Anime - Do you Understannnnnnndu?

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

23 minutes ago, majestic said:

Whelp.

First episode of Princess Tutu's second season was a bit of a letdown. It was a decent setup episode for what seems to be the arc of the second season, but coming directly from that high of the ending of the first one, it just felt off.

Off-topic talk for @Bartimaeus

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I just watched Lindasy Ellis' new video. I think it's time to cancel her for good!

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Calling Corona "beer" is on my list of unforgivable capital offenses.

Almost died of laughter when she was talking about Sargon of Akkad, but generally her writing videos are the ones I enjoy the least, mostly because the subject itself isn't really interesting for me.

And one more episode of Vampire Princess Miyu.

I kind of wish the anime wouldn't use girls from her class as victims. It just reinforces that feeling that her friends are all in for tragedy by association.

I haven't watched any Lindsay Ellis video, but Corona is awful by any standard and I'm not sure if you're talking about the historical figure or the failed media personality.

[majestic]

1 hour ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

I haven't watched any Lindsay Ellis video, but Corona is awful by any standard and I'm not sure if you're talking about the historical figure or the failed media personality.

The latter. I had his YouTube videos pop up every now and then in my recommendations because I sometimes make the mistake of watching a YouTube video, not knowing who the author is, because it has a title like "Star Trek Picard is bad", and I think it might be something interesting, and then it ends up being a 30 minute diatrabe on how it's awful because every authority figure is female, culture wars, libruhl agenda, and the second season is going to suck because they will ruin Q because Q is an all powerful WHITE MALE and we can't have that.

Yeah, no. Star Trek Picard was bad because Kurtzman and Goldsman are both hacks. Funny how that also ruined Discovery. Bad writing is bad, whether it virtue signals or not, but these people are actually convinced old Star Trek was great because old white men were allowed to be written in authority positions. It's like they've never actually seen an episode of Star Trek. Or they watch Code of Honor on repeat. Joestar, his crotch magnetic.

The beer thing is more of a joke on her getting cancelled on Twatter a while back, and most - if not all - industrially produced beer is bad, Corona is no exception there. I like the occassional good beer here and there, but that's always purely for the taste and no more than a pint or two an evening (well, our version of a pint, you know, half a liter).

I'm not much into alcohol, and I was mildly drunk like once in the past 15 years (and that not very long ago, even - like three or so years maybe?). Recreational drugs in general don't do much for me, and that's most likely for the best. The last thing I need is something addictive that would help me unwind, what with my obsessive tendencies and family history.

edit:

Can recommend watching Lindsay Ellis' videos though. She's a professional version of what we do here in the thread, except with a lot less anime and much more Disney.

Edited August 14, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

8 minutes ago, majestic said:

The latter.

Well ****, I'm torn between wanting to relentlessly mock Carlgon and pretending he doesn't exist.

These days I keep my drinking to the weekend and usually don't have more than two a night. I give off the impression that I drink much more than I do.

Joesph and Avdol on the fence. The hag, her umbrella striking. Mariah, her chest swelling, her screws loose.

[Bartimaeus]

Episodes 3 and 4 of Nadia. Uh, feeling a little bit of a tone shift here from wacky adventure to...something else? I actually joked after watching the first episode that this would probably somehow turn into some kind of secret war show or something else weird, knowing Hideaki Anno...but it was a joke, because the first two episodes in no way conveyed that.

Spoiler

Well...after our two protagonists were suddenly thrust into the midst of naval warfare where they're completely at the mercy of the powers that be, now I'm not so sure. Especially because there is apparently some kind of secret war or something occurring under the waters while apparently the above-sea militaries are unaware of there being any underwater activity going on at all and actually presumed that it was simply the work of sea monsters after being attacked by them...which is especially incongruous because the show keeps reminding you that we're just about in the final decade of the 1800s and this level of technology makes no sense for this time period. So um...what's uh, what's going on, guys?

 

6 hours ago, majestic said:

Almost died of laughter when she was talking about Sargon of Akkad, but generally her writing videos are the ones I enjoy the least, mostly because the subject itself isn't really interesting for me.

Same here re: writing. I put on and listened to the whole thing because she's great, but the state of her authorship is probably the least interesting subject she has for me, especially because she tends to treat it more seriously (understandably) than other subjects.

6 hours ago, majestic said:

I kind of wish the anime wouldn't use girls from her class as victims. It just reinforces that feeling that her friends are all in for tragedy by association.

Non-spoiler spoilers:

Spoiler

it's not like I'm the type to ever spoil anything major anyways - even when I talk about a specific episode for a show, I try to always deliberately leave out how stuff is resolved. Anyways, don't read too much into the gif, it's not like I could say "haha don't worry they're gonna be fine" without that being a spoiler too. All I'll say is...that I was a little surprised with where the show went.

