Anime, the eternal Jettokōsutā

[majestic]

10 hours ago, majestic said:

I'm pretty sure that Honoka will make up with her friends and keep Kotori from leaving, because how else are you going to have a second season, but meh. I was watching this for my occasional happy silly fix, not for serious dramatic character pieces.

Good thing I was right. Final episode of the first season sees Honoka spending some time with other classmates who insert themselves into the situation, trying to use the absence of her regular friends to get close to the popular girl. They end up playing Dance Dance Revolution on APOCALYPSE EXTRA mode, which makes Honoka realize that she actually really liked singing and dancing and didn't just do it to save the school. Meanwhile, A-RISE, the group that initially made Honoka have the idea of saving the school with her own group, win Love Live!.
 

Spoiler

 

She tries to talk to Umi and Kotori, but Kotori is already at the airport, so only Umi shows up. Honoka tells Umi that she really enjoyed her time in µ's, but that it made her lose track of everything else, be selfish and get everyone else into trouble, and apologizes for being so self-absorbed and selfish. Umi on the other starts laughing and tells her that's it has pretty much always been that way, Honoka being trouble for them, but it was always fun and one of the ways they all got to experience new things they would otherwise not have done.

Umi also tells her that she admires Honoka for wearing her heart on her sleeve and acting on her desires, because that's something neither she nor Kotori really do (we're back to Japanese subservience to societal expectations). Wait, I need to go back a bit and mention that Kotori, when talking to Umi or her mother about telling Honoka, kept saying that she's afraid of what Honoka would say.

She then tells Honoka that while she's sometimes selfish, Kotori really wanted her to be selfish this time. What she was afraid of Honoka saying wasn't that she would ask her to stay, but that she just might be supportive. Kotori doesn't actually want to go, but can't bring herself to decline the opportunity.

At the airport, Honoka shows up in time to stop Kotori from leaving, they get the band back together and have one last live show at the school auditorium. The same venue where barely anyone showed up the first time around, this time everyone else is there to watch them.

 

Well that wrapped up things really quickly, work a bit on your pacing guys.

Wait, Honoka falls on her ass and rubs it like in the first episode, and Nozomi squeezes her boobs at one point. There's always something silly.

I'm a little surprised that the season ended with them not even participating in Love Live!, although that does explain what the second season is about.

Overall this was more fun than I thought it would be. Except for the end it's a bit on the shallow side, but what else would you expect from a musical anime that features curiously little singing and dancing for being about an idol group. The presentation is what it is.

The emotional core of the show, the character interactions between Honoka, Kotori and Umi aren't really original, and I often had the feeling that they were based on and gleaned from better animes. There are better shows one could watch - but also significantly worse ones.

Ah, there's still the second season and the spin offs that might make this go down in flames.

[Bartimaeus]

Sakura in Hong Kong: The Movie*!

Fun fact: the English dub of this movie did the Sailor Moon English dub thing and replaced all of the music with new trash. What's up with animes doing that? Happened in Dragon Ball as well and that U.S. score is...well, it could be worse, but it could also be a lot better. ...No, I didn't watch the English dub, but I did switch to it for a few seconds and had to switch immediately back. I happened to catch Tomoyo's voice during the few seconds I had switched and she may as well have been a completely different character because I didn't know who the heck that was, but that was not Tomoyo. I'm very sensitive to voices (...and everything else), don't you know?

Mega...no, giga-spoiler:

Spoiler

*...That's probably not the title of the movie, but it is what Tomoyo called it, and who am I to deny the adoring wisdom of Tomoyo?

She's got that crazy Pearl energy, albeit a little less intense and more sweet.

Kero: I am inevitable.

Sakura: It felt like someone was watching me...

Do you mean someone besides the person who ONLY watches you just about literally their entire life, that was literally filming you as you felt like you were being watched?

Where the heck did Xiaolang and Meiling come from? I know they come from Hong Kong, and IIRC, this should be during...winter break? Nothing really looks like winter anymore and the film started with them in school, though. Also, congratulations to Meiling for finally getting her revenge against Kero for his many insults - may he rest in peace after his brutal murder! And also, poor Meiling - whenever Yukito's around, Meiling may as well be dirt to Xiaolang, .

