190 replies to this topic

[John Paul Fitch]

Just got myself "Wings of Honneamise".

Haven't watched yet. Recommended?

[The Lorcan Nagle]

It's brilliant. Beautifully animated, a pretty deep storyline. Also fun spotting how many scenes Apollo 13 recreated shot for shot.

[Adam Wednesdays]

I like Honneamise a lot too. Good choice.

If you're not in teard by the end of episode 6 then you have no soul at all.

I'll be sure to keep you appraised.

[Lucian Von Dooom]

I like Honneamise a lot too. Good choice.

Thirded!

I finally got around to seeing Ef: A Tale of Memories. I was pretty disappointed. It tried way too hard to be emotional and the art was lazy for the most part. A few nice sunsets doesn't make up for the rest of it. Seemed like it was wishing it was a Shinkei film.

[Adam Wednesdays]

Ok Lorcan, you'll be happy to know that, for some reason, my eyes were suffering a slight misting problem towards the end of Gunbuster. Pure coincidence I'm sure.

All in all I do think it got better as it went on. It certainly had some great moments (the ending and the battle in the third episode), but also a lot of moments that weren't so great. Some of it was I honestly felt kind of insulted by the shear number of "HEY LOOK: TITTIES!" shots in the movie, especially in the middle of what were supposed to be serious scenes. It was so excessive and needless, and a little insulting.

Also... Jung Freud? Really? I do realize that Hideaki Anno is obligated by the terms of his contract with Satan to include an excess of psychoanalytic imagery in everything he makes, but giving a (Russian) character the (German) names of the two greatest psychoanalysts and having her main contribution to the plot be to be the main rival in an Electra Complex-off for the romantic affections of the show's main father figure? That makes even "Evangelion" look subtle.

[The Lorcan Nagle]

Gunbuster was the first time that Gainax tried the "stick a ton of fanservice into a deep series to sell it to perverts" tactic, and it worked pretty well so they kept doing it. It is really OTT in Gunbuster compared to, say, Eva (while Noriko's bouncing boobs make sense in episode 1 when she's stomping around in her gym clothes, and you can sorta justify the Zero-G's effect on breasts scene in episode 2, there's no need fo her to rip her top open when pulling out Gunbuster's FTL drive in episode 6); but it's nowhere near as senseless as the sexual assault scene in the otherwise flawless Wings of Honneamiese, for example (the UK home video release of Wings actually excises that scene, while the theatrical release kept it in)

[Adam Wednesdays]

Someone advised me to give the original Mobile Suit Gundam movies a try (I'm too lazy to go back and look to check for sure, but I'm pretty sure it was Lorcan), and I finally sat down to watch the first one. It was decent enough, but I still liked the basic concept much more than I liked the actual execution. It was incredibly obvious from the pacing that it was made up of a bunch of TV episodes shortened and smashed together into a movie; it felt like "Story Arcs 1 through 4, Abridged." The plot was very jerky, and some things seemed to happen just because they needed to happen before the next plot development came around the bend. It didn't exactly help the character work either: Amuro's shifts in moods weren't believable most of the time and felt entirely dictated by the needs of the plot rather than any logic in the story, and Char's turn in the third act is so seemingly random and without any precursor that it's more befuddling than dramatic. And up until the last-scene reveal that the Zeonese (Zeonicans? Zeonish? Whatever...) are a bunch of dirty dirty Space Fascists I was honestly wondering whether or not I was supposed to want them to lose, as they didn't actually seem so bad compared to the glorious ball of incompetence and dumbassery that is the Federation.

That said... I enjoyed it, and I'm going to be watching the next one soon.