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

7 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Episodes 3 and 4 of Nadia. Uh, feeling a little bit of a tone shift here from wacky adventure to...something else? I actually joked after watching the first episode that this would probably somehow turn into some kind of secret war show or something else weird, knowing Hideaki Anno...but it was a joke, because the first two episodes in no way conveyed that.

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Well...after our two protagonists were suddenly thrust into the midst of naval warfare where they're completely at the mercy of the powers that be, now I'm not so sure. Especially because there is apparently some kind of secret war or something occurring under the waters while apparently the above-sea militaries are unaware of there being any underwater activity going on at all and actually presumed that it was simply the work of sea monsters after being attacked by them...which is especially incongruous because the show keeps reminding you that we're just about in the final decade of the 1800s and this level of technology makes no sense for this time period. So um...what's uh, what's going on, guys?

 

You've got to stay positive, at least it didn't end with this sort of inexplicable shift. On the other hand, it still might.

Miyu:

7 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Spoiler

it's not like I'm the type to ever spoil anything major anyways - even when I talk about a specific episode for a show, I try to always deliberately leave out how stuff is resolved. Anyways, don't read too much into the gif, it's not like I could say "haha don't worry they're gonna be fine" without that being a spoiler too. All I'll say is...that I was a little surprised with where the show went.

 

 

Spoiler

Spoilers are a weirdly touchy subject for some people, I already had people yell at me for saying that an episode of something they haven't seen yet is great, because "expectation spoilers are still spoilers!" and I was like, what the hell, really? I just said the episode was great.

So, yeah, how can you say you were surprised where the show went, now I'm expecting something surprising! Shoo! How can you live with yourself? Fie! Fie!

It's good that we have spoiler tags here, but overall, the amount of spoilers that have actually bothered me are somewhat limited. If you would directly confirm or deny my question here, it would ultimately not be an issue for my enjoyment of Vampire Princess Miyu. I'd be surprised if nothing happens to them, because that would go against everything the first eight episodes make this out to be, but that's pretty much it.

One thing that would potentially bother me is if Chisato turns out to be Reiha (or some other spirit/evil being thing) in disguise. That would be something The Outer Limits would pull off, and it would work there because anthology show and ever changing casts. Here that would be cheap, so I'm hoping it won't go there (plus it would make Miyu look supremely stupid for not figuring it out). Although, ultimately, I guess it is more likely that she'll be forced to choose between them, or has to consume Chisato's friends to save her. Something like that, aynway. Something suitably horrific.

There are the occasional situations where spoilers would actually be bothersome. When I watched The Usual Suspects, which was fairly recently, I already knew the plot twist, and it is one of the very few instances where I felt my enjoyment of the film was marred by knowing how it ends.

 

edit:

Miyu just gave me a hearty laugh saying that everyone's moving in with her at the graveyard. Probably not meant to be funny after two murder/suicides in a row, but it still was hilarious.

Edited August 14, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

3 hours ago, majestic said:

You've got to stay positive, at least it didn't end with this sort of inexplicable shift. On the other hand, it still might.

The end of the fourth episode seemed to promise to go back to normal...for now. However, those two episodes absolutely seemed like harbingers of things to come at some point later in the show.

As for Miyu... All I'll concretely say is that what happens both comes out of nowhere but also somehow makes a kind of sense and fits when you think about it, or at least I thought it did for me. Well, except for a couple of small details that I'm going to have to eventually ask you about when you get to it because maybe you could explain them to me better, especially what with you understanding Japanese-y things better than me, .

Spoiler

3 hours ago, majestic said:

Spoilers are a weirdly touchy subject for some people, I already had people yell at me for saying that an episode of something they haven't seen yet is great, because "expectation spoilers are still spoilers!" and I was like, what the hell, really? I just said the episode was great.

So, yeah, how can you say you were surprised where the show went, now I'm expecting something surprising! Shoo! How can you live with yourself? Fie! Fie!

I currently deal with this exactly...except not just about episodes, but entire shows as well. For example, I watched Crusher Joe on a whim, thought it was great, and on here I made the comparison that it tonally and stylistically felt a lot like Star Wars (outside of the first couple of minutes anyways where it was introducing the characters since this was not the first entry in the series). On here, I can do that...but elsewhere, the most I can say is "so...I watched Crusher Joe" - I cannot say what the closest comp would be, what genres it falls in, nor how just a "I liked it" or anything else, because that's spoiling and sets expectations. I would not mention watching a show/movie that I thought was mediocre or bad, so me just saying I watched something is essentially code for "I somewhere between liked and loved this" anyways. Nevertheless, it becomes very difficult to sell someone else on something random that you discovered like Crusher Joe when you cannot even directly mention that you liked it or that someone else should watch it because you think they'll like it, and never mind mentioning even the smallest of details of anything about it. It can be frustrating.