What is happening here? Tomoyo looks both extremely unimpressed and unphased with it all. This is not her beautiful Sakura...

Somehow, Yukito and Toya get it even worse. Ah, it's a distraction so that Mother Li can talk to Sakura - clever. Somehow, everyone in the room heard her say "stay the night" but nothing of the Clow Cards. So yeah, between his sisters and Meiling, I think I'd be real sick of girls if I were Xiaolang too, .

Unfortunately, we've once again peaked, even with the composition of this shot looking slightly goofy:

Good lord, Sakura - the scream she did for her dream was bloodcurdling. Also I half-expected Sakura to hug Xiaolang's mom and...oh, well, that basically happened in the next scene, so never mind.

Meiling is too precious, I couldn't stop myself from making this:

WHOA, magic in front of Toya and Yukito, here we go! ...Well hey, we may have lost Toya, Yukito, Xiaolang, and Meiling, but at least we still have our core characters, . Did Clow Reed seal this lady inside of that book for something? That'd make me mad, too. ...Nope, apparently she created a horcrux of herself. JK Rowling is confirmed to be even more of a hack fraud now - stealing ideas from Sakura, shameless!

And there it is, folks, what everything's been building up to, . Of course it's waterproof, Tomoyo...of course it is.

Great movie, better than I thought it would be given that you seemed a little lukewarm about it. Although it was a somewhat bizarre love story especially given how that lady's presence was apparently so foul and evil that everyone noticed and remarked upon it immediately. She didn't really seem that evil, just deeply hurt and upset - musta been one real bad fortuneteller in life for the stink of evil to last that long. But hey, that's okay - evil people can have overwrought feelings of love and loss too! Heck, that's probably why some people become so twisted and evil to begin with!

But besides that, everything made perfect sense, I was never bored or annoyed with anything, plenty of great stuff (especially in the first 2/3rds seeing as the last 1/3rd was mostly the action and plot resolution, and it was definitively Cardcaptor Sakura. No complaints whatsoever on my part. Bonus points: it did the opposite of what most TV movies do and instead of making it some ridiculous, over-dramatic "THE WORLD'S SUDDENLY ENDING DUE TO A NEW THREAT HITHERTO UNMENTIONED" type-plot, it was just an ultra-simple, almost like a regular episode-but-extended-and-fleshed-out kind of plot, and I really liked that. Heck, they didn't even add any new characters besides Xiaolang's mom having a small part and the villain herself, and it instead stayed extremely focused on the core cast, which I further appreciate.

I did it!

Edited July 3, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Spoiler

Where the heck did Xiaolang and Meiling come from? I know they come from Hong Kong, and IIRC, this should be during...winter break? Nothing really looks like winter anymore and the film started with them in school, though.

 

 

Spoiler

 

Yes, the movie takes place during the winter holidays after Sakura's Wonderful Christmas (the episode where she catches Firey and rides the ferris wheel with Yukito). That nothing looks like winter in Hong Kong's winter is normal, the lowest temperatures normally get in Hong Kong during winter is 15° - can't resist the jab, that's real degrees, not Fahrenheit. I know you're all used to the numbers, but that scale is irritating as hell.

That's about 60° F. It's never really cold in Hong Kong, that's also why Meilin constantly complains about being cold in winter during the anime.

 

 

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Great movie, better than I thought it would be given that you seemed a little lukewarm about it.

Here's my post from early June, or part of it, at least:

On 6/5/2021 at 1:19 PM, majestic said:

Still, very well made film that certainly deserved the awards it won, if viewed as a standalone film. As part of the larger Cardcaptor Sakura universe, it's... an average episode, I think. It's hard to keep the two things apart, and it's a strange feeling. It was an enjoyable experience to watch it, just not what I wanted from it. The fault might be entirely mine. Looking forward to what @Bartimaeus thinks of it.

There's something else, I think. I've watched the film after the entire run of the anime, which wasn't a great idea. It really is best before episode 43, and certainly 60. For reasons I can't go into because of spoilers. Really bad spoilers. The kind even you wouldn't want to know.

