Anime

[Gollgagh]

You do however, gotta give credit to the writers of Endless Eight seeing how they trolled a fanbase like it was nothing. Seriously, you put a popular anime on hold for a few years, finally come out with a new season only to write the episodes to the point that it is the same deal for every last one of them so far.

have you read the books

hell, if you even think about the premise of E.E., it be obvious that they'd have to "copy and paste" the script for the episodes

it's more the fact that they're using this particular story at all then how they're doing it

[I-n-j-i-n]

*SPOILER WARNING*

The thing I hated most about 00 was also in the second season. The first thing that got really annoying was the nonsense with Saji and Luise. They just wouldn't stop whining. People have already talked about this so I won't go into it any further.

The second thing was the innovators themselves. They were so annoying and went on and on about how they were the superior beings whom all peoples should bow down to. Even though they were getting beaten left and right. And in addition, no matter how many times they got beaten, they just ejected and came back.

But this is the thing that really got me. The innovators kept pulling supersuit after supersuit out of their arse. Where do they keep getting these superior mobile suits? If they keep getting better and better, why didn't they just use the more advanced models in the first place instead of waiting until the other ones were defeated?

And the last thing that I didn't like was that it followed almost all the other gundam shows in the way that technology skyrocketed near the end. Let's look at Gundam Wing. At the beginning of the series, there were only Leos and Aires suits. Later the water models: Picies and Cancer were added. Before long, the mobile doll Taurus was invented, which required an upgrade to the gundams for them to be able to fight them. And finally, the Virgo suits were introduced as the ultimate fighting machine. These 4 suits comprised everything that the armies possessed. And the Leos were present during the last and final battle. Contrast this with 00 and see how everything just blew out of proportion. Even with respect to the advanced models in GW, there were only the 5ive gundams, the Tall Geese and the Tall Geese rebuilt, Epyon, and Wing 0. (I don't count the Mercurious and Vey8)(SP) But in 00, you just couldn't keep track of all the new suits that were released every episode. I don't like when they do that and it's what GW did very well.

Now that I’m done with that, I want to bring up another popular gundam series called Code Geass. I don’t care what anyone says, it is a gundam show developed by the same people, having the standard 50 episode requirement, and having the required recap episodes that sums up everything in the series that occurs in every gundam show.

I’ve got to ask, am I the only one who hated that show? The black knights never win. They always run away and somehow, their ranks grow despite that. I could go on a long rant about all the things that were wrong with that show, and how the author did some really weird things in order to manipulate the story to his liking. But I’d rather not go into all that.

Regarding 00, what I said before seems to have rang true. The unnecessary emo relationships and the whole "WE ARE SUPER HUMANS and > than humans" seems to ring true and plucked straight out of that terrible Zeta series.

As for Geass, I actually liked it, but mostly because there were funny plottwists and not because of its actual, serious story, which was very hard to take in too seriously.

And as for Endless Eight, I honestly don't care about the reason anymore. I am pretty much pissed. I actually understand the REASONING to doing it and especially if it copies straight out of the novels, but I think it's just more gimmickry than anything. Especially with Kyoto Animation, which has had its share of weird animation flops in the past year. I would think they wouldn't and maybe shouldn't do this when they are in a bit of a pinch overall.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

As an idea for reading Endless Eight might be cool, but you can read through the entire thing in a night. In a weekly 30 minute show, this is not fun nor a good idea to keep an audience attached. At all.

[cobaltstarfire]

Code Geass was retarded for many reasons but the biggest one for was because it either vilified or killed off any (and i mean ANY) sympathetic characters. And if ANYONE calls Kallen a sympathetic character I'm going to shoot him in the fricking face.

I hated Code Geass, something about it in it's entirety was very unlikeable to me, but for some reason I still wanted to watch it and see what happened by then end.

But, I think it's killing off and/or vilification of just about every character was the whole point of that anime, a giant morally ambiguous mash up of characters that aren't for the most part likable, and aren't really supposed to be.

That said I am so glad I am done watching that horror of an anime, I guess it must have had a compelling enough of a story (or maybe it was just such a magnificent train wreck) it succeeded at what it set out to do I suspect so it still gets my kudos even if I hate it.

[Avatar of Justice]

Kallen? I mean seriously, she was basically a fangirl with a giant robot who had no idea about anything and had was less loyal than fricken Starscream when the chips were down.

What? She was the only one who pretty much remained loyal to Lelouch and held out hope that he wasn't a total bastard who had used the Black Knights for nefarious ends. Her kiss certainly didn't say "I HATE YOU!" to me.

