Anime, the eternal Jettokōsutā

[InsaneCommander]

Rising of Shield Hero 11-15:

 

Spoiler

 

And here we go again. Naofumi's reputation is destroyed.

Spear Hero is sPedo hero. Maybe he should ride a pegasus...

Filo wants to eat filolials, is she a cannibal? Wtf?

And the Bow hero also has a girl carrying all his cargo. Maybe it is tradition in this matriarchal society?

 

Spoiler

 

The church is the real villain? The Pope actually looked somewhat decent when he told his people to give Naofumi the proper blessed water.

 

 

[Bartimaeus]

  

7 hours ago, majestic said:

Kinda glad you didn't immediately hate it, even when forced to switch to Japanese original with subtitles... I have a feeling that nobody else reads these Cardaptor Sakura posts, and hey, maybe I'm not that much of a hack fraud after all.

You merely failed to appreciate my complete, empathetic, and eternal rejection of all things modern anime...and the actual reasoning behind it and how that would apply to Madoka, .

7 hours ago, majestic said:

I also figured out why Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card looks so bad. It was made in 2018. No wonder.

Speaking of terrible modern anime...

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/h1ps4yjrqgiv5zc/firefox_DvsDGWK47y.png

Doesn't look quite as good as the original series, but it never does, does it? Although at least it's nowhere near as horrific as Crystal... (e): why can't I get any pictures to embed in this post, that's really weird

7 hours ago, majestic said:

I actually really like Sakura's voice acting (her VA is also named Sakura... Sakura Tange), or rather, I've grown to like it. It ends up being a completely adorable combination with her animation in a way that I can't imagine liking any other voice actor for her (especially in scenes where she's embarrassed by something), but indeed, she's not entirely convincing as a young girl.

I probably won't ever feel that way, as that style of voice-acting with all of the different unpleasant mouth sounds and such is just too grating for me, but it currently beats listening to that terrible Kerberos English VA, .

Edited May 22, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

You merely failed to appreciate my complete, empathetic, and eternal rejection of all things modern anime...and the actual reasoning behind it and how that would apply to Madoka, .

  Reads like hack fraud to me.  

It's also brought up in the parody I linked earlier in this thread when Madoka sits in class and says to herself: "I can't properly express emotions, maybe because my face is so wide" in a completely monotone voice, and when the scene with Mami, Madoka and Sayaka starts, the narrator says: "Looks like it is time for some exposition".

That made me laugh for a while.

Spoiler

 

Yeah, not really blind to the problems of the show, obviously, my oldest post about Madoka contains criticism of course. Seems like everyone here reacted the the anime in different ways. KP appreciated the subversive elements of traditional anime tropes more than anything else, I guess, IC enjoyed it for being dark and I... immediately identified myself with several of these emotionally challenged characters and suffered with them emphatically.

Not sure I like what that says about me, although it should not surprise me that much. Take Hitomi for instance, most fans seem to either don't care or hate her (if they don't like Sayaka they don't care, if they do they hate Hitomi, there are some that like Sayaka and are indifferent to Hitomi). I on the other hand spent a while feeling bad for the random plot element character that's just there and has the emotional range of a lobotomized lobster because I kept imagining how terrible that must be for her, thinking that Sayaka killed herself because of her.

 

 

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

  

Speaking of terrible modern anime...

Doesn't look quite as good as the original series, but it never does, does it? (e): why can't I get any pictures to embed in this post, that's really weird

Fixed that for you. I mean... it worked for me when I tried. Can't tell you why though, I actually had to cut out the URL, post it in my part of the post (i.e. below the quote block) and then drag & drop the picture back into the quote block, beause copy and paste did not work. One of my Robin Hood posts had a damaged layout and random letters in between that I didn't see in the preview. Working with profile pictures is also super wonky with Firefox.

Not going to lie, I'm getting a distinct Sailor Moon Crystal season three vibe from that image. It's not as bad but... it's not much better either. It looks like an attempt to put a square peg in a round hole and get the pretty traditional animation look with computer rendering, but... that doesn't work if all you do is transfer handmade outlines and color them digitally*.

From what I've just read the series is set a few years after the original one but has moved to 2016 or so in terms of technology and timeline, at worst resulting in as equally a monstrous techno-anachronism stew as in Sailor Moon Crystal, and wonky continuity at best.

*Purely guesswork, I could not find any decent information about how SMC Season 3 or Clear Card was animated, at least not on a first glance and it's too late to try and dig up something (if there even is anything), nor do I know enough of modern animation techniques and how they're combined to know for sure. The colors to look significantly worse than the originals, at the very least, hence the guess.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

I probably won't ever feel that way, as that style of voice-acting with all of the different unpleasant mouth sounds and such is just too grating for me, but it currently beats listening to that terrible Kerberos English VA, .

