Anime, the eternal Jettokōsutā

[HoonDing]

First thing Thomas Covenant did in the other world was rape a woman.

[Amentep]

And here I'd managed to forget Lord Foul's Bane. Well except for the repeated use of the words 'uncouth' and 'unclean', which I doubt I'll ever lose...

[Bartimaeus]

Millennium Actress (2001) by Satoshi Kon. I was supposed to be watching Paranoia Agent, but somehow this happened instead. This is my second time watching it - the first time, I watched it in English, which even at the time of watching it, I knew was merely okay-ish at best. The main problem with that dub was that contrary to what one might consider to be ideal, the lady voicing the titular character was simply not a good choice (but the other characters were mostly fine). I liked it, but did not love it then, and had some big problems with really investing into a main story that was being let down by a less-than-great voice actress. A couple of years later now and armed with the awesome power of being more okay with Japanese voice-acting when done right...dang. I, uh, don't remember it being quite this engrossing, and it was like I was watching it for the first time again. What an odd hybridization of a serious drama and a bunch of silly comedy happening outside of the drama that works so well. Well, that's all I'll say about that, I gotta watch an episode or two of Paranoia Agent while I can.

Why, oh why did Satoshi Kon have to die so young? And his next movie was to about androids with them starring as the main characters (Dreaming Machine)...could've finally been the android-related media that I've always longed for.

(e): Oh, also, the animation was a lot prettier than I remember it being, but again, it's been two years since I watched it and was exposed to other...more ungood animation styles.

Edited June 22, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

A couple of years later now and armed with the awesome power of being more okay with Japanese voice-acting when done right...dang. I, uh, don't remember it being quite this engrossing [...] Oh, also, the animation was a lot prettier than I remember it being, but again, it's been two years since I watched it and was exposed to other...more ungood animation styles.

I guess I can finally stop feeling bad for making you interested in Madoka, seems like that turned out well enough in the end. Who said trauma has to be bad all the time, huh? xD

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

The next step is starting to recognize simple words and phrases.

I watched two more episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card.

Either the animation is rotting my brain, or it got better after a few episodes. It's still a far cry from the simple but beautiful old anime, but at least it's no longer completely distracting. Alas, for the first of the two episodes I've seen, that also meant it was noticable that this was just less... well put together than the the old episodes. Everything is in place, all the actors are the same (except for poor Rika who was put on a bus because her original voice actress died), but it's just not as good.

Hoe?

The second episode however, was pretty good. Except for the glaring continuity errors. Which I still hope are intentional, because the last one before this one was kind of highlighted by the other characters. Eh well, it "only" took 8 episodes for them to make a decent one. If they keep this up, maybe there'll be a worthwhile one at the end of the run.

[Bartimaeus]

24 minutes ago, majestic said:

except for poor Rika who was put on a bus because her original voice actress died

Well, that's a downer. I hope she was a lot older than she sounded in Cardcaptor...and nope, she was like 18 when Cardcaptor ran, and just 41 when she passed. People need to stop dying in their 40s!

25 minutes ago, majestic said:

I guess I can finally stop feeling bad for making you interested in Madoka, seems like that turned out well enough in the end. Who said trauma has to be bad all the time, huh? xD

Except Madoka's Japanese voice-acting sucked too, and it was really more Heidi and Sakura that finally did me in in that regard, .

Spoiler

And until I'm watching absolute worthless disgusting trash like...I don't know, Love Live or something like that, I reserve the right to not call myself a weeb, .

Clear Card sure sounds disappointing...yet the fact remains, it is still not Sailor Moon Crystal, and that is a fact worth celebrating indeed!

[majestic]

10 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Well, that's a downer. I hope she was a lot older than she sounded in Cardcaptor...and nope, she was like 18 when Cardcaptor ran, and just 41 when she passed. People need to stop dying in their 40s!

Yeah, they really should.  

10 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Except Madoka's Japanese voice-acting sucked too, and it was really more Heidi and Sakura that finally did me in in that regard, .

Good old Heidi, I wonder if I should rewatch it at some point. I'm not sure how it would hold up compared to childhood memories. Hmm.

11 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Spoiler

And until I'm watching absolute worthless disgusting trash like...I don't know, Love Live or something like that, I reserve the right to not call myself a weeb, .