Gunbuster was the first time that Gainax tried the "stick a ton of fanservice into a deep series to sell it to perverts" tactic, and it worked pretty well so they kept doing it. It is really OTT in Gunbuster compared to, say, Eva (while Noriko's bouncing boobs make sense in episode 1 when she's stomping around in her gym clothes, and you can sorta justify the Zero-G's effect on breasts scene in episode 2, there's no need fo her to rip her top open when pulling out Gunbuster's FTL drive in episode 6); but it's nowhere near as senseless as the sexual assault scene in the otherwise flawless Wings of Honneamiese, for example (the UK home video release of Wings actually excises that scene, while the theatrical release kept it in)

The parts that were the most infuriating where when they threw it into scenes that were meant to be dramatic, and where the really blatant pandering to perverts just killed whatever moment was happening on screen. The costume tearing in the last episode is a good example, but the one that really bugged me was the one from the episode before, where Noriko comes back to her room to try to digest the fact that she's years younger than everyone she used to know due to time dilation and reflects on what it means for her life... just as her boobs happen to fall out of her shirt when she lays down for no apparent reason. You watch enough anime and you learn very quickly that you're going to have to put up with some obnoxious fanservice scenes, whether you want to or not. It's blatantly obvious why the space-bath house scene is there; it literally has no other purpose than as an excuse for the female characters to take their clothes off. But whatever, it doesn't interfere with the other moments, if that's not your thing you just roll your eyes and wait for the story to start again. But when they start throwing random tittie shots into big story moments, it really feels like someone on the production line up and declared "our audience couldn't possibly care about this character unless they can see her ta-tas!" Granted, I'm sure there IS a section of the audience for which that is true, and it's probably a bigger portion of the viewers than I care to imagine. But for the rest of us, it's kind of insulting.

[The Lorcan Nagle]

Someone advised me to give the original Mobile Suit Gundam movies a try (I'm too lazy to go back and look to check for sure, but I'm pretty sure it was Lorcan), and I finally sat down to watch the first one. It was decent enough, but I still liked the basic concept much more than I liked the actual execution. It was incredibly obvious from the pacing that it was made up of a bunch of TV episodes shortened and smashed together into a movie; it felt like "Story Arcs 1 through 4, Abridged." The plot was very jerky, and some things seemed to happen just because they needed to happen before the next plot development came around the bend.

Yeah, it's one of the biggest failings of anime compilation movies, especially the first Gundam one (the editing ruined the pacing of the second Gundam SEED movie too, editing a 4-episode story arc where the characters are fighitng relentlessly and the stakes increase each time into a 15 minute fight scene, for example). And they have to keep the first episode largely intact too...

It didn't exactly help the character work either: Amuro's shifts in moods weren't believable most of the time and felt entirely dictated by the needs of the plot rather than any logic in the story, and Char's turn in the third act is so seemingly random and without any precursor that it's more befuddling than dramatic. And up until the last-scene reveal that the Zeonese (Zeonicans? Zeonish? Whatever...) are a bunch of dirty dirty Space Fascists I was honestly wondering whether or not I was supposed to want them to lose, as they didn't actually seem so bad compared to the glorious ball of incompetence and dumbassery that is the Federation.

A big part of the Gundam TV series' setup was that every couple of weeks a new Zeon leader would show up with a new mobile suit or strategy to take out the White base, so Garma wa sonly in it for an episod eor two before Char betrayed him. It was meant to be this huge plot twist, to get the viewers wondering what the hell Char was up to. At that point he's been the relaible antagonist for about 15 episodes of the TV series, and all of a sudden he's playing his own game. It's one of the twists that really doesn't work in the movie timeframe.

As for the Space Nazi part, a big part of the Gundam idiom is that the soldiers on both sides tend to be regular guys, but the leaders are evil or incompetent. The Zabi family, especially Ghiren are shitbags of the highest order - Ghiren and Kycillia's plotting in the later movies make it more evident, as does a conversation between Ghiren and his father that I won't spoil further.

That said... I enjoyed it, and I'm going to be watching the next one soon.