Code Geass 2nd season dragged a bit (China arc I'm looking at you), but I loved it overall. Lelouch is one of two male characters that I would be gay for (the other being Gaius Baltar from Battlestar Galactica). The fact that you can't really pin him down into any archetype besides Magnificent Bastard makes him totally awesome.

[TheSnowStorm]

have you read the books

Since when do black men read books?

All ignorant and borderline racist shit aside, no I haven't despite I found a website where somebody has already uploaded most of the books' text. Heard the books are the best of the three Haruhi-related media (the manga[which is pure boring shit]), the anime[which I enjoyed very much], and the books[which I have yet to read].)

I also found a song that can basically detail Endless Eight:

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

So... Yeah...

Still going on.

I just lost another 24 minutes of my life.

[I-n-j-i-n]

As an idea for reading Endless Eight might be cool, but you can read through the entire thing in a night. In a weekly 30 minute show, this is not fun nor a good idea to keep an audience attached. At all.

Also, something like that might make sense if it is a gripping mystery. But it isn't. It's about Haruhi, the totally ignorant ditz she is, to stop exploiting the time warp. That is really not a mystery at all... And I have a feeling that no matter how good the conclusion is, it won't make up for the slaving of time.

Honestly, out of maybe 30 anime shows I'm currently following right now, I actually dread watching Haruhi the most. I even like some pretty crappily made shows over Haruhi. At least I'm watching something new for most anime out there.

[Dr.Flintlock]

I went ahead and picked up Mamoru Oshi's Latest, little film called The Sky Crawlers. Just watched it last time when I was feeling a little more melancholy than usual. You usually have to be in a certain mood when watching his movies as their narrative structure's pretty different from most anime I've seen. In any case, traditionally interesting philosophical points, poignant characterizations, and some lovely animation made it into quite the movie.

Also, I guess Ponyo: On the Cliff By the Sea, Miyazaki's latest film, is set to hit theaters Friday the 14th. Anyone else as excited as I am?

[OverCoat]

I reviewed that "Toward the Terra" anime I was talking about:

http://www.animeremix.org/animix_forums/viewtopic.php?id=2161

[I-n-j-i-n]

I went ahead and picked up Mamoru Oshi's Latest, little film called The Sky Crawlers. Just watched it last time when I was feeling a little more melancholy than usual. You usually have to be in a certain mood when watching his movies as their narrative structure's pretty different from most anime I've seen. In any case, traditionally interesting philosophical points, poignant characterizations, and some lovely animation made it into quite the movie.

Also, I guess Ponyo: On the Cliff By the Sea, Miyazaki's latest film, is set to hit theaters Friday the 14th. Anyone else as excited as I am?

Sky Crawlers was pretty decent and it was basically melancholic to be melancholic it seemed. There's a movie out, Moon, that basically has the same plot twist as Sky Crawlers.

As for Ponyo, I watched it a while ago and honestly, aside from the amazing visuals having to do with the seas, I was pretty disappointed. There's not much of a plot turn and it ends pretty abruptly and without much explanation for anything. Miyazaki movies always end a bit abruptly, but Ponyo might take the cake for that.

[Dr.Flintlock]

Sky Crawlers was pretty decent and it was basically melancholic to be melancholic it seemed. There's a movie out, Moon, that basically has the same plot twist as Sky Crawlers.

As for Ponyo, I watched it a while ago and honestly, aside from the amazing visuals having to do with the seas, I was pretty disappointed. There's not much of a plot turn and it ends pretty abruptly and without much explanation for anything. Miyazaki movies always end a bit abruptly, but Ponyo might take the cake for that.

Oh bummer. It is true a lot of his films do seem to end pretty abruptly (I'm looking at you Porco Rosso), but I guess I tend to dismiss this pretty much as I watch a lot of animated stuff because it looks pretty, even if the plot's a bit lacking.

That being said, I have seen Moon and I did see the resemblence with plot twists, but I think Moon ended pretty abruptly too. I enjoyed that one more so due to Kevin Spacey's HAL-like robot intelligence.

Back on topic, I think my big drawing point with Sky Crawlers was the actual scenes of aircraft flying about, and the commentary about "The Teacher" and such. The overall message in the film was good, but I will say that you're right, it did seem to be melancholic for melancholic's sake.

[I-n-j-i-n]

It still was a pretty good movie. Not like Oshii's 'technobabble for technobabble sakes' stuff with all his Ghost in the Shell movies. At least with the angst this time, it was very tangible. Even if the REASON why the European nations adopted JAPANESE pilots to fight PROXY wars. I can't ever figure that out. They never explained. Emotionwise though, it was spot on.