 

<insert witty something about a river in Egypt>

 

Also... Long Live!, hm, okay. I just read a plot blurb and wondered why you'd call that garbage out of hand, and then I saw a couple of pictures from the anime. So, yeah. How and in what way was Sailor Moon oversexualized again?  

11 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Clear Card sure sounds disappointing...yet the fact remains, it is still not Sailor Moon Crystal, and that is a fact worth celebrating indeed!

I'm not sure if I'm too hard on it. It is definitely not as good as the old Sakura was, and coming from that wonderful second movie to Clear Card makes it an even harder contrast. It's doubly problematic, the animation is worse, obviously, the setup is less well integrated into the world (but that was true for the Sakura Card arc as well) and it amps Tomoyo up to 11 in terms of fawning over Sakura. It's still cute, but not as much (also because it looks worse).

Everything is just less... well made than the original, and coming directly from watching the original, with no nostalgia to prop it up at all, that contrast just makes everything worse.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

More AoT, monkey DIO is throwing rocks and the soldiers are having existential crisises.

[Bartimaeus]

43 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

More AoT, monkey DIO is throwing rocks and the soldiers are having existential crisises.

this show sounds really annoying every time you mention something about it

paranoia agent episode 5, what in the world is happening to this show, literally everything's gone completely off the rails and I'm not sure that I like it; I can only assume that this is going somewhere

4 hours ago, majestic said:

Good old Heidi, I wonder if I should rewatch it at some point. I'm not sure how it would hold up compared to childhood memories. Hmm.

It's solid and sweet enough, but probably not as interesting as the stuff you've been watching lately.

4 hours ago, majestic said:

I just read a plot blurb and wondered why you'd call that garbage out of hand, and then I saw a couple of pictures from the anime.

tbf I have no idea what that show is about, it just seems ludicrously terrible from what little I've seen of how it's presented

Edited June 23, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

4 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

tbf I have no idea what that show is about, it just seems ludicrously terrible from what little I've seen of how it's presented

To quote TV tropes:

Quote

 

Otonokizaka High School, which borders the three Tokyo neighborhoods of Akihabara, Kanda, and Jinbouchou, has been seeing major decreases in applicants, to the point that there may not be enough for the next year to create an entire class. And unless something changes, the school may cease admissions and close its doors once its last remaining students graduate.

Eleventh-grader Honoka Kousaka wants to prevent the school from closing, and she comes up with an idea — form a school idol group and become an overnight sensation, thus giving her alma mater the exposure it badly needs. Of course, things can't possibly be that easy, and she's going out of her way to get as many people as she can to join her cause. Luckily she has help from her old friends as well as some new ones, and together they form the school idol group "µ's" (pronounced "muse").

 

The idea of becoming an overnight idol sensation is a bit ludicrous, but otherwise that doesn't sound like too bad a setup, and it apparently also contains a good deal of slice of life elements. On the other hand, it's seinen anime and it looks... well, it certainly looks the part.

4 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

It's solid and sweet enough, but probably not as interesting as the stuff you've been watching lately.

Probably, and unlike... the other stuff, it's really almost entirely aimed at children, from what I recall. Ah, maybe at a later point. If only for a historical view on Miyazaki and Takahata's earlier/earliest collaboration.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

this show sounds really annoying every time you mention something about it

Just like my ex wife.

I wouldn't recommend it for you, but there is something that keeps me going. I do frequently get annoyed, like there's a plot thread from season 1 that still hasn't been resolved and there's been entire episodes that could have been dropped without missing much.

Oh and I was right, cgi colossal titan looks awful.

[majestic]

Love Live! School Idol Project, episode1!

So, yeah, obviously, my sometimes almost morbid curiosity got the better of me, and I just watched the first episode of Love Live! School Idol Project.

I am uncertain where to begin. The animation is, when it's not "enhanced" by CGI, all right. Nothing to write home about, but not distracting or terrible either. The TV tropes blurb fairly accuratly sums up the first episode. Honoka hears that the school's closing down and immediately freaks out because she thinks she'll have to re-apply to a new high school, which with her implied academic prowess will not be easy.

Luckily for her, the crisis is averted - the school will just not form a new first year and close after everyone else has graduated. With her grandmother and her mother having studied at the same school, she still resolves to try and found an idol club, because schools having famous idol groups are much more popular and attract more students. Well, whatever works for you, girl. The first episode already features two songs, one by A-RISE, the famour j-pop group that inspires Honoka, and one by herself. There's also a short one from a fellow student who also plays the piano. Wee, I guess she'll eventually rope her into joining. The j-pop songs in this are okay. I mean... actually, they're pretty decent, considering they didn't make me want to pierce my eardrums.