One of us, one of us! (I do think you'll prefer 2 and 3, they're paced and assembled better)

The parts that were the most infuriating where when they threw it into scenes that were meant to be dramatic, and where the really blatant pandering to perverts just killed whatever moment was happening on screen. The costume tearing in the last episode is a good example, but the one that really bugged me was the one from the episode before, where Noriko comes back to her room to try to digest the fact that she's years younger than everyone she used to know due to time dilation and reflects on what it means for her life... just as her boobs happen to fall out of her shirt when she lays down for no apparent reason. You watch enough anime and you learn very quickly that you're going to have to put up with some obnoxious fanservice scenes, whether you want to or not. It's blatantly obvious why the space-bath house scene is there; it literally has no other purpose than as an excuse for the female characters to take their clothes off. But whatever, it doesn't interfere with the other moments, if that's not your thing you just roll your eyes and wait for the story to start again. But when they start throwing random tittie shots into big story moments, it really feels like someone on the production line up and declared "our audience couldn't possibly care about this character unless they can see her ta-tas!" Granted, I'm sure there IS a section of the audience for which that is true, and it's probably a bigger portion of the viewers than I care to imagine. But for the rest of us, it's kind of insulting.

I agree on pretty much all of this. From articles I've read, a big part of the fanservice addition (and it was advertised as having fanservice in every episode, IIRC), was to get people watching a show with some fairly complicated concepts. In many ways it's an animated version of The Forever War, after all.

[Adam Wednesdays]

A big part of the Gundam TV series' setup was that every couple of weeks a new Zeon leader would show up with a new mobile suit or strategy to take out the White base, so Garma wa sonly in it for an episod eor two before Char betrayed him. It was meant to be this huge plot twist, to get the viewers wondering what the hell Char was up to. At that point he's been the relaible antagonist for about 15 episodes of the TV series, and all of a sudden he's playing his own game. It's one of the twists that really doesn't work in the movie timeframe.

I figured it was something like that. Of course, I already knew a little bit about the story, so I knew that Char was going to betray Zeon. But I was expecting some kind of buildup to it, and instead it just comes out of nowhere.

As for the Space Nazi part, a big part of the Gundam idiom is that the soldiers on both sides tend to be regular guys, but the leaders are evil or incompetent.

Sort of like the Char thing, I was actually already aware that the Zeon were basically Nazis with space ships. It was just somewhat surprising that up until the last ten minutes or so of the movie, the only consistant depictions of the Zeon leadership were of Char and Garma (until Char turns out not to be, anyway), who were mostly played as the honorable soldier types. Contrasted with the fact that the federation leadership were so incredibly dumb, most of the movie doesn't actually give you much of a reason to dislike the Other Side. And then they go and hold a Nuremburg rally in space..

One of us, one of us!

*sigh* Yeah...

It's funny, up until a couple of years ago I couldn't be bothered at all with anime or manga. Pokemon and Dragonball were big when I was in junior high and high school and I couldn't stand either of them, which colored my perception of what anime was for a long time. Later I'd watch things like "Cowboy Bebop" and a few stray episodes of "Eva" and "Fullmetal Alchemist" on Adult Swim when I was in college, but to me those were the rare few exceptions in a sea of something to which I was completely indifferent, if not occasionally openly hostile.

Then I eventually decided that I was going to sit down and take the time to actually watch a wide range of it to understand it better, if only so that I could come to understand all the exotic conventions that it uses that alienated me so much (it's funny now I can't even remember exactly what the little things that used to bug me where, but I do remember they used to really, really bug me). I happened to be out on disability at the time with a back injury that kept me from moving around or leaving the house all that often, so I had way, way too much time on my hands that allowed me to devote myself to a silly project like that.

Now I watch way, way too much of the stuff. Sure, a lot of it just doesn't appeal to me, but that's true of everything. And while I did have to sit through a some awful, awful crap (f*ck you too, "Elfen Lied." F*ck you too), there's also some amazing stuff out there that's some of my current favorite things to watch.

I agree on pretty much all of this. From articles I've read, a big part of the fanservice addition (and it was advertised as having fanservice in every episode, IIRC), was to get people watching a show with some fairly complicated concepts. In many ways it's an animated version of The Forever War, after all.