Some of that is really just actual Japanese. Things like "iie" which means a politely indicated no like shaking your head and saying "thank you" when asked if you want or need something in Western cultures (because actually saying no in Japanese is a big no no and considered rude), or these half-mumbled swallowed endings at the end of her sentences that put a girly emphasis on what Sakura says (mostly "ne" that seem to be randomly attached to what she says) and the various pitch changes to indicate a certain mood (sincerity, sarcasm, irony, etc.).

I guess that's there to make her adorkable and cute, while Tomoyo serves as a more cultured contrast (what with her coming from an absurdly rich, high class background) that speaks a little clearer. She also says "gozaimasu" (indication of politeness, added to sorry, or thanks, or morning, like arigatou gozaimasu for a polite thank you) differently than Sakura and uses it more often, even when speaking to Sakura, while it's not necessary between friends that close.

If I remember correctly Tomoyo even makes sure to actually pronounce the usually silent u* at the end of gozaimasu. That makes the entire word more subservient (or extra polite), I think. Not sure on this one, it might just be a dialect or accent thing, or classy... there are limits to what I remember from my silly attempts to get in with the Otaku crowd at school.

Some context will not make it less weird or grating to hear, but perhaps a bit more understandable.

*Most u (oo) sounds after an s are dropped, even in names. Also very often goes for "i" (e) sounds, like in the words used to indicate present (desu) and past (desh ita - just imagine that there's no blank in between, stupid censoring) tense. Sakura, when she picks up her phone, says "Sakura des", well, or use the probably most ridiculous sounding Japanese phrase in the history of ever, moshi moshi (which means as much as "I will speak" or something to that effect, and also only to be used between friends and family... definitely not at work).

Last but not least:

Kill la Kill is amazing. Unless it's meant to be serious, in which case that would be really... terrible. I'm going with this being a parody for now.

Spoiler

 

Ryuko just had a power upgrade including a jiggly boob almost full nudity (barbie anatomy still in place) transformation sequence after she realizes that she needs to wear her skimpy outfit without being ashamed of it to unlock its full potential. Her newfound friend Mako helps her to realize that because she tells the other woman she's fighting that Ryuko's breasts are larger than hers, and that they're really the talk of Mako's family. Which includes the lusty father and her little brother that tried to peep at Ryuko when she changed earlier in that episode.

The power upgrade of course also made her panties tighter.

 

Still, will put this on a back burner, too much other stuff to watch, including Stardust Crusaders.

Edited May 23, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

3 hours ago, majestic said:

Pretty sure I remember KP and Sarex mentioning it before.

I did, if you can take some of the more silly aspects of it then it's pretty good.

I've been pretty sick the last week and haven't really watched anime lately. I think I'll check out Attack on Titan soon though.

[majestic]

5 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

I've been pretty sick the last week and haven't really watched anime lately.

Hope you feel better soon.

3 hours ago, InsaneCommander said:

Rising of Shield Hero 11-15:

So... what is Rising of Shield Hero about, in a spoiler free manner ideally?  

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

19 minutes ago, majestic said:

Hope you feel better soon.

Me too. At least I've been able to get back to writing a bit, maybe when the rona isn't so crazy I can finally shoot this short I've had ready for a long time.

[Bartimaeus]

Had Netflix on the TV sitting unwatched for a bit just now, and it automatically started showing little poster previews for shows. This popped up:

Thanks Netflix, but no thanks.

2 hours ago, majestic said:

From what I've just read the series is set a few years after the original one but has moved to 2016 or so in terms of technology and timeline, at worst resulting in as equally a monstrous techno-anachronism stew as in Sailor Moon Crystal, and wonky continuity at best.

I really hate that. It's so needlessly questionable - literally, because when it happens, questions automatically start popping up in my head that wonder why the setting and period is so weird, .

2 hours ago, majestic said:

Reads like hack fraud to me.

Hey, it was a useful experiment: now I know for sure something like that is literally never going to work. That's good information!

I forgot Hitomi even existed. Like, I had to look up who that was because I'd forgotten about her so badly. I mainly remember her for being giving Sayaka exactly one day to figure things out with her guy, which I guess is better than nothing, but shove off.

I've gotten more used to Tomoyo's voice already, probably for reasons you mentioned regarding her diction and voice evenness, so it's really just Sakura herself that is less than ideal. I think I'll get more used to it, it's not like she's driving me mad or anything.

(e): A couple of more thoughts on Cardcaptor:

Spoiler

Tomoyo and Kerberos are great - especially together, they're a good team. Sakura having her outfits changing because Tomoyo is choosing them for her is cute. Although...these girls are like 11 years old or something, but the way she films and clings and talks to Sakura is a little...odd-ish. I'm not sure if I'm just imagining that or what.