Now that this is all out of the way, let's talk about the disappointing thing here, namely the fanservice!

Yeah, so... actually, this is the most fanservice-y the first episode got, and it's pretty much the only scene where it is this blatant. It's also fairly short, which makes still shots appear worse than they are in motion.

From the pictures I googled earlier today, I expected something more. This, so far, has been pretty harmless, outside of the suggestive dance numbers, but do I blame the anime for that? That's just truth in television (tm). So no, it actually gets a pass for that one. In this scene, Honuka is trying to dance like the idols she saw earlier in the episode, and she falls on her arse, obviously. The girls have, while by no means realistic, more average body types than I thought.

Even Eli Ayase, who in the promotional material looks like your typical fanservice blonde girl with big breasts looks fairly normal in the regular animation.

Promotional material:

Actual animation:

Most of the first epside looked more like this, actually.

This even aces the Bechdel test, but with the characters its pretty much impossible not to. There are zero male characters in this, unless some are added later. Everyone at the school, even the madame director is... well, it's in her title already.

So where does that leave us? Good questions. The music was fairly okay, for the time being, the CGI in the enhanced dance sequences is horrible, but what else could it be. The animation is otherwise okay, could be better, could also be worse. It is, just like parts of Violet Evergarden and Card Captor Sakura: Clear Card sometimes a bit too bright. Not sure why that is with modern animation, but it's... less of a problem here than in Clear Card.

Honoka is the tried and true not very intelligent but cheerful and full of energy high school girl who apparently always manages to rope her friends into some shenanigans. Her two friends haven't been around much and haven't done much, one of them likes archery and was initially against the idea, but seeing Honoka actually putting some effort in convinces her.

The voice acting so far has been decent, nothing over the top. Honoka took (still takes, I guess) some getting used to. A quick check of the Wikipedia page told me that they voice actors are also all accomplished singers, so that's nice going forward.

I'm not sure what's more surprising here - the "lack" of fanservice (it is there, just not in the amount I expected or in the way I thought it would be), the fact that I don't hate this even though it's apparently about dancing and j-pop, or that I don't even regret trying it. Unlike, say, Sailor Moon Crystal.

With the first of 26 episodes it's too early to tell, but if it stays like this, whether or not I'll actually end up liking this will depend on how the - gasp! - storyline unfolds, or rather, what they do with the premise, how much of it is really going to be singing and dancing, how much is going to be slice of life and how the character interactions are going to turn out.

There's still a lot of potential for really awful fanservice - maybe a beach episode, a swimsuit competition, or some steamy romance between the girls (no boys in sight, after all), bigger boobs, or bigger boobs in bikinis, but so far this was part fun, part interesting and not at all terrible.

I sure am uncertain if that premise will work for 26 episodes and a movie, but hey... I also didn't think Cardcaptor Sakura's low key storytelling and Tomoyo's adoration would work for 70 episodes, and it did. I'm looking forward to being wrong, I guess.

 

Edited June 23, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

mfw I mention love live one time and majestic immediately watches an episode, thereby guaranteeing that he will the entire series consisting of four seasons and a couple of movies due to his OCD-ness

I do believe mistakes have been made

[majestic]

17 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

mfw I mention love live one time and majestic immediately watches an episode, thereby guaranteeing that he will the entire series consisting of four seasons and a couple of movies due to his OCD-ness

I do believe mistakes have been made

See, I wouldn't have known that there are two spin off anime series if you hadn't mentioned this having four seasons. So yay, more to watch!

No, seriously, don't worry. I checked that out because I was curious, just like with Eden. I didn't jump into watching Overlord or Attack on Titan after all, so it's not just anime that's being talked about.

 

[InsaneCommander]

21 hours ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

Oh and I was right, cgi colossal titan looks awful.

I'll let you know in advance: season 4 was done by a different studio. Get ready for the CGI.

[majestic]

The second episode of Love Live! upped the fanservice moments by 200%. In other words, there was one instance of a focus shot on crossed legs, one shot of Kotori grabbing her breasts and one instance of the vice president of the student council grabbing a first year's boobs out of the blue and telling her they're aren't ripe yet. I swear Kotori's breats got larger during that scene than they were before and directly afterwards. Kind of like Sailor Boobanus' in Sailor Moon Eternal.