 

Watched a few more episodes of Eriko - read ahead if you dare.

Spoiler

The show has suddenly gone into a new arc that has become pretty unlike anything else that has happened up to this point - it's not totally dissimilar to The Hunger Games. 20 female pop artists enter an endurance, passion, and survival skills contest against one another, only one returns the victor...and all for the sake of some perverted filmmaking bastard from America running the show to crown a superstar. The worst thing is Eriko was selected to compete just because the American happened to see her on TV and thought "heh, what a babe". Good lord.

Some freaking major Perfect Blue vibes right here. Oh my gosh, I was writing this up before I finished the last episode, and Eriko just got molested...twice. Everyone's telling her because it was at the hands of some major producer, she should be happy about it, but she's not so pleased and doesn't really care about whatever "good luck" it might bring. Fitting for her, since she doesn't normally have that competitive edge to her and mostly does her job for friends and family and also because she actually enjoys her work.

I recorded this for @KP the meanie zucchini: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/s3y4g4o9lnhnbwd/k3xy3T5AJ0.mp4 Trust me, you don't want to know the context. Well...maybe you do.

Spoiler

It was because the American scumbag put all of these girls on his DINOSAUR BLIMP OR HELICOPTER OR SOMETHING I'M NOT REALLY SURE and deliberately crashed them onto an island with all of them on board to see how each would handle surviving/enduring with themselves and each other. Yes, you heard me, DINOSAUR.

Spoiler

Dinosaur. At first, I thought this was some kind of really strange and inexplicable Jurassic Park reference...but this came out several years before Jurassic Park. I can't even...

 

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I don't need context, the dinosaur blimp and Oh My God! is funny regardless. 

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

The end of the fourth episode seemed to promise to go back to normal...for now. However, those two episodes absolutely seemed like harbingers of things to come at some point later in the show.

Well, it is from Gainax after all.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

As for Miyu... All I'll concretely say is that what happens both comes out of nowhere but also somehow makes a kind of sense and fits when you think about it, or at least I thought it did for me. Well, except for a couple of small details that I'm going to have to eventually ask you about when you get to it because maybe you could explain them to me better, especially what with you understanding Japanese-y things better than me, .

Sure thing! Does that all pertain to the ending or are there some general things too? If so ask away.

Some general observations regarding Miyu:

I really like the flute theme, and that she sometimes shows up playing the flute. Reminds me a bit of Robin Hood's leaf music. In the same vein, the understated fight scenes with Larva are pretty good too. The intro/opening credits are really great too.

The animation is okayish. It fits the show, but it's sometimes a little choppy and often makes use of stills. There are moments I find myself wishing that they'd spent less time on the backgrounds and more time animating these scenes too, but hey, there barely is any animated stock footage (reused backgrounds), so it evens out, kind of. Style is... a mixed bag, really. I like how Miyu looks, but Chisato sometimes looks like a bug-eyed alien thing.

Yukari looks like some character I know but don't know where from. That's such a bizarre feeling. It's more than her looks, the expressions, way of speaking, it screams familiarity at me, and I have no idea why.

The art and animation is best when it's trying to be moody and brooding, i.e. when (sucessfully) invoking a sense of dread and misfortune to come. The school scenes, not so much, not sure. You're right, the 80ies OVA looked much better overall. I still like it.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Watched a few more episodes of Eriko - read ahead if you dare.

I see you've found a particularily lighthearted alternative to keep you occupied in between the heavy hitters.

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah, in some ways, this show is darker in a more real sense than something like Miyu, when you really stop and look past the surface and then think about everything that's happened... I wouldn't be against Eriko turning into a bloodsucking vampire queen TBH.

29 minutes ago, majestic said:

Sure thing! Does that all pertain to the ending or are there some general things too? If so ask away.

Mostly related to stuff that hasn't happened yet, I think.

Animation/art: Yeah, I preferred the general style of the original OVA. It's a similar case with the two JoJo's OVAs, where the original show had the better style, but the later show had waaay better fidelity and generally just looked "better"...and yet not exactly. Almost everyone in the show has this weird sort of...almost weird plastic-like quality to them (Chisato more than everyone else IMO), besides MAYBE Reiha, who instead has more of a...porcelain doll-like appearance. Even Miyu herself is affected at times. It's definitely weird. I still like it a lot more than most 2000s styles, so I'm thankful for that at least, that it wasn't a limiting factor to my enjoyment...but it could've definitely been better.