I'm not surprised by that at all. It would be one thing if this was a show aiming for the lowest common denominator, but "Gunbuster," like most of Hideaki Anno's stuff, obviously has more literate aspirations than that; he loves his big, cerebral concepts. Unfortunately, that only makes the fact that there's a whole lot of cynical pandering going on that much more apparent. There's definitely some of that going on in "Eva," too, though that seems to be more self-aware and referential than it was in "Gunbuster." Not to mention that by the end Eva had pretty much turned into a very stern and unflattering lecture directed squarely at the segment of the audience that was watching the show for the T&A shots of 14 year old girls, particularly the opening of "End of Evangelion."

[The Lorcan Nagle]

I figured it was something like that. Of course, I already knew a little bit about the story, so I knew that Char was going to betray Zeon. But I was expecting some kind of buildup to it, and instead it just comes out of nowhere.

If you can track them down, Fred Schott's translation of Tomino's novels are a very good companion piece, especially to the movies. They really help flesh out Char and the Zabi family's motivations

Sort of like the Char thing, I was actually already aware that the Zeon were basically Nazis with space ships. It was just somewhat surprising that up until the last ten minutes or so of the movie, the only consistant depictions of the Zeon leadership were of Char and Garma (until Char turns out not to be, anyway), who were mostly played as the honorable soldier types. Contrasted with the fact that the federation leadership were so incredibly dumb, most of the movie doesn't actually give you much of a reason to dislike the Other Side. And then they go and hold a Nuremburg rally in space..

The later moves do a good job of distancing the average Zeon soldier from Ghiren's jingoism. But the bulk of the Federation's leadership remains spineless and incompetant. But that's a theme which is repeated throughout all of Tomino's Gundam stories.

It's funny, up until a couple of years ago I couldn't be bothered at all with anime or manga. Pokemon and Dragonball were big when I was in junior high and high school and I couldn't stand either of them, which colored my perception of what anime was for a long time. Later I'd watch things like "Cowboy Bebop" and a few stray episodes of "Eva" and "Fullmetal Alchemist" on Adult Swim when I was in college, but to me those were the rare few exceptions in a sea of something to which I was completely indifferent, if not occasionally openly hostile.

Then I eventually decided that I was going to sit down and take the time to actually watch a wide range of it to understand it better, if only so that I could come to understand all the exotic conventions that it uses that alienated me so much (it's funny now I can't even remember exactly what the little things that used to bug me where, but I do remember they used to really, really bug me). I happened to be out on disability at the time with a back injury that kept me from moving around or leaving the house all that often, so I had way, way too much time on my hands that allowed me to devote myself to a silly project like that.

Now I watch way, way too much of the stuff. Sure, a lot of it just doesn't appeal to me, but that's true of everything. And while I did have to sit through a some awful, awful crap (f*ck you too, "Elfen Lied." F*ck you too), there's also some amazing stuff out there that's some of my current favorite things to watch.

Heh, I enjoyed Elfen Lied.

I was exposed to Anime at a relatively young age - I grew up loving TV shows like Captain Harlock and Robotech and was vaguely aware that they were originally Japanese. And I was at exactly the right age when Manga Video came along. I've gone in and out of phases of watching lots and lots of anime, but it's always there in the background fo rme. Plus, I do love giant robots

I'm not surprised by that at all. It would be one thing if this was a show aiming for the lowest common denominator, but "Gunbuster," like most of Hideaki Anno's stuff, obviously has more literate aspirations than that; he loves his big, cerebral concepts. Unfortunately, that only makes the fact that there's a whole lot of cynical pandering going on that much more apparent. There's definitely some of that going on in "Eva," too, though that seems to be more self-aware and referential than it was in "Gunbuster." Not to mention that by the end Eva had pretty much turned into a very stern and unflattering lecture directed squarely at the segment of the audience that was watching the show for the T&A shots of 14 year old girls, particularly the opening of "End of Evangelion."

Gunbuster was GAINAX's first OVA production, and their second professional production overall. Wings of Honneamiese had failed at the cinema, so it was a make or break moment for them. They figured "put some tits in", and actually advertise the show as having some fanservice in every episode. It was bold and audacious and it worked, It does mean there's some cringeworthy moments if you're not into wanking over cartoons (or are honest enough to just get the porn ones) But it did keep GAINAX afloat and let them thrive.