Maybe I was too harsh on it. I did feel like it spent too much time on the storyline in an effort to be interesting for viewers that did not follow Cardcaptor Sakura at the time. I thought the second film was much better.

[Bartimaeus]

35 minutes ago, majestic said:

Yes, the movie takes place during the winter holidays after Sakura's Wonderful Christmas (the episode where she catches Firey and rides the ferris wheel with Yukito). That nothing looks like winter in Hong Kong's winter is normal, the lowest temperatures normally get in Hong Kong during winter is 15° - can't resist the jab, that's real degrees, not Fahrenheit. I know you're all used to the numbers, but that scale is irritating as hell.

That's about 60° F. It's never really cold in Hong Kong, that's also why Meilin constantly complains about being cold in winter during the anime.

Sorry, I actually only know the one true temperature scale, Kelvin. 15 C is actually 288 Kelvin, . That definitely tracks with Meiling's terrible weakness to cold!

Spoiler

Coincidentally, I've recently been trying to get a better grasp of Celsius, though I've focused only on positive numbers. It helps to remember that every 5 degrees of Celsius equals 9 degrees of Fahrenheit if you also add 32 (therefore 35 C equals 95 F, 40 C equals 104 F, 30 C equals 86 F, and so on). It's how I'm figuring it out anyways!

 

35 minutes ago, majestic said:

There's something else, I think. I've watched the film after the entire run of the anime, which wasn't a great idea. It really is best before episode 43, and certainly 60. For reasons I can't go into because of spoilers. Really bad spoilers. The kind even you wouldn't want to know.

 

Spoiler

Hm, so based on what you said, something must drastically change with at least one of the main characters from this movie. Call me crazy, but I don't think Xiaolang or Meiling are going to betray Sakura et al. at this stage in the game. I'd be quite perturbed if they did, especially as I've grown to rather like both Xiaolang and Meiling, and it just doesn't seem like it would be well-supported by the way they act towards each other. Xiaolang has been hinted to like Sakura more than he lets on, though, which will presumably be resolved in some manner at some point, which could be quite problematic for Meiling as well, so there is that possibility... If not that, it leaves the looming shadow of a certain someone whom I have been slightly perturbed at times by, someone who at times has had certain things hinted about them and would seem to be a little out of place and especially time in the narrative...I guess I'll find out, .

Edited July 3, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

11 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Sorry, I actually only know the one true temperature scale, Kelvin. 15 C is actually 288 Kelvin, . That definitely tracks with Meiling's terrible weakness to cold!

Indeed, °K it is. Althoug the numbers do get unwieldy for daily use.

13 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Spoiler

Coincidentally, I've recently been trying to get a better grasp of Celsius, though I've focused only on positive numbers. It helps to remember that every 5 degrees of Celsius equals 9 degrees of Fahrenheit if you also add 32 (therefore 35 C equals 95 F, 40 C equals 104 F, 30 C equals 86 F, and so on). It's how I'm figuring it out anyways!

 

 

Spoiler

 Nowadays I just use google for that, but we learned the conversion in school. That also included °R, which luckily fell out of use. Except for traditional cheese making in Switzerland.

 

29 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Spoiler

Hm, so based on what you said, something must drastically change with at least one of the main characters from this movie. Call me crazy, but I don't think Xiaolang or Meiling are going to betray Sakura et al. at this stage in the game. I'd be quite perturbed if they did, especially as I've grown to rather like both Xiaolang and Meiling, and it just doesn't seem like it would be well-supported by the way they act towards each other. Xiaolang has been hinted to like Sakura more than he lets on, though, which will presumably be resolved in some manner at some point, which could be quite problematic for Meiling as well, so there is that possibility... If not that, it leaves the looming shadow of a certain someone whom I have been slightly perturbed at times by, someone who at times has had certain things hinted about them and would seem to be a little out of place and especially time in the narrative...I guess I'll find out, .

 

 

Spoiler

 

No idea what or who you mean with your last sentence. Are you talking about Yukito, or maybe Kaho?