(e): Also, I really like the soundtrack of the show in general. The general sound design of the show isn't quite as good IMO as the OVA, but specifically the soundtrack is better.

Edited August 14, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

3 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I wouldn't be against Eriko turning into a bloodsucking vampire queen TBH.

A blood sucking vampire queen riding in a dinosaur shaped blimp would be a great show.

[Bartimaeus]

Guys, I was investigating more Miyu manga. Tell me if you think there's anything weird with these book titles...

Episode I - The Shinma Menace
Episode II - The Western Shinma Strike Back
Episode III - Shinma Wars
Episode IV - The Return of Miyu
Episode V - The Wrath of Miyu

Was not expecting the publisher of the English version of Miyu to just flat-out steal Star Wars titles (...and a Star Trek one as well), but here we are, . I can only assume that Revenge of Miyu wasn't the title of the last one because Revenge of the Sith wasn't out yet. Other likely variations if the publisher (Ironcat) hadn't gone out of business (presumably because of their lazy incompetence) before being able to finish the series: "Miyu: The Motion Picture", "The Search for Miyu", "The Undiscovered Shinma", "A New Miyu", "Attack of the Shinma", and either "The Final Miyu" or "The Final Shinma", .

If nothing else, now knowing that the series was never finished in English because the publisher died in the middle of it makes it easier to not want to read all of it, I suppose. Not learning Japanese to be able to read the books that weren't translated, that's for sure, .

Edited August 14, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Desmodeus]

Ah, that feeling when you check out for new manga to read and notice title called "I Was Reincarnated as a Hot Spring in an Alternate World, and I'm Way Too Effective - It's Not Like it Feels Good Because I'm Inside of You or Anything!?"

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

23 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Guys, I was investigating more Miyu manga. Tell me if you think there's anything weird with these book titles...

Episode I - The Shinma Menace
Episode II - The Western Shinma Strike Back
Episode III - Shinma Wars
Episode IV - The Return of Miyu
Episode V - The Wrath of Miyu

Was not expecting the publisher of the English version of Miyu to just flat-out steal Star Wars titles (...and a Star Trek one as well), but here we are, . I can only assume that Revenge of Miyu wasn't the title of the last one because Revenge of the Sith wasn't out yet. Other likely variations if the publisher (Ironcat) hadn't gone out of business (presumably because of their lazy incompetence) before being able to finish the series: "Miyu: The Motion Picture", "The Search for Miyu", "The Undiscovered Shinma", "A New Miyu", "Attack of the Shinma", and either "The Final Miyu" or "The Final Shinma", .

If nothing else, now knowing that the series was never finished in English because the publisher died in the middle of it makes it easier to not want to read all of it, I suppose. Not learning Japanese to be able to read the books that weren't translated, that's for sure, .

Miyu Generations 

[Bartimaeus]

14 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

Miyu Generations 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studio_Ironcat

I didn't expect to find much anything written about the publisher...and so I was mildly surprised see that they had a wiki article, and majorly surprised with how remarkably detailed it is with just an absolute clown circus of incompetence and malfeasance. Good lord, no wonder they went out of business, they couldn't do literally anything right. Embezzlement, nepotism, sexism, fraud, failure to pay both employees and clients, mass exodus of employees, unable to keep track of who their clients even were...they even lost the rights to their own freaking name because they didn't properly acquire it from the employee who came up with it and who revoked their use of it when he left in disgruntlement. Absolutely incredible story.

I still kind of wanted to read the Miyu manga before I figured out all these problems in doing so - thanks, you nincompoops, now I've learned that I basically can't because you guys couldn't stop...doing whatever it is you were doing.

Edited August 14, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

You could try looking for fan translations and hope the quality holds up.

3 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Not learning Japanese to be able to read the books that weren't translated, that's for sure, .

If I remember correctly any given Japanese student is supposed to know about 1900 (outdated info from the early 90ies, I just checked) 2200 kanji with multiple readings by the end of high school. As much as I find the efficiency of reading like that admirable, that's nothing short of insane to grind through for Japanese as a foreign language. Oh, and that's just the regularily used kanji, not obscure ones. They're organized by the Japanese ministry for education in list literally called regular use kanji, i.e. what you need to achieve fluency in reading.

It also doesn't help that these pictograms all look like they were cooked up by ancient Chinese scholars on an opium binge. Before you accuse me of racism, dear reader, I'd suggest you learn to take a joke, but also, here's an example:

Look at this, for instance: 南 this means "south" (in Japanese and Chinese, by the way).