These scenes are embedded in the most schizophrenic way possible, because most of this is just the three girls trying to get their group started and Honoka realizing that she might have bitten off more than she can chew, only to be interrupted for a second or two of really weird fanservice moments that are so out of place that they become distracting. They otherwise spend a good deal of the episode dressed in running clothes after realizing that they're not going to be able to sing and dance unless they do some cardio (which of course means running stairs up and down ).

I'm kinda hoping, I guess, against all reason for the time being, that the random boob grabbing stays the worst thing that will happen.

Honoka is a bit of an Usagi. Not very good at school, constantly stuffing her face with something, and constantly told by Umi that she'll get fat.

Kotori came up with costume designs. The serious girl of the group, Umi, was a little put out by the skimpiness of the outfits. They also managed to badger the girl from the first episode into writing music for their lyrics, and found a band name through a suggestion box (µ's... as in... muse).

All three resolve to go on a diet but almost instantly fail because Honoka's mother owns a store that sells traditional Japanese sweets.

So... this is actually (mildly) funny at times, sort of interesting to watch at others, and total bullsh*t for two seconds every now and then.

Spoiler

Surprisingly, still a net positive so far.

edit:

To give you an idea about how weird that gets, Maki, the girl who wrote the song for them, is seen watching them run up and down the stairs near the shrine. She's a bit shy, then the other girl shows up, grabs her from behind, and then... proceeds to give her advice on how to help the other three in a totally earnest manner, as if nothing weird just had happened, while the shot goes back to Umi, Hotori and Honoka in running clothes.

It's almost as if the writers made these scene as stupid as possible on purpose. Huh, maybe they did.

Edited June 24, 2021 by majestic

[InsaneCommander]

LOGH 8-15

 

Mostly minor spoilers here, unless hidden.

 

So, everything began when the Emperor bought Reinhardt’s sister. She was only 15. I guess Sailor Moon Super S is popular over there.

The empire also has an interesting definition of suicide.

Spoiler

Even if you force poison in somebody’s mouth, they still did the swallowing, I guess.

 

Despite all of that, in a way they are still better than the Alliance. The amount of corruption and military incompetence in the Free Planets is astounding and frustrating. I don’t think this will end well.

 

Bigger spoilers below:
 

Spoiler

 

The invasion plan was obviously incomplete and almost nobody questioned it. So everyone in high positions is directly responsible to the outcome imo. They had 200 thousand ships. How many are left?

Reinhardt seem to want to turn the Empire into a better place. The Alliance is clearly beginning a process of decadence.

Where is the press to record the situation in the colonies and show it as propaganda?

 

 

More observations about the battles:

 

Fighters don’t have wings and seem to move realistically, pushing and turning with small jets instead of moving aerodynamically as planes.

Fleet battles are greatly affected by formations. And it is mostly a sequence of scenes with admirals giving orders, a quick battle scene and right after that you are already seeing the consequences, after hours have passed. Battles can still last a good part of an episode though.

But they don’t give a detailed explanation of why the formations cause the result you see. How can enemies approach by surprise? Even if you wait for orders and was told to remain in some coordinates, shouldn’t you be able to leave earlier if attacked by a superior force? Why nuking a star is an advantage? Does if affect the enemy sensors in a different way because you were prepared and they weren't? Nothing absurd so far, but still makes me wonder.

Maybe the ships are moving so fast that if they don’t know what you’ll do then they can’t react in time?

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

49 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

I'll let you know in advance: season 4 was done by a different studio. Get ready for the CGI.

Oh no.

Finished s3.

So the titan who killed Eren's mom was his dad's ex-wife and Eldians are pretty much confined to ghettos outside of the island. I can say I really didn't see that coming.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Sailor Boobanus

Sailor...Boob Anus? Why must you hurt me so much?

1 hour ago, majestic said:

These scenes are embedded in the most schizophrenic way possible, because most of this is just the three girls trying to get their group started and Honoka realizing that she might have bitten off more than she can chew, only to be interrupted for a second or two of really weird fanservice moments that are so out of place that they become distracting.