 

 

[Bartimaeus]

Spoiler

Yukito. Time was the hint there - for he is much too old for Sakura! Also, it's been hinted that there may be something magical about him, and he's basically the only character I've ever expressed concern about, . Also, I don't even know whom Kaho is!

 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Sarex]

Coming to Amazon Prime August 13th.

Edited July 3, 2021 by Sarex

[majestic]

47 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Spoiler

Also, I don't even know whom Kaho is!

 

 

Spoiler

 

Sakura's teacher, Ms. Mizuki. Toya's former, (age-)inappropriate girlfriend. Remember what she said to Toya in that episode where Sakura was visiting the past with the Return card, when he asks why she talks of their relationship in the past tense?

"When I get back, you'll be in love with someone else."

 

edit:

  

18 minutes ago, Sarex said:

 

That doesn't look very appealing, but if it's coming to Prime Video, then I'll probably take a look.

Edited July 3, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

I completely forgot that lady existed up until you just mentioned her. Whoops.

Haven't watched any of the new Evangelion stuff, didn't really plan on doing so unless someone gave me a good reason. I have no idea what the reception towards them has even been thus far.

[Sarex]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Haven't watched any of the new Evangelion stuff, didn't really plan on doing so unless someone gave me a good reason. I have no idea what the reception towards them has even been thus far.

Overall good, I would say, but then again not like I frequent anime forums that much. I would recommend it for the awesome animation if for noting else. I found the story engaging enough not to fast forward at all and that is pretty good in my book.

[Bartimaeus]

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (1993), episode 3, some quick bulletin points:

Spoiler

• Same lady from the first episode got her head cut off again. Lots of blood again. It's a hard knock life for her, gettin' sacrificed on the daily to resurrect Dio or whatever. No, I have no idea what's going on with him or that.
• Polnareff forgot how to walk.
• The team knows synchronized iced tea drinking...and head turns.
• Polnareff is still the big dumb, but his dumb has become quite embiggened compared to the last two episodes, which is remarkable. It seems to be a bit of a reoccurring theme with him.
• Joestar Sr. insulted D'Arby by calling him Barbie, classic.
• Joestar Jr. Jr. is an honorable dolt by refusing to cheat against someone who has literally declared his intention to cheat and has already done so to kill his grandfather(?) and friend? Not just kill them, but take and possibly destroy their souls.
• So Joestar Jr. Jr. summons a cigarette from nowhere which then becomes a glass of juice which then turns back into a cigarette and then his opponent basically implodes from what appears to be like a geas-imposed limitation on what he can or can't say after Joestar Jr. Jr. makes him bet that which he cannot reveal. I don't think this really makes sense because it's impossible to establish an arbitrary value of the secret of Dio's stand vs. each soul simply being equal...so you think he could've just refused the raise as being invalid, buuut on the other hand, the guy is a super mega gambling addict and seems to agree to gamble literally anything and everything away because of some unshakable belief in himself to win (plus being the most ridiculous cheater alive), and it was funny, so it's okay.

Wacky episode, was good. I can only assume I'm liking this a lot more because Satoshi Kon had a big hand in writing it, .

2 hours ago, Sarex said:

Overall good, I would say, but then again not like I frequent anime forums that much. I would recommend it for the awesome animation if for noting else. I found the story engaging enough not to fast forward at all and that is pretty good in my book.

I did see some different kinds of angles and some nice complex movements in the trailer, but I'm the pickiest bastard alive about aesthetic so it kind of all goes to waste on me since all the anime art styles I like are overwhelmingly from the 80s and 90s (and unfortunately I have less than zero appreciation for 3D stuff), .

7 hours ago, majestic said:

As part of the larger Cardcaptor Sakura universe, it's... an average episode, I think.

Just a note: an average Sakura episode is still great, . Based on what you and the consensus on my movie site says re: how much better the second movie is vs. the first movie, the second movie should be roughly my favorite or second favorite movie of all time at worst - let's see how that turns out!

Edited July 3, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

57 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Just a note: an average Sakura episode is still great, . Based on what you and the consensus on my movie site says re: how much better the second movie is vs. the first movie, the second movie should be roughly my favorite or second favorite movie of all time at worst - let's see how that turns out!