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Sarex]

 

9 hours ago, majestic said:

Netflix recommended Kill la Kill. Decided to check out the first episode while doing my daily "rounds" on the ergometer. Ended up watching the first two.

I'm not sure if this is the best, the most ridiculous or the worst thing I've ever seen. Possibly all of the three at once.

It was supremely weird even before Ryuko (the main character) and her trusty giant half of a scissor she uses as a sword, found a sentient battle armor (well, uniform) that drinks her blood and puts all the chainmail bikinis in the world to utter shame...

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Say hello to Senketsu...

 

So far she won a boxing and a tennis match. Yeah. Uhm...

Pretty sure I remember KP and Sarex mentioning it before.

I don't remember mentioning it, but I did watch it a long while ago. It's a pretty unique anime, as far as I remember. Definitely worth a watch. But from that time period I think that Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann was the best I watched.

 

On a totally random note, did anyone ever watch Steins;Gate?

Edited May 23, 2021 by Sarex

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Sarex said:

I don't remember mentioning it, but I did watch it a long while ago. It's a pretty unique anime, as far as I remember. Definitely worth a watch. But from that time period I think that Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann was the best I watched.

That was in the original incarnation of this thread, I read that when Shady bumped it up to get us out of the TV thread. Yeah, a long while ago actually.

1 hour ago, Sarex said:

On a totally random note, did anyone ever watch Steins;Gate?

No, but I'm guessing I will, eventually, now that Netflix has it.

[majestic]

7 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Had Netflix on the TV sitting unwatched for a bit just now, and it automatically started showing little poster previews for shows. This popped up:

Thanks Netflix, but no thanks.

Rei and Ami look so incredibly off-putting. The others would too, probably, if they had their eyes open, althouh Rei is extra offensive with that hair color. The real Rei (sorry manga fanboys ) had small patches of purple highlights, not a completely purple head:

I already forgot how blurry that German DVD source really is. Although, it does help with the bug eyed alien scenes that the interns made for the season.

And that scene was made by the Sailor Stars team and would have looked even better in earlier seasons.

7 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I've gotten more used to Tomoyo's voice already, probably for reasons you mentioned regarding her diction and voice evenness, so it's really just Sakura herself that is less than ideal. I think I'll get more used to it, it's not like she's driving me mad or anything.

Careful, you might yet end up liking Japanese voice acting yet.

 

  

7 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

(e): A couple of more thoughts on Cardcaptor:

  Hide contents

Tomoyo and Kerberos are great - especially together, they're a good team. Sakura having her outfits changing because Tomoyo is choosing them for her is cute. Although...these girls are like 11 years old or something, but the way she films and clings and talks to Sakura is a little...odd-ish. I'm not sure if I'm just imagining that or what.

 

Spoiler

No, you're not. Tomoyo is half a step removed from being charged with stalking and slapped with a restraining order, or worse.

Since they're fourth graders, most of that is just cute instead of creepy (her overly polite and subservient manner just adds to this effect, but that's my interpretation of her Japanese - and I have no real idea if that's intentional or a misinterpretation, but it fits with the rest of her attitude towards Sakura). Best not to think too much about it, otherwise you could also read something into Sakura's crush on Yukito, he does look an awful lot like her father just with a different hair color...

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by majestic
Forum software randomly decided to remove a quote block from my post and insert a different one. Geez.

[Sarex]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

No, but I'm guessing I will, eventually, now that Netflix has it.

Hard recommend. This is one of those stories that just happens to be an anime and those usually are the best anime.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Rei and Ami look so incredibly off-putting. The others would too, probably, if they had their eyes open, althouh Rei is extra offensive with that hair color. The real Rei (sorry manga fanboys ) had small patches of purple highlights, not a completely purple head:

I didn't even notice Rei's hair color - is it really full dark purple in Crystal? ...My gosh, I forget just how incredibly abysmal Crystal looked to start out with:

What the absolute hell were you guys thinking with this?

It really is a shame the entire show wasn't originally made in HD. I can watch freaking Speed Racer in HD, but not Sailor Moon...

Spoiler

 

(e): Somehow, I never noticed this frame of Minako holding both Artemis and Luna - crazy cat lady alert!

(e): I forgot how good the Sailor R movie looks...I remember thinking it looked spectacular when I watched it way back when, but boy, it really does.

How did they cut their pizza like this? It would be so much extra work compared to just straight cuts...

Crazy axe-murderer Minako is my favorite Minako.

I love good 2D animation. There's just something about it, even when they have to use simplified character graphics like here...

 

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

It really is a shame the entire show wasn't originally made in HD. I can watch freaking Speed Racer in HD, but not Sailor Moon...

In that way the 90ies truly are a lost decade.