Reminds me of how in Madoka Magica, a character like Mami or Kyoko would be in the middle of talking about something, possibly while they're even outright emotional about something personal, while the camera's either on their face or zoomed out on their entire person, and then suddenly it would shift down or in on to their chest or even a close-up of their crotch while they're still in the middle of talking. If you've ever seen Lindsay Ellis' Transformers video, where she talks about how Megan Fox's character actually having a lot of different stuff (motivations, personal issues, conflicts, etc.) going on and yet the camera and scene framing completely undercutting all of it by focusing solely on her body, I got serious vibes of that while watching Madoka, which felt all the more incongruous when we would also spend a solid five minutes at times just listening to characters stand around and do nothing but cry about their feelings. I can only assume that the phenomenon is much worse and more inexplicable and embarrassing in other explicitly pathetic stuff. If you must have fan service, I would greatly appreciate not being so obvious about it - especially when it serves literally absolutely no purpose at all for the scene. Incredibly random bulls-eye zoom-ins and pan-downs in the middle of characters talking are not exactly what I have in mind - makes Sailor Moon's few sketchier moments look positively dignified in comparison.

Edited June 24, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Sailor...Boob Anus? Why must you hurt me so much?

 

The scene just reminded me how Haruka's cup size changes depending on the shot or whether or not she wants to pass as a man. It was just as weird as the fanservice in the second episode of Love Live!

Didn't want to make Minako cry, she has it hard enough in Eternal, what with the peeping tom(cat) she has at home.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Reminds me of how in Madoka Magica, a character like Mami or Kyoko would be in the middle of talking about something, possibly while they're even outright emotional about something personal, while the camera's either on their face or zoomed out on their entire person, and then suddenly it would shift down or in on to their chest or even a close-up of their crotch while they're still in the middle of talking.

In Madoka, I've always thought the weird camera movements and angles and the shot composition was there to make the viewer feel a certain amount of alienation, and to give the anime an oppressive atmosphere, more than fanservice - with the exception of Mami's transformation sequence, the one in the movie even more so than the TV version. You only know the movie version, but it actually removed the nude part of Homura's tranformation and the final shot of Madoka and Homura together in space, well... in the TV version they both wore sparkles, in the blu ray not even that, and in the film actual clothes.

However, I might be giving the animators more credit than they're due here.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

If you've ever seen Lindsay Ellis' Transformers video, where she talks about how Megan Fox's character actually having a lot of different stuff (motivations, personal issues, conflicts, etc.) going on and yet the camera and scene framing completely undercutting all of it by focusing solely on her body, I got serious vibes of that while watching Madoka, which felt all the more incongruous when we would also spend a solid five minutes at times just listening to characters stand around and do nothing but cry about their feelings.

I've seen the new Transformers movies once, at least the first... three. The first three I definitely saw, the fourth one I think, but I'm not sure. That should tell you all that needs to be said about those dumpster fires, because my memory is usally quite good.

Also, yes, I've seen the Lindsay Ellis videos, but as far as I remember from Transformers Megan Fox was always framed that way, regardless of what happened or what she did, which indeed undercut a lot of that - needless to say I fully agree with her, even if I generally don't share her enthusiasm for Transformers as a whole.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

I can only assume that the phenomenon is much worse and more inexplicable and embarrassing in other explicitly pathetic stuff. If you must have fan service, I would greatly appreciate not being so obvious about it - especially when it serves literally absolutely no purpose at all for the scene. Incredibly random bulls-eye zoom-ins and pan-downs in the middle of characters talking are not exactly what I have in mind - makes Sailor Moon's few sketchier moments look positively dignified in comparison.

That's one of the more inexplicable things of the second episode of Love Live!. In the first episode, Honoka rubbing her behind after falling down at least made sense in-universe. It was framed in a silly fanservice way, but at least it had a reason to be there. Could have changed the shot if you wanted, but hey, it wouldn't be what the anime was aiming for.

But... the second episode, it's scenes like this:

Yeah, nothing as sexy as tracksuits, huh?

Interrupted for a handful of seconds.

Like in this one, although that one is more "organic" then the others in the episode.

Imagine Tiger's-Eye saying: ONE

TWO - which is the exact amount of seconds this close-up lasts. She wiggles her right leg a bit in the animation. Just a wee little nudge.

THREE! Erm, back to normal. I mean... normal for school girls in anime, anyway.

Well so that's a leggy version where you can see the legs change shape and size depending on the camera angle - I mean, if I were a flat earther I'd explain that by angular size, but that clearly can't be all of it. The difference in distance in these two shots is not that large.