[Ogul]

The parts that were the most infuriating where when they threw it into scenes that were meant to be dramatic, and where the really blatant pandering to perverts just killed whatever moment was happening on screen.

Heh, at least it's not as bad as Game of Thrones.

Anyways, this is shaping up to be a packed season. I'll probably do some more complete reviews later, but my favorite new series so far is Accel World, which is a little bit like .Hack, although I'm not a fan of the main character's "hero mode" look, too generic Infinity Blade. I also really enjoyed the new Fujiko/Lupan series. I'd like to get some female feedback on this one, because it's super fanservicy, but in a way that might actually work, since it actually fits the plot and characters so well. Zetman is pretty and somewhat interesting as a Guyver-esc series, but I'm not at all a fan of the Devilman-like main character design, and it goes a bit grimdark for my tastes. I'm also going to watch Medaka Box, but not too psyched about the first few episodes, since I liked the series better after the genre shift from Sketdance high school comedy to Reborn action/comedy manga, which probably won't be fully in place until 6-12 eps in.

[Adam Wednesdays]

Heh, I enjoyed Elfen Lied.

...I don't think we should be friends anymore.

Elfen Lied wore out it's welcome very quickly with me. The opening is so ludicrously bloody and violent that you can't help but be amazed and in awe of it. But it was all downhill from there. Pretty much everything involving the male lead and his obnoxiously incestuous cousin was almost physically painful to watch. The show seems to think that its very simple and not-that-deep message is TOTES DEEP AND MEANINGFUL and feels the need to bludgeon the audience over the head with it repeatedly in case it missed what the show was trying to say the first seven thousand times. And it was so cynically abusive to the characters that it became increasingly unpleasant to watch; for a show that wants to be about humanizing the monster, it does an incredibly good job of dehumanizing them by having the girls all be very blatant sex-and/or-pity objects for the audience in the few scenes where they aren't committing acts of horrific violence. I was weary once the whole "I used to be a raging homicidal maniac who would telekinetically dismember people for sh*ts-and-giggles, but now I'm an adorable moron who communicates through cutsie-utsie noises and pisses herself (isn't that ADORABLE!)" theme was introduced, but by the time sweet-and-innocent-mutant-girl was introduced so that she could spend the entire show being abused and dismembered in horrible fashion, it was all over for me. It's never a good sign that a puppy being murdered by a hammer is something that makes you laugh out loud, but I just couldn't take any of the increasingly obnoxious brutality seriously by that point.

It could have been a nice little slice of splatter-punk fun, but the whole thing was so manifestly unpleasant and crass. I kind of felt like shouting back at the TV, "No, Elfen Lied, YOU'RE the monster!"

I was exposed to Anime at a relatively young age - I grew up loving TV shows like Captain Harlock and Robotech and was vaguely aware that they were originally Japanese. And I was at exactly the right age when Manga Video came along. I've gone in and out of phases of watching lots and lots of anime, but it's always there in the background fo rme.

I should say my first exposure to anime was as a kid, though I wasn't aware of it at the time, in the forms of things like Voltron. And, though this sounds kind of weird, it often felt like anime was something that I should be into but just couldn't, for nebulous and strange reasons. Some of it was baggage from the age I was when I was when anime first started being a "thing" over here: my younger sister liked "Sailor Moon," ergo I refused to even acknowledge anything of a similar persuasion as being anything other than a prime source of cootie transmission, and even the most un-self-aware child that was me was self-aware enough to see that the kids who liked "Dragonball Z" and "Pokemon" were even less cool than I was...