It's not just a lot of TV that got made, but also films. Shot on early digital in just the resolution needed to be shown in cinemas or on TV, they don't even have any proper film masters to base a HD - or better - transfer on. While actual film transfers require work due to damage and scratches, and sometimes can't be fully transferred to modern aspect ratios like the Star Trek: TNG masters, which were shot for 4:3 and all that extra space would be unused or full of film markers, gear or people involved in the production, they are at least possible.

The Sailor Moon specials probably have intact film masters used for the HD version, while the original anime is probably just a collection of Japanese NTSC tapes. Although... with the Italian DVD source being noticably better, there must have been some better source at some point in time.

Hope isn't completely lost though, there are some machine learning projects going on to improve upscaling that yield much better results than traditional upscaling. It's never really going to be as good as a proper transfer from a decent source, but it's better than nothing.

Edited May 23, 2021 by majestic

[Lexx]

Finally started watching Jojo's Bizzare Adventures - Diamond is Unbreakable. Crazy how good Jojo became over the years. For me it's probably one of the best animes now.

[majestic]

CCS #28 - #30
 

Spoiler

 

Three regular episodes after the last few upped the stakes a bit. In the first Meilin accidentially marks Shaoran as the target of a loose attack card called Shot, the next one dealt with a card that made Sakura's cakes too sweet. They were decent episodes, just not as good as the ones before. It's funny how Kero keeps calling Meilin and Shaoran "brat" instead of using their names, but when push comes to shove, he (not sure why, but the subtitles keep calling him a he) helps them as much as Sakura and Tomoyo.

Episode 30 was "only" decent too, but had an unexpected moral dilemma for Sakura to resolve. A card called Dash, which takes the form of a fuzzy cute animal that looks a bit like a magical bunny-cat, gets hurt when Sakura unsucessfully attempts to capture it while wearing a Twi'lek* costume. It seeks shelter with a 6th grade character called Rei (which, I suppose, will end up being a one time character) who is in the school's track and field team and will participate in the 100m sprint competition that's coming up.

She is seen having a streak of bad runs. Sakura finds out that she calls Dash Peewee and that they've become friends. Rei's running performance greatly improves when Dash begins lending her a bit of magical, uhm, dashing power. Sakura visits Rei and Kero insists that they seal the card, but Sakura just leaves, saying she can't do it and wants to wait until the competition is over. Kero argues that a win through magic is no real victory, but Sakura just doesn't want to seal Dash - she neither wants to take away Rei's newfound pet nor does she want to diminish Rei's newfound running confidence.

Shaoran ends up forcing the issue and Sakura seals the card (which promptly goes to Shaoran as the one who made the most effort in capturing it) instead of letting it escape. Sakura is visibly disturbed by what has happened. Rei makes it to the finals of the 100m sprint competition but her performance isn't nearly as good as it used to be, Sakura is there as a cheerleader. Before the finals, she sees Dash appear for a brief moment. Rei sees it too and ends up winning.

Sakure confronts Shaoran and asks if he used the card to make Rei win, he says no, he just brought the card with him. Sakura is happy with that, and goes back. I half expected her to hug Shaoran, but she didn't. Missed opportunity there, Sakura. Also, really good job at cheering her up Shaoran.

*No, really:

Spoiler

Take care to not get sued by Lucas Arts there, Tomoyo!

 

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

2 hours ago, Lexx said:

Finally started watching Jojo's Bizzare Adventures - Diamond is Unbreakable. Crazy how good Jojo became over the years. For me it's probably one of the best animes now.

I think Diamond is Unbreakable and Golden Wind are significantly better than previous seasons in almost all respects.

[Bartimaeus]

3 hours ago, majestic said:

CCS #28 - #30
 

  Hide contents

 

Three regular episodes after the last few upped the stakes a bit. In the first Meilin accidentially marks Shaoran as the target of a loose attack card called Shot, the next one dealt with a card that made Sakura's cakes too sweet. They were decent episodes, just not as good as the ones before. It's funny how Kero keeps calling Meilin and Shaoran "brat" instead of using their names, but when push comes to shove, he (not sure why, but the subtitles keep calling him a he) helps them as much as Sakura and Tomoyo.

Episode 30 was "only" decent too, but had an unexpected moral dilemma for Sakura to resolve. A card called Dash, which takes the form of a fuzzy cute animal that looks a bit like a magical bunny-cat, gets hurt when Sakura unsucessfully attempts to capture it while wearing a Twi'lek* costume. It seeks shelter with a 6th grade character called Rei (which, I suppose, will end up being a one time character) who is in the school's track and field team and will participate in the 100m sprint competition that's coming up.

She is seen having a streak of bad runs. Sakura finds out that she calls Dash Peewee and that they've become friends. Rei's running performance greatly improves when Dash begins lending her a bit of magical, uhm, dashing power. Sakura visits Rei and Kero insists that they seal the card, but Sakura just leaves, saying she can't do it and wants to wait until the competition is over. Kero argues that a win through magic is no real victory, but Sakura just doesn't want to seal Dash - she neither wants to take away Rei's newfound pet nor does she want to diminish Rei's newfound running confidence.