Well, yes, there's that - the average quality of the anime is really great, especially in the first arc. The Sakura card arc takes a couple of episodes to find its footing.

What's your movie site?
 

Spoiler

 

If there's one thing I'd criticise about the second film is that it elevates the threat Sakura is facing to something more than the anime or the first film did. No, it's still not a world-ending injector a hitherto unknown character found somewhere in half an hour after leaving the planet she was on (there are zero new characters in the second film), but the stakes are definitely higher than usual. On the other hand, it's meant as a direct finale to the anime, not a standalone film, so that's less of a problem, but the threat itself was an asspull. I mentioned that in my post about it.

It's a minor thing, but still an asspull.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

4 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Wacky episode, was good. I can only assume I'm liking this a lot more because Satoshi Kon had a big hand in writing it,

Or because you're becoming a week.

DIO is a vampire, so that may be what they're trying to show with the decapitations. In the manga and anime he just drinks blood from women using his fingers, because why not?

[majestic]

While I was walking the dog yesterday I started humming out of the blue, and wondered what that was...

Well, the first ending of Love Live! Say what you will about the anime itself, the music is decent enough. First ending song, particularily the beginning. It's really... well, it sticks. The song is silly, just like everything else in this, but it's also really easy to listen to.

 

It's also... pretty much everything that's wrong with the animation in a nutshell. From the creepy looking CGI to the enhanced swaying of the skirts, to the dance moves and the design of the character models. Love Live!'s bad sides in a nutshell.

The first 25 seconds with Honoka singing are pure gold though.

Edited July 5, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

Wow! I almost clawed out both my eyes and ears watching that - a rare two-for-one, thanks!  Unfortunately, I do believe this confirms that I won't be watching Love Live! any time soon...well, ever, actually, .

Spoiler

I knew I was in for a bad time when you said the first 25 seconds were "pure gold" and I already wanted to die from that sharpened nails on a chalkboard voice...and then it got so much worse.

 

Edited July 5, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

17 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Wow! I almost clawed out both my eyes and ears watching that - a rare two-for-one, thanks! 

I aim to please.

18 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Unfortunately, I do believe this confirms that I won't be watching Love Live! any time soon...well, ever, actually, .

Wait, was there actually any doubt?

18 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Spoiler

I knew I was in for a bad time when you said the first 25 seconds were "pure gold" and I already wanted to die from that sharpened nails on a chalkboard voice...and then it got so much worse.

 

 

Spoiler

If you ever figure out why you like (or make that at least "don't mind") or hate certain vocalists, let me know too.

I guess I should mention that nails on a chalkboard don't bother me. The sound of cellophane warpping foil on the other hand? Please KILL me, that's torture. At best I get head to toe goosebumps from that crap, at worst actual spasms. Cellophane needs to go die in a fire!

 

[Bartimaeus]

3 minutes ago, majestic said:

Wait, was there actually any doubt?

Well, you can never say never...but I'm officially saying it: never, .

4 minutes ago, majestic said:

If you ever figure out why you like (or make that at least "don't mind") or hate certain vocalists, let me know too.

If I had to guess, it's a few different components. There's probably just a good percentage of singing voice textures that I do not like to begin with, further compounded by singing in specific tones/notes I don't like, and again by certain accents/inflections...and most importantly, what is valued vs. what is not must have changed over time. The fact that I can enjoyably listen to a good amount of 80s j-pop (as well as a decent amount of 90s j-pop) and yet as soon as we get into the 2000s and most certainly anything beyond that tells me there are probably era-specific traits and tendencies in how vocalists were expected/trained to sing that have changed over time and which I can no longer agree with. The same can apply to elsewhere - modern American pop and rock are death, but pre-70s and 60s stuff I suddenly start liking a bit more and can listen to. Even stuff I explicitly don't like...such as the Beatles and stuff from around that era, I usually never have a reaction to anything from that era like I do for something from Love Live or American country/pop, etc. - at worst, it's usually a "meh, this is mediocre/I don't care for this" kind of reaction.