But even with all that, the stuff that was "anime" at the time just didn't appeal to me. I can honestly say that the existence of Pokemon just baffled me, cartoon and game both (and I was a kid who was way, way too into "Magic: The Gathering" at the time), and I when I tried watching a couple of episodes of "Dragonball Z" I could never figure out what the appeal of two guys standing around, shouting nonsense at each other, and not fighting was; people who watched the show religiously wouldn't shut up about the plot it supposedly had, but the two or three episodes I chanced upon left me convinced that all of them were under a collective delusion that anything was happening, other than Goku and Veggie-man standing on the same god damn mountain range threatening to totally fight each other and yet never really getting around to it.

Plus, I do love giant robots

Good man.

Gunbuster was GAINAX's first OVA production, and their second professional production overall. Wings of Honneamiese had failed at the cinema, so it was a make or break moment for them. They figured "put some tits in", and actually advertise the show as having some fanservice in every episode. It was bold and audacious and it worked, It does mean there's some cringeworthy moments if you're not into wanking over cartoons (or are honest enough to just get the porn ones) But it did keep GAINAX afloat and let them thrive.

It's one of those situations where I can complain about the effect that it had on the product, and yet can't really argue with the logic behind it. They know whose money it is that keeps the lights on (and if you look at their recent output, they seem to have given up pretty much all pretext that anyone else's money is enough to pay the bills). So while their crassness about the work they make can be off-putting, it's more of the symptom of a larger issue than the main problem itself.

Heh, at least it's not as bad as Game of Thrones.

I don't mind the T&A in Game of Thrones nearly as much. The whole "sexposition" trope is something they use too much, but at least sex is a part of the lives of the character's lives in that show. In "Gunbuster," you take out the audience-flashing, and the "romance" subplots are about as sexual is as school kids running around shouting, "tee-hee, I like you!" The characters themselves seem to exist in a completely sexless world, which makes the fact that there's a whole lot of "here's some titties for you to wank off to, fanboys!" stick out like Noriko's nipples.

Edited by Adam Wednesdays, 21 April 2012 - 10:35 PM.

[Ogul]

So, a few more episodes into the new season:

Bodacious Space Pirates: I've pretty much given up on this series with episode 12. It had some fun concepts, and solid production values, but it just never really came together for me. It just seemed too dull. The comedy rarely rose above "charming" into "lol" territory, and the combat scenes were so hands-off and tactical that they never seemed to be engaged in them. I appreciated that it took an interesting approach to space exploration and combat, but it really seemed a mishmash of realistic and fanciful elements. I don't know, the last few episodes I watched were a "big arc" story, but just seemed like a stretched out filler episode of a good series.

Accel World: This is definitely my favorite of the new crop at the moment. It does a great job of pacing out the story so that each episode leaves me hungry for more, it's funny, and the digital world stuff is engaging. I'm still not a fan of the "robot" designs and the gradient shading, but I can get past that.

Mine Fujiko (Lupin): This is my second favorite, although it's a tough sell. On the one hand, it's clever, quite funny, full of dazzling action sequences, and a truly unique and polished art style that makes every scene look like a hand sketched image, and yet moves fluidly like CG. It really is a masterpiece. On the other hand, out of the first three episodes, not one has managed to keep Fujiko's clothes on. For anyone that actually likes fanservice, I couldn't recommend this one enough. For anyone that has a strong fanservice filter, that can appreciate the pros of a series while ignoring the nipples, it's equally as good (I fit somewhere between these two groups, I suppose). For people that can't look past fanservice to the point that it bothers them, well, I'm not sure what they might think. On the one hand, as I say, there are nipples all over the place, including both the opening and ending. On the other hand, it's all fairly organic to the plot (even moreso than in Game of Thrones), as Fujiko is a quite shameless seductress, and the argument could be made that she still serves as a very empowered character regardless of how little she wears. I imagine individual tastes will vary on this one, but I think everyone should at least check it out.