Shaoran ends up forcing the issue and Sakura seals the card (which promptly goes to Shaoran as the one who made the most effort in capturing it) instead of letting it escape. Sakura is visibly disturbed by what has happened. Rei makes it to the finals of the 100m sprint competition but her performance isn't nearly as good as it used to be, Sakura is there as a cheerleader. Before the finals, she sees Dash appear for a brief moment. Rei sees it too and ends up winning.

Sakure confronts Shaoran and asks if he used the card to make Rei win, he says no, he just brought the card with him. Sakura is happy with that, and goes back. I half expected her to hug Shaoran, but she didn't. Missed opportunity there, Sakura. Also, really good job at cheering her up Shaoran.

*No, really:

  Reveal hidden contents

Take care to not get sued by Lucas Arts there, Tomoyo!

 

 

 

 

 

Uhh...who's Shaoran again? Oh, whatever, I'll find out sooner or later, .

So I've watched five episodes now, and one thing I think this show improves on from Sailor Moon is that the Clow Cards create unique situations that actually organically interact with the world/characters, often times over a significant stretch of the episode, and have to be dealt with in ways that befit them. The cast and character interactions may not be as strong as Sailor Moon (although I think I'm quickly beginning to love the ever strange and gentle yet lurking and obsessive Tomoyo), but that particular point is a welcome change to make the issue of the day not feel either so formulaic or tacked on like it so often is in Sailor Moon. ...Then again, I'm only a handful of episodes in, so.

Spoiler

The poor depressed shop owner lady! And then Tomoyo just talked her ears off about how to properly record and edit videos and the equipment...

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Lexx]

2 hours ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

I think Diamond is Unbreakable and Golden Wind are significantly better than previous seasons in almost all respects.

It's getting better all the time, imo. Especially the changes in art style and use of colors are great.

The spin-off with Kishibe Rohan was pretty good as well.

[InsaneCommander]

17 hours ago, majestic said:

So... what is Rising of Shield Hero about, in a spoiler free manner ideally?  

It's about four guys who are summoned to another world to become the heroes of the sword, spear, bow and shield. They need to gain experience and develop their magical weapons to fight waves of enemies that will appear and become progressively stronger.

But the Shield Hero is not respected there because he can't use weapons. And the heroes can't level up together because of some magical interference of their weapons. The Shield Hero can't do it on his own and most of the other adventures don't want to be with him, so he has a much harder way ahead of him than the other heroes.

There are a lot of unfair things happening in this world, like slavery, bigotry against demi-humans and no sign of a proper judicial system. It can get frustrating in the beginning, but it pays off later.

Spoiler

Episode 21 is extremely satisfying.

Edit: actually, there is no judicial system at all, unless you consider the ruler saying what they want.

Edited May 23, 2021 by InsaneCommander

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Uhh...who's Shaoran again? Oh, whatever, I'll find out sooner or later, .

The guy in the picture you tried to link earlier. He's sometimes spelled Syaoran or even Shaolan in Romaji. There are wiki pages and entries for both Meiling Li and Meilin Li. I'm going by what my subtitles say, so... it's Shaoran and Meilin, not Syaoran and Meiling.
 

Spoiler

 

Kero says he comes from a family with a distant relaton to Clow Reed. He's from Hong Kong and is initially not really all that nice to Sakura and can't really believe that she's the chosen one of Kero. He also says he imagined the Best of the Seal to be somewhat more impressive than Kero is, which is why Kero keeps calling him a brat.

He shows up in episode 7, so yeah, that should be pretty soon.

 

 

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

So I've watched five episodes now, and one thing I think this show improves on from Sailor Moon is that the Clow Cards create unique situations that actually organically interact with the world/characters, often times over a significant stretch of the episode, and have to be dealt with in ways that befit them.

One of the biggest misgivings - or let's say, one of the things I expected to be a lot different (not knowing anything about Cardcaptor Sakura I was half-afraid that it would end up her playing a magical collectible card game against others in tournaments) - about the setup was not having an idea what the hell they were going to do with the idea of her capturing cards, but it does work. That's about the only thing I can say. I never though it would, but it... works.

Spoiler

The aforementioned episode 7 where Shaoran shows up is also one where you get a very early glimpse at what some episodes are about when it comes to the card capturing. I was very positively surprised by the resolution to this one. To borrow something that Mr. Unicorn of War uses in the wrong situation: All I'm going to say is I thought it was rather clever.  

 

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

The cast and character interactions may not be as strong as Sailor Moon (although I think I'm quickly beginning to love the ever strange and gentle yet lurking and obsessive Tomoyo), but that particular point is a welcome change to make the issue of the day not feel either so formulaic or tacked on like it so often is in Sailor Moon. ...Then again, I'm only a handful of episodes in, so.