Maybe I just like simpler voices that stay within a very certain range? I'm not sure, . There's a site called Radio Garden where you can tune in to like literally (tens of?) thousands of different radio stations across the globe, and I sometimes use it just to listen to something random, and I surprise myself sometimes with what I find perfectly fine acceptable - 1920s jazz, 50s rock and roll, random formative electronic stuff from like the 70s and 80s, ancient-sounding folk stuff both American and Mexican, Native American powwow music...all that stuff's usually fine with me, but then I get into genres and eras within them and it's like literally everything is just the worst, .

P.S. Pft, cellophane is perfectly fine - it's paper, particularly stuff like napkins or kleenexes, that's death, .

[Malcador]

Sweet, new season of Ikki Tousen next year.  Pretty much expecting this to be hentai after the last seasons

[majestic]

30 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

[...]and yet as soon as we get into the 2000s and most certainly anything beyond that tells me there are probably era-specific traits and tendencies in how vocalists were expected/trained to sing that have changed over time and which I can no longer agree with.[...]Maybe I just like simpler voices that stay within a very certain range?[...]

There's that possibility, and it's not necessarily related to eras, but can be, of course. Singing is a relatively varied field with lots of ways you can study - or rather, train your voice for. I have a friend who so far hated each and every clasically trained male vocalist that I listen to. That's definitely a thing - he positively hates clear male voices with a certain range and a singing style that is classical (classical can but doesn't have to include opera training).

There's obviously musical theater training, pop, certain types of latin music, soul, stuff that's not actual singing, like rap, different breathing techniques, etc.

You could, if you suspect training and singing style as a part of what it is, try and check out the body of work of Floor Jansen*, who is probably the most versatile vocalist currently alive. She can do pretty much anything, from slow, balladish pop, to death metal growls, to actual opera, and she can slide from low belts, to mixed to head voice in an instant.

She also made a handful of videos where she explains breathing and jaw placement while singing, so if nothing else... hmm, and she's actually really a nice, unassuming person. However, for all the character flaw she doesn't have, her fandumb has them in abundance. Don't interact with them. Like. EVER. They're the worst.

If you hate everything she's ever done equally, there's a decent chance it might just be the actual voices. That could be too, because certain types of vocalists were popular during certain time periods.

* Oh, and by the way, while I like Floor as vocalist and am often impressed by how easy she makes singing seem, I'm not at all that impressed by her singing. Technically it's great, of course, but... I like others more, even if they aren't nearly as versatile or even on the same page in terms of vocal control. She currently sings for what once was one of my favorite groups, but I'd still take the old vocalist over her. Which... oh boy, don't mention that to the fandumb.

[majestic]

41 minutes ago, Malcador said:

Sweet, new season of Ikki Tousen next year.  Pretty much expecting this to be hentai after the last seasons

I think I'll let Looks-a-bit-like-Cary-Elwes-But-Isn't explain:

 

[Malcador]

Forget why I started watching that, but once I start something I have to finish it. 

 

[majestic]

9 minutes ago, Malcador said:

Forget why I started watching that, but once I start something I have to finish it. 

 

Well, that I can relate to.

[InsaneCommander]

LoGH 26-37:

 

No story spoilers here.

They gave some explanations about how things work in LoGH. Battles cause massive electromagnetic interference and that is one of the reasons ships can appear “out of nowhere” and surprise someone in battle.

They also mentioned warp drives for the first time, but said ships can’t go beyond the corridor. No idea how this system actually works.

Interesting how things are when people actually consider a strategy before starting a battle. If the enemy seems to be doing something dumb, then the other side considers the possibility of it being part of a plan and gets cautious. Not something common in sci-fi.

Maybe the best strategy in this universe is to have your fleet assume a strange formation just to confuse the enemy and gain some time. lol

And more on the Emperors' behaviors: the emperor’s complex is formed by four buildings, one of which is “a building where beautiful women live”. Hopefully Annerose was an exception and these women are adults.

[Bartimaeus]

22 minutes ago, InsaneCommander said:

LoGH 26-37:

 

No story spoilers here.

They gave some explanations about how things work in LoGH. Battles cause massive electromagnetic interference and that is one of the reasons ships can appear “out of nowhere” and surprise someone in battle.

