorta small character. I didn't know all that stuff went into it...It's really not a big deal though is it? I guess by the way Fasteriskhead explained it she isn't moe...because she is a somewhat developed character.

[2010DigitalBoy]

[quote name='Avenged666fold']It's really not a big deal though is it? [/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Try the biggest deal in 21st Century anime fandom period. Probably the most discussed topic in the past couple years.

EDIT: I shouldn't make that statement, having only been in the scene for around a half year, but from what I've read, I'd say it's accurate. [/COLOR]

[Panache]

[quote name='Deus ex Machina'][COLOR="DarkOrange"]Try the biggest deal in 21st Century anime fandom period. Probably the most discussed topic in the past couple years.

EDIT: I shouldn't make that statement, having only been in the scene for around a half year, but from what I've read, I'd say it's accurate. [/COLOR][/QUOTE]
I haven't seen it discussed on any forums I frequent. And one of the biggest deals in the anime fandom period? Cmon.

[2010DigitalBoy]

[quote name='Avenged666fold']I haven't seen it discussed on any forums I frequent. And one of the biggest deals in the anime fandom period? Cmon.[/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]What forums do you frequent? Moe is definitely one of te most discussed things I've seen, namely debates over just what the hell it is, but more-so debates on wether it's good or 'destroying anime' as many fans seem to believe. If you want, I could point you in the direction of some great discussions or blog posts on the subject. [/COLOR]

[Panache]

[quote name='Deus ex Machina'][COLOR="DarkOrange"]What forums do you frequent? Moe is definitely one of te most discussed things I've seen, namely debates over just what the hell it is, but more-so debates on wether it's good or 'destroying anime' as many fans seem to believe. If you want, I could point you in the direction of some great discussions or blog posts on the subject. [/COLOR][/QUOTE]

I spend a majority of my time at T.H.E.M. I occasionally post at ANN and Gaia(gaia sucks btw). Anyway as long as the people at these forums aren't elitist snobs go ahead.