As for Ponyo, I'd say it's still worth a watch at least for the amazing visuals. If there was a more complete ocean based anime movie, I'd say it's My Beautiful Girl Mari, but Ponyo will poke your eyes out with the prettiness.

[TheSnowStorm]

Heard Endless Eights is over.

Now is the series worth watching again?

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Yeah it's finally over. Whether or not the series is still worth watching is yet to be seen though. EE had a stupid ending after all.

[Brushfire]

Ponyo sucked, like most Miyazaki films. I saw it as part of a double feature with some other movie@( I think it was Major Dramatic Baseball Movie, seriously that is the name of the movie.) Both were a profound waste of time. Ponyo did have some nice visuals, but it was still anincoherant mess that most of his films are.

Let the hate begin.

[OverCoat]

Ponyo sucked, like most Miyazaki films.

[Azuth]

Yeah it's finally over. Whether or not the series is still worth watching is yet to be seen though. EE had a stupid ending after all.

I think the stupid ending is more due to how the story was handled than anything. In the light novels, Endless Eight is just a one chapter story, at maybe a 20 minute read, so the ending was perfectly satisfactory to me in that context. Now when they somehow manage to drag it out over 2 months worth of copy/paste TV episodes, then it's incredibly underwhelming.

If they stick to the novels without doing anything crazy, the rest of the season should be enjoyable though.

[I-n-j-i-n]

Ponyo sucked, like most Miyazaki films. I saw it as part of a double feature with some other movie@( I think it was Major Dramatic Baseball Movie, seriously that is the name of the movie.) Both were a profound waste of time. Ponyo did have some nice visuals, but it was still anincoherant mess that most of his films are.

Let the hate begin.

No hate, because I agree 100%. Miyazaki movies, as classics they tend to be, are quite overhyped. Even though not many ambitious anime exists out there that boasts Miyazaki visuals, the story is all over the place with most Miyazaki movies.

And Ponyo had amazing ambience but almost no real meat to the story. And the 'finale' thudded to the ground like a heavy stone. Weird story pacing.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Why do people fire their load all over Miyazaki stuff?

Princess Mononoke was weak, and Spirited Away was meh...

[relyanCe]

anyone else hear about the new Evangelion remake? It's been making a theatre run throughout the US and Canada for a few months, but has yet to reach me here in FL.

Yeah, the original was a mindscrew of epic proportions, but the preview trailer just looks amazing technically, so i'll probably see it if/when it hits the sunshine state.

[Meteo Xavier]

No hate, because I agree 100%. Miyazaki movies, as classics they tend to be, are quite overhyped. Even though not many ambitious anime exists out there that boasts Miyazaki visuals, the story is all over the place with most Miyazaki movies.

I have never agreed with a comment less. Does it not seem logical that that might the point with Miyazaki, then?

Why does a film have to be one thing or another besides what it is? You're not talking about a sloppy amateur film made by a film student, you're talking about a professionally made film by a world renowned creator. What other credentials does he need to have before you can just sit and enjoy a movie like it was intended instead of playing Toronto Film Festival Chief Judge?

Some movies you just sit and WATCH. Some do not require certain linearity to flow from beginning to end. With Miyazaki, you just sit and watch and thats how you enjoy. Thats what made Spirited Away incredible.

[cobaltstarfire]

anyone else hear about the new Evangelion remake? It's been making a theatre run throughout the US and Canada for a few months, but has yet to reach me here in FL.

Yeah, the original was a mindscrew of epic proportions, but the preview trailer just looks amazing technically, so i'll probably see it if/when it hits the sunshine state.

I saw the first movie, it was pretty good, basically the same as the first angels up to just before Asuka shows up. I think it does a much better job than the original anime did in terms of expanding the characters and making some of the angels a bit more interesting while not diverging too far from it.

I've heard the next few movies are going to more wildly move away from the original content, I look forward to seeing it if it's as good as the first one was anyway.

That said Ponyo doesn't look interesting to me at all, but my cousin is likely going to drag me out to see it.

I like Miyazaki movies, I agree some of them were kind of meh, but all of them I've been able to at least enjoy the ride. I don't personally find them difficult to follow and understand most of the time, and even if the endings are often sudden, they fit with what's been going on fine enough for me.

I don't really care if other people don't like them though, that's their opinion after all it doesn't make someones taste better or worse, just different.

That said Ponyo doesn't look interesting to me at all, but my cousin will undoubtedly drag me to see it eventually.

[Tmansdc]

I'm sorta into anime but really need to get more into it as I plan to go to AX and comic-con next year.

[Jack and TheBox]

Thought I'd pop by and mention an anime I just started watching:

Seto no Hanayome

I haven't laughed so hard, or so consistently, at something in a long, long time. Check it out.