The last three episodes I've seen were a bit less interesting, but so far many of them were strong enough, and I don't recall a really bad episode yet. The cards are also varied and fun, most of the time. At the moment I'm hoping that the "downturn" (to be taken with a grain of salt, the episodes where still decent to good, just nowhere near the prior ones) in quality isn't because the show's setup is beginning to wear thin. Episode 30 tried something interesting, but I wish this wouldn't have involved a new character after 30 epsides, that felt a little tacked on - the other episodes rarely feature one-off characters in any meaningful way - there are some, now and then, but it's nowhere near Sailor Moon level. 

The character interactions so far weren't as strong* as they were in Sailor Moon, but that's not entirely unexpected - they're also different. I mean, they're there, but I really doubt we'll be getting episodes about the meaning of life, self-actualization and how being a magical girl can mess up your hobbies or goals in life, or one of the cast obsessively trying to get herself targeted by a card. Maybe in the terrible looking Clear Card arc.

Spoiler

I would argue that Sakura beating herself up over destroying her father's work is something that was really, really strong and thematically fitting for a 10/11 year old girl, as was her problem deciding whether or not to capture Dash before the competition was over. It's probably as good as it is going to get when it involves the main characters. Toya and Yukito have different options, of course, but they're also side characters.

*Maybe strong is the wrong word. When they're good, they're really good, they're just age appropriate.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

 

  Hide contents

The poor depressed shop owner lady! And then Tomoyo just talked her ear ears off about how to properly record and edit videos and the equipment...

 

Spoiler

 

Both Tomoyo and Sakura can be really good at talking someone's ear off when they get started on something. I think episode 5 is one of the ones that sold me on the two. They're so nice and fun in a completely believable way, so of course they would go and help the shop lady (even before they know that there's a card at work). Also, spoiler: The shop actually stays around and the girls go shopping there every now and then. The show is really well constructed in that way.

Or maybe the manga behind it was planned out more than Sailor Moon's (which would not be much of a surprise, would it?).

 

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by majestic

[InsaneCommander]

Rising of Shield Hero 15-21

Spoiler

 

The waves hit other countries too and there are no heroes there. One more disgrace for the king and the church.

Good that someone else is noticing the bad consequences of the heroes’ actions. The church actually is almost correct here: summoning new heroes could be better for the world, but killing the current heroes, besides being murder and an act to keep the church in power, would require the new ones to retrain from zero.

Shield Hero finally starts to clear his name. But the Spear hero and his party don’t seem to care about Myne’s contributions to defaming the Shield hero. That reveals a lot about their character.*

The way he talked to the Queen lol

Spoiler

 

 

 

I had a terrible feeling that the King and Myne would assassinate the Queen and start the whole defamation mess all over again… But no, what a satisfying episode!

Btw, here is their punishment:

Spoiler

 

 

Well, it is better than dying.

 

*Well, at least the Spear hero still believed Myne at that point.

 

 

Edited May 23, 2021 by InsaneCommander

[Bartimaeus]

5 hours ago, majestic said:

Or maybe the manga behind it was planned out more than Sailor Moon's (which would not be much of a surprise, would it?).

I'm tempted to link a clip of of Pearl saying "I think your calculations may have been off" and Greg's reply "they can't be off if you don't do any" because that's basically the situation with Sailor Moon in terms of planning, .

5 hours ago, majestic said:

Both Tomoyo and Sakura can be really good at talking someone's ear off when they get started on something. I think episode 5 is one of the ones that sold me on the two. They're so nice and fun in a completely believable way, so of course they would go and help the shop lady (even before they know that there's a card at work). Also, spoiler: The shop actually stays around and the girls go shopping there every now and then. The show is really well constructed in that way.

Nice, I was wondering that - always love it when one-off characters/locations actually aren't as one-off as you might think. And if this ever devolves into a card tournament, that would be a crime against humanity.

6 hours ago, majestic said:

The last three episodes I've seen were a bit less interesting, but so far many of them were strong enough, and I don't recall a really bad episode yet. The cards are also varied and fun, most of the time. At the moment I'm hoping that the "downturn" (to be taken with a grain of salt, the episodes where still decent to good, just nowhere near the prior ones) in quality isn't because the show's setup is beginning to wear thin. Episode 30 tried something interesting, but I wish this wouldn't have involved a new character after 30 epsides, that felt a little tacked on - the other episodes rarely feature one-off characters in any meaningful way - there are some, now and then, but it's nowhere near Sailor Moon level. 

The character interactions so far weren't as strong* as they were in Sailor Moon, but that's not entirely unexpected - they're also different. I mean, they're there, but I really doubt we'll be getting episodes about the meaning of life, self-actualization and how being a magical girl can mess up your hobbies or goals in life, or one of the cast obsessively trying to get herself targeted by a card. Maybe in the terrible looking Clear Card arc.