I have no idea why it's like that. I don't care for scenes like this in one way or the other, usually (I dislike them here because they feel distracting and tacked on), but I have a hard time seeing how anyone who likes to watch anime for scenes like this to be entirely happy with how these shots are made. Content aside, they're not very well put together. *shrug*

For whatever else it's worth:

Watched some more Kill la Kill. It continues to be amazing. There's a live TV transmission of Ryuko fighting, and it shows the enemy and attack title cards live on TV.

edit:

Cheap move pulling a scene from Minako's flashback episode from the  first season. That was a major bummer.

Edited June 24, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Cheap move pulling a scene from Minako's flashback episode from the  first season. That was a major bummer.

Hey, I needed a crying Minako, so that's what I got.

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Didn't want to make Minako cry, she has it hard enough in Eternal, what with the peeping tom(cat) she has at home.

You remember when I said "maybe you shouldn't watch Crystal because it might ruin the original show for you", but then you said don't worry, that just couldn't happen? I think we overlooked the possibility of you ruining the show for OTHER people as a result of watching Crystal...

1 hour ago, majestic said:

In Madoka, I've always thought the weird camera movements and angles and the shot composition was there to make the viewer feel a certain amount of alienation, and to give the anime an oppressive atmosphere, more than fanservice - with the exception of Mami's transformation sequence, the one in the movie even more so than the TV version. You only know the movie version, but it actually removed the nude part of Homura's tranformation and the final shot of Madoka and Homura together in space, well... in the TV version they both wore sparkles, in the blu ray not even that, and in the film actual clothes.

However, I might be giving the animators more credit than they're due here.

That's one interpretation, and I think I initially tried to think a similar thing for a while, but at one point, there's a sudden cut straight into Kyoko's crotch when she's in the middle of an emotional episode and that was when I literally said "oh screw you, Madoka" out-loud; I was officially done from that point on. Some of the weirder sudden cuts to different points of view or looking super close up at a character's hands or lap is one thing, but that was my breaking point. I'm sorry, but proper framing (in both a literal camera sense in film/imagery as well as in a less literal more writing/thematic sense) is ultra important in pretty much all entertainment mediums, and Madoka repeatedly failed over and over to my standards. Well, enough whinging about Madoka - like I said before, literally almost absolutely nothing about that show worked for me, it is what it is.

1 hour ago, majestic said:

I've seen the new Transformers movies once, at least the first... three. The first three I definitely saw, the fourth one I think, but I'm not sure. That should tell you all that needs to be said about those dumpster fires, because my memory is usally quite good.

And here I felt like the fool for watching just the first one, .

More Paranoia Agent: episodes 6 and 7. Thankfully, the bizarre nonsense from episode 5 did not continue. However, I'm starting to have trouble following this show's plot and themes in a coherent fashion, and I noticed that I completely misunderstood a major part of episode 6 for like...a solid fifteen, twenty minutes. I'm starting to get the feeling that I might need to bring out the old fan wiki to figure out what the hell this show was supposed to be about when I've finished it, .

Edited June 24, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Bartimaeus]

Paranoia Agent, episodes 8 and 9. What in the absolute hell is happening in this show? lmao

Spoiler

It's like Satoshi Kon heard that I was getting a little tired of the detectives' shtick and decided to eject all of the main characters specifically to make the show better for me personally. I think I could've kept watching either the horrifically incompetent (and/or already dead?) jolly old suicide cult continue its insanity or those gossipy ladies tell their ridiculous stories of Shonen Bat busting people's heads in for many more episodes. I have literally zero clue how this show is going to resolve with just a few episodes left.

 

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Hey, I needed a crying Minako, so that's what I got.

Yeah, Minako does and feels a lot of things, but crying isn't what she usually does.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

You remember when I said "maybe you shouldn't watch Crystal because it might ruin the original show for you", but then you said don't worry, that just couldn't happen? I think we overlooked the possibility of you ruining the show for OTHER people as a result of watching Crystal...