Eureka Ao: This is a spin-off of the Eureka 7 series, and is very high quality. It could possibly be some sort of direct sequel, although it's hard to tell. It's set in a world that is much more like the near future of a slightly alternate Earth (one in which Trappar tech has been in use since at least WWII era, and the orientation of nations are slightly different), than the more alien world that the original appeared to be, but there definitely does seem to be a character that resembles Eureka and a mecha that resembles the Nirvash in the series' past, which may be the ones from the original, or may just be an alternate universe version of them. In any case, this series has the snazzy surfing robots and bright colors of the original, and also an adorable sloth. One thing I do miss is that it seems like the primary protagonist organization in this one is more of an official NGO group, more like a Gundam cast, instead of the original series "hippy surfer enclave". I sort of liked the casual attitude that the previous characters took to their role, at least for the first half of the series.

The other stuff has definitely taken a back seat for me. I will also quickly note that Symphogear was a charming 13 episode dark magical girl series, serious in places but also a bit frivolous, probably not worth seeking out at this point. Persona 4 was definitely worth watching, funny and engaging, even for people like me who'd never played the game (and even though it's labeled "4", that's in the Final Fantasy sense, the story and setting are completely new to this series, you don't need any prior knowledge). Ano Natsu de Matteru was also one of my favorites of last season, a tight 12 episode slice of life (with aliens) series in the vein of Ano Hana and the Onegai series, with some really touching love quadrangles and a lot of humor. It was actually fairly light on fan service for what it could have done, with more implied content than explicit content. Definitely worth checking out.

[Lucian Von Dooom]

I loved Elfen Lied too.

[Adam Wednesdays]

I loved Elfen Lied too.

GAAAAAH! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?! HAS THE WHOLE WORLD GONE MAD?!

[Lucian Von Dooom]

Have you seen When They Cry, Adam? You might like that one too. LOL But seriously. When They Cry is awesome too. Even more so.

[Adam Wednesdays]

I've heard about "When They Cry." I was tempted to watch it, until you compared it to "Elfen Lied." :P

[Lucian Von Dooom]

I've heard about "When They Cry." I was tempted to watch it, until you compared it to "Elfen Lied." :P

I only mention it because it's another anime that really puts the characters through some crazy shit. But I truly think When They Cry has some great storytelling as well.

[Adam Wednesdays]

You might have just pulled off a save, Mr Doom.

My problem with "Lied" isn't the violence or the craziness, it's that it doesn't back up the shock tactics with anything of substance. I knew what the basic story was, and that it was incredibly violent and crazy; all that had me intrigued. But I honestly found the actual execution of it to be boderline insulting.

The storytelling in places is aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawful. The first few minutes are so crazy and bloody that it sucks you in, but then as soon as Mopey McBlandsome and Incestua O'Whiney show up the whole thing gets stopped in its tracks by ten tons of crap blocking its path. It's badly directed, badly acted (if you're speaking a language I have absolutely no knowledge of and I can immediately tell that you suck at acting, then you really need to find a new job), and so saccharine that I'm suprised more viewers haven't dropped dead from catastrophicly sudden onset diabetes. Not to mention that the one gimmick that it actually knows how to pull off, shocking brutality, is one that grows incredibly tiresome if used too much. It's like the world's worst Lifetime Original Movie combined with torture porn, in anime form.

[Lucian Von Dooom]

You might have just pulled off a save, Mr Doom.

My problem with "Lied" isn't the violence or the craziness, it's that it doesn't back up the shock tactics with anything of substance. I knew what the basic story was, and that it was incredibly violent and crazy; all that had me intrigued. But I honestly found the actual execution of it to be boderline insulting.

The storytelling in places is aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawful. The first few minutes are so crazy and bloody that it sucks you in, but then as soon as Mopey McBlandsome and Incestua O'Whiney show up the whole thing gets stopped in its tracks by ten tons of crap blocking its path. It's badly directed, badly acted (if you're speaking a language I have absolutely no knowledge of and I can immediately tell that you suck at acting, then you really need to find a new job), and so saccharine that I'm suprised more viewers haven't dropped dead from catastrophicly sudden onset diabetes. Not to mention that the one gimmick that it actually knows how to pull off, shocking brutality, is one that grows incredibly tiresome if used too much. It's like the world's worst Lifetime Original Movie combined with torture porn, in anime form.

You had me at torture...and porn...