*Maybe strong is the wrong word. When they're good, they're really good, they're just age appropriate.

May be the type of show that benefits from an occasional break, . And yes, that's true - the character interactions aren't bad by any means, just different and clearly meant for a younger audience.

[majestic]

29 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'm tempted to link a clip of of Pearl saying "I think your calculations may have been off" and Greg's reply "they can't be off if you don't do any" because that's basically the situation with Sailor Moon in terms of planning, .

Hahahaha. Yeah, but for a space ship built with no real clue the Sailor Moon anime turned out pretty fly...ing. Nope, that joke is bad.

31 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Nice, I was wondering that - always love it when one-off characters/locations actually aren't as one-off as you might think. And if this ever devolves into a card tournament, that would be a crime against humanity.

Like the animation of the Clear Card arc?

32 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

May be the type of show that benefits from an occasional break, .

Maybe, or maybe not, I just watched 5 episodes in one go.

CCS episode #31 to #35, random observerations:
 

Spoiler

 

There's this running gag that Toya always has a part time job wherever Sakura goes. It happens often enough to be an intentional running gag, but not often enough to be annoying. One of the episodes has Sakura capture a card called "Big" that she finally uses to make herself Godzilla sized in an attempt to fight of a dragon brought into existence by "Create". For a while, Sakura becomes the kaiju her brother always teases she is.

Next day morning, her brother teases her again, and she just ignores it. He wonders about that and she thinks about growing large and stomping on him.

One had Shaoran and Kero switch bodies to some hilarity, but many of the jokes were based on Shaoran suddenly having that Osakan accent Kero supposedly has. Shaoran spends the night with Sakura and is embarrassed to no end about having to stay in her room while Kero is pretending to he Shaoran when home with Meilin. It's fun overall, but not everything works when you don't have any real clue of Japanese. Kero finally addresses a question I had by casually stating that Clow Reed was a bit of a nutjob. Yeah, figures, I mean... some of the cards, huh, whatever what for? Like the one that made all the cakes to sweet.

One had Sakura and her class to ice skating with Ms. Mizuki and her PE teacher, with Freeze causing some hijinks and freezing people left and right. Shaoran is still not entirely convinced that Ms. Mizuki isn't some eldritch horror, but so far she was nothing but nice to everyone, clearly knows more than she lets on and is Toya's ex girlfriend. Can't be all that bad, and she sounds like Makoto, and Makoto doesn't do bad things to people, bad things happen to her!  

Then came two Sakura and Yukito focused episodes where they join a quiz rally and go to the theme park together. Ms. Mizuki talks a bit with Yukito during the quiz rally, I think she figured out that Yukito isn't entirely what he appears to be, and probably who she forsaw as Toya's new love. I'm not sure if we'll be getting any confirmation in the show, but eh, so far that works for me. The theme park episode has Sakura invite Yukito with the tickets her friends won at the quiz and she gives him a self-made Yukito doll as Christmas (and birthday) present.

They also capture Fire, and now have unlocked a bit of Kero's original powers as Beast of the Seal.

Almost all of them feature a recurring dream that Sakura has, about the Toyko Tower (or something really similar) and a figure on it that looks a bit like Ms. Mizuki. Yukito gets hurt falling off the same cliff Toya fell off in the park earlier, this time because Sakura is daydreaming and he tries to catch her, with Ms. Mizuki ominously warning her about the full moon earlier. Kero keeps wondering about someone called Yue. Even without looking at the episode list or hearing Kero say that Sakura has almost all of the cards now it's clear that the Clow Card arc is coming to an end.

Sharoan is currently figuring out that he likes Sakura more than Yukito. Sakura on the other hand... I don't know how that's not going to end in her having a broken heart. Normally... normally a setup like that would be ideal for an emotional scene or two (or many more) and some character development, but I, uhm, honestly? I don't want to see that happening to her. Ah, poor girl, I hope the writers find a way out of this for you.

Next episode has Sakura in fith grade, so we're getting a minor age up now. 10 episodes left in the first season, or however that is counted.

 

I find myself actually interested in how this is going to end, funny considering that 10 episodes ago this arc didn't even have any hit of a storyline beyond "cards are missing, capture them".  

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

 And yes, that's true - the character interactions aren't bad by any means, just different and clearly meant for a younger audience.

That they are. It's great, regardless. I'm having an absolute blast watching this, even if I still can't figure out why exactly, other than finding everything and everyone adorable - that's true, but not much of a reason, and I'm not sure if that's enough of a reason for 35 episodes now. I mean the mystery setup and ominous prophecy stuff is something that immediately gets me interested in whatever I watch (in Agents of Shield, that was a simple namedrop in an early episode, a character called "The Clairvoyant" - instantly sold, thanks, shut up and take my money Marvel!), but it wasn't there for the longest of times.