Aye, that we did. But hey, there's every chance there'll be nothing about Crystal for a while now, and I'll try not to mention Eternal.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

That's one interpretation, and I think I initially tried to think a similar thing for a while, but at one point, there's a sudden cut straight into Kyoko's crotch when she's in the middle of an emotional episode and that was when I literally said "oh screw you, Madoka" out-loud; I was officially done from that point on. Some of the weirder sudden cuts to different points of view or looking super close up at a character's hands or lap is one thing, but that was my breaking point. I'm sorry, but proper framing (in both a literal camera sense in film/imagery as well as in a less literal more writing/thematic sense) is ultra important in pretty much all entertainment mediums, and Madoka repeatedly failed over and over to my standards. Well, enough whinging about Madoka - like I said before, literally almost absolutely nothing about that show worked for me, it is what it is.

Eh, I complain often and loudly enough about the things I did not like watching, so hey, feel free to whinge to your heart's content. Like Bob Picardo said on Voyager after Seven becomes irritated because he complains a lot about things he can't change:

Quote

I'll complain if I want to. It's comforting.

 

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

And here I felt like the fool for watching just the first one, .

In my defense I was badgered into going to the theater for them. The second one was so bad it almost made me leave. It's the closest I got to walking out of a movie. The other moment was right after the beginning of Star Trek: Beyond, a film where I had to question Mike's sanity after the Half in the Bag for it. On the other hand, he called Star Trek '09 his guilty pleasure, so... guess nobody is perfect.

I also watched another episode of Love Live! School Idol Project.

A couple of random observations:

The episode begins with a scene that appears as if Honoka wants to nibble on their songwriter's ear. The same girl that had her breasts grabbed last episode. She'd edging closer and closer and...

Spoiler

Ends up plugging one of her MP3-player's speaker into her ear to make her listen to what they have recorded.

With only a couple of days left until their first live act after the upcoming student orientation, Umi gets a hefty does of stage fright, and the other two help her find more confidence. Honoka tries her best, and that was nice to see. Kotori comes with their costumes and in what I only can assume to be a problem with the subtitles, Umi complains that the skirts on their costumes don't cover her knees, and that she'd rather sing in the school uniform.

What? Hey... have you seen your school uniform?

Compare:

I'd rather sing in this, because...

...this skirt is too short. Yep. I know my eyesight is bad, so hey, Umi, maybe you need glasses too?

Searching online for pictures of this show is beyond frustrating, and if you're not careful you're way too easily dipping into major Rule 34 content, these two will have to suffice.

Anyway, with the stage fright out of the way, orientation day comes, and with it their first show. Curtains rise, and...
 

Spoiler

 

Figures it wouldn't be that easy, hm?

Honoka is close to tears, after all, some of the girls at school expressed the desire to go see them, and they've spent a month working extremely hard on coming up with the coreography and getting in shape. A short while later, one of the other girls of the school shows up, nobody is around, and she's wondering if she's too late. She isn't, just nobody else came, but they perform their show anyway for the one girl that showed up, the three others that helped them with everything, and one girl who hides behind the seats.

Everyone who came, which are like six or seven people in total (three of which are actual audience members, the other staff), liked the song and the performance. The president of the student council shows up and asks them what they're planning to do now, and the three of them resolve to keep on going. Even if barely anyone attended, they realized they liked it. Honoka even says she wants to continue even if nobody comes.

 

The fanservice in this one, and it still is there, fits more neatly into the world, like in the first episode, but with less attention drawn to it. I wouldn't call it dignified by any means, but it wasn't as  distracting as the last time, and nobody grabbed their own or someone else's breasts.

Actually... that was a really good episode. It's a real pity about the presentation and the occasionally really stupid and distracting parts. There's... there's a decent show hidden underneath. At least, for now. It might all go down in flames soon, of course.

Edited June 24, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

It does have like 4 seasons and several movies...kiiind of tough to see how such a flimsy concept for a show with already just okay at best execution could NOT go down in flames.

Edited June 24, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

4 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

It does have like 4 seasons and several movies...kiiind of tough to see how such a flimsy concept for a show with already just okay at best execution could NOT go down in flames.

I'm fully expecting the spin-off called Sunshine!! to be only beach episodes or bikini/swimsuits competitions - ideally both! -  with singing and dancing added. What else could it be with that name?

Guess it'll be okay for the first season at least. Unless the boobery comes back in force.

Edited June 24, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

AoT s4 (the final season): time skips and more child soldiers, still the same show. I'm looking forward to being done with it.

Next up for me is LoGH and then I don't know what else. 

35 minutes ago, majestic said:

What else could it be with that name?

A big ball that makes the area hot and shoots fireballs at some guys crossing the desert on camels after their trip to Egypt got disrupted several times.