They also mentioned warp drives for the first time, but said ships can’t go beyond the corridor. No idea how this system actually works.

Interesting how things are when people actually consider a strategy before starting a battle. If the enemy seems to be doing something dumb, then the other side considers the possibility of it being part of a plan and gets cautious. Not something common in sci-fi.

Maybe the best strategy in this universe is to have your fleet assume a strange formation just to confuse the enemy and gain some time. lol

And more on the Emperors' behaviors: the emperor’s complex is formed by four buildings, one of which is “a building where beautiful women live”. Hopefully Annerose was an exception and these women are adults.

Is this show predominantly...sci-fi stuff? That is to say, does it being sci-fi dominate everything this show is about, like plots, themes, action, character dynamics, etc.

3 hours ago, majestic said:

There's that possibility, and it's not necessarily related to eras, but can be, of course. Singing is a relatively varied field with lots of ways you can study - or rather, train your voice for. I have a friend who so far hated each and every clasically trained male vocalist that I listen to. That's definitely a thing - he positively hates clear male voices with a certain range and a singing style that is classical (classical can but doesn't have to include opera training).

There's obviously musical theater training, pop, certain types of latin music, soul, stuff that's not actual singing, like rap, different breathing techniques, etc.

You could, if you suspect training and singing style as a part of what it is, try and check out the body of work of Floor Jansen*, who is probably the most versatile vocalist currently alive. She can do pretty much anything, from slow, balladish pop, to death metal growls, to actual opera, and she can slide from low belts, to mixed to head voice in an instant.

She also made a handful of videos where she explains breathing and jaw placement while singing, so if nothing else... hmm, and she's actually really a nice, unassuming person. However, for all the character flaw she doesn't have, her fandumb has them in abundance. Don't interact with them. Like. EVER. They're the worst.

If you hate everything she's ever done equally, there's a decent chance it might just be the actual voices. That could be too, because certain types of vocalists were popular during certain time periods.

* Oh, and by the way, while I like Floor as vocalist and am often impressed by how easy she makes singing seem, I'm not at all that impressed by her singing. Technically it's great, of course, but... I like others more, even if they aren't nearly as versatile or even on the same page in terms of vocal control. She currently sings for what once was one of my favorite groups, but I'd still take the old vocalist over her. Which... oh boy, don't mention that to the fandumb.

I'm preeetty sure she's a voice problem. Such a harsh edge to her voice along with this weird undercurrent of breathiness...I checked out about 5 different songs from her, which is not really much but also that's not much less than how many she has on her YouTube channel, but I didn't like any of them, not even Ave Maria which I usually love, .

Then I figured out she was from Nightwish, and I was like...oh, yeah, that tracks. Been recommended them like 6 or 7 times by different people throughout the past ten years or so, and I don't think so.

In case you're at all curious, here are...five of my favorite female vocalists - just female to make it simple. Feel free to hate them immediately, exit out from listening to them, and then feel embarrassed on my behalf, etc., :

Spoiler

 

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ttjizzv5sa56i0w/Drag Love.flac

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/is884gz77m2627v/We Carry On.flac

Note to moderator if anyone sees this: I'll remove these links to direct .flacs in not too long, I clear out my dropbox pretty regularly (maybe every few weeks to a month usually), hence why all of my screenshots in this thread disappear, .

 

Edited July 5, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[InsaneCommander]

52 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Is this show predominantly...sci-fi stuff? That is to say, does it being sci-fi dominate everything this show is about, like plots, themes, action, character dynamics, etc.

No, it is not. The day to day life doesn't look sci-fi at all, except for the fact that many characters will be on spaceships or stations, but even that is not predominant. The technology is not much different than what was available in the 80s-90s, when the anime was made. Although they do have video phones and spaceships. Some scenes in the Empire could actually take place in the 20th century or even earlier. Lots of people talking about politics or espionage while they drink wine.

The plot is about war, politics, democracy vs. authoritarianism, etc. Even the battles are not much different than what navy ships would do in the ocean, if you ignore the 3D aspect of space. They even have some battles with axes for a reason that is well explained.

Here is an example of the tech level (no serious spoilers):