[Bartimaeus]

I was talking Cardcaptor Sakura to someone else regarding the English dub, and we started looking up more online about it - apparently, the dub Netflix uses was an uncensored version that was made for Hong Kong, NOT the notoriously terrible made-for-America one. That explains why, while it's certainly not exactly good, it's also not horrifically terrible as reputed or has had piles of scenes (and entire episodes) cut. Not that it matters - I've settled on the Japanese dub (...or whatever you want to call the original audio track - I think I once had someone yell at me for calling an original VAing "the original dub" for lack of a better shorthand term to describe it, so don't @ me about it, I can't figure out a better way to describe what I mean and get it across even if it's inaccurate).

Watched two more episodes, and I think the verdict's officially in - I really like Cardcaptor Sakura, . ...But I'm probably not gonna start writing long posts for each episode...maybe just something notable here and there - it takes a lot of time and effort and slows down actually watching it.

Also, it's a good thing the show looks less like its promotional materials...

...and more like this:

4 hours ago, majestic said:

That they are. It's great, regardless. I'm having an absolute blast watching this, even if I still can't figure out why exactly, other than finding everything and everyone adorable - that's true, but not much of a reason, and I'm not sure if that's enough of a reason for 35 episodes now. I mean the mystery setup and ominous prophecy stuff is something that immediately gets me interested in whatever I watch (in Agents of Shield, that was a simple namedrop in an early episode, a character called "The Clairvoyant" - instantly sold, thanks, shut up and take my money Marvel!), but it wasn't there for the longest of times.

I'm the complete opposite: if I never hear another single word about any kind of stupid prophecy in anything fictional ever again, I would be all too happy, . I'm usually quite content with being low-key and silly story where appropriate, and it feels appropriate here.

Speaking of Sharoan, think I just saw him at the end of episode 7. Not sure I like the sight of him...we'll see!

Edited May 24, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

I was talking Cardcaptor Sakura to someone else regarding the English dub, and we started looking up more online about it - apparently, the dub Netflix uses was an uncensored version that was made for Hong Kong, NOT the notoriously terrible made-for-America one. That explains why, while it's certainly not exactly good, it's also not horrifically terrible as reputed or has had piles of scenes (and entire episodes) cut. Not that it matters - I've settled on the Japanese dub (...or whatever you want to call the original audio track - I think I once had someone yell at me for calling an original VAing "the original dub" for lack of a better shorthand term to describe it, so don't @ me about it, I can't figure out a better way to describe what I mean and get it across even if it's inaccurate).

What else would it be called? It is a dub. It's not like animated characters can speak on their own.

  Entire episodes missing is quite an understatement, I just had a look at the episode list, the US version dropped 31 out of the 70 episodes entirely and rearranged the broadcast order something fierce. It begins with Shaoran showing up. Uhm... yeah, so they attempted to make this show about Shaoran and removed all the hinted at homosexuality.

I'm curious if Shaoran and Meilin having an arranged marriage while being cousins was left in. Probably aired in Alabama?

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Watched two more episodes, and I think the verdict's officially in - I really like Cardcaptor Sakura, . ...But I'm probably not gonna start writing long posts for each episode...maybe just something notable here and there - it takes a lot of time and effort and slows down actually watching it.

It's not really necessary either, many of the episodes simply don't have anything that warrants extensive posting, which isn't a verdict on their quality at all. There are exceptions, the fourth episode was one like that for me, because nothing happened, it's just a tree that grows, and a large part of the episode is spent on Sakura cleaning the house, but it was still great to watch. I'm not sure, apart from mentioning how adorable the show is or how different the action is from Sailor Moon. The first extensive post was the episode where she doesn't capture any cards.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'm the complete opposite: if I never hear another single word about any kind of stupid prophecy in anything fictional ever again, I would be all too happy, . I'm usually quite content with being low-key and silly story where appropriate, and it feels appropriate here.

It's weird for me, in some ways. I like mystery and prophecy stuff, but I more often than not hate how it is resolved. The road to disappointments is paved with fun setups, after all. While I hope that CCS doesn't pull any silly resolutions to the storyline, it's not really as if that would matter all too much for me.

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Speaking of Sharoan, think I just saw him at the end of episode 7. Not sure I like the sight of him...we'll see!

 

Quote

 

Nobody likes the sight of him. He's a brat!

                                                         -- Kero

 

Heh. Not an actual quote from the show, obviously. Unless Kero says something like that in the later episodes. 

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Also, it's a good thing the show looks less like its promotional materials...

Spoiler

...and more like this:

 

 

Pictures spoilered to make the post more concise. I really like the way the show looks, even if that is low key for the most part. It fits with the stakes of most cards too.