Look at the pictogram, take five minutes, and attempt to guess why this represents south.

Done?

Spoiler

If you guessed that the pictogram is supposed to represent the front of a house, and houses were all built facing south based on feng shui somewhere and sometime in a place in ancient neolithic China where this pictogram originates from, then:

Spoiler

And you're a filthy liar and looked it up or knew it already, because there's no way I'll believe you managed to guess that.

北 is "north" by the way. Why? Well, because that pictogram is your back, which faces north when you're looking south, i.e. when you're going home, which is why it also means to run away, or retreat. That at least makes a little bit of sense, because you usually see someone's back when they're running away. Just need to see a "back" in that pictogram then. Because that takes some imagination (well, at least it's not as impossible as seeing the front of a house in the kanji for south).

 

3 hours ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

Miyu Generations 

Vampire Princess Miyu 2009: This is not your daddy's Miyu (wow that tagline is really awful combined with the name of a 14/15 year old girl)

Vampire Princess Miyu: Into Darkness

Vampire Princess Miyu: Beyond

(These would actually work)

And of course the new ones:

Vampire Princess Miyu: The Darkness Awakens

Vampire Princess Miyu: The Last Shinma

Vampire Princess Miyu: Rise of Vampires

Heh.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Vampire Princess Miyu 2009: This is not your daddy's Miyu (wow that tagline is really awful combined with the name of a 14/15 year old girl)

[majestic]

12 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

 

 

[majestic]

Vampire Princess Miyu continues to be The Outer Limits: Animated. Guy survives his run-in with a Shinma only to be stabbed by his girlfriend.

I guess I know what I'll be rewatching next. Heh.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

 

20 minutes ago, majestic said:

 

 

Spoiled for content warning

Spoiler

 

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by KP the meanie zucchini

[Bartimaeus]

12 hours ago, majestic said:

I guess I know what I'll be rewatching next. Heh.

...Trick question - it's Sailor Moon, of course, .

Crusher Joe (1983). What's up with seemingly so many Japanese productions in the early 80s and before that simply not having good microphones? Kind of surprised at the drop in quality here from the OVA that came out six years later specifically in just this area. I couldn't even tell for sure if the main characters were the same VAs as the OVA until I heard one specific character (an old grizzled pilot dude named Talos) because they all sounded so weird...but I looked it up and all the main characters are literally the same VAs. Such a small but important part of production, and I've seen Japanese animation repeatedly flub it for no apparent reason. You're not even filming real scenes, you could've gotten like literally just one or two proper studio microphones and have your VAs talk directly into them without worrying about breaking or positioning them like live action stuff would. Sailor Moon's Japanese VA-ing in season 1 is like the bare minimum quality for not being a distraction...and even though they had an absolute shoestring budget in season 1, Sailor Moon was still able to do it, so why couldn't the rest of you? ...Meanwhile, Eriko is over here sounding like it was made at the same time as Speed freaking Racer somehow, don't know how they managed to do that, but it's "impressive" that they were able to rewind the clock so much for that, .

...Anyways, the basic premise of this one is actually even more simple than in the OVA, interestingly - the Crushers are asked to do a very easy transport job that must be kept on the down low for political reasons. It's not their normal kind of work, but the pay is really good and the client has their reasons for not going through normal channels. Well, that's the first five minutes or so of a 2+ hour movie, I'm sure you can just imagine the rest, .

Spoiler

If the sight of these guys in their crazy get-ups while wearing gas masks doesn't get you at least slightly interested in this, I don't know what will, .

 

Edited August 15, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

32 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Well, that's the first five minutes or so of a 2+ hour movie, I'm sure you can just imagine the rest, .

They finish the job with no problems and then spend the rest of the film on a vacation planet with the money they earned?

34 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

...Trick question - it's Sailor Moon, of course, .

To be perfectly honest I've been thinking about that too. Somehow there's nothing else that comes close. I mean, at least when it comes to the, heh, silly girly stuff. Attack No. 1 has too much focus on volleyball and it does feel a tad, uhm, dated (certainly because it is), Princess Tutu and Revolutionary Girl Utena turned out to be something completely else, and while I loved Cardcaptor Sakura (not counting the fan-made abomination* that came out recently), there's a world of a difference between them.

Miyu stuff:
 

Spoiler

Funny coincidence with that comment, this feeds directly into something that I've thought about trying to fall asleep earlier today. What if Miyu was more like Sailor Moon? And I don't mean the comedy part. Sailor Moon's episodes often had a serious undertone even with all the insanity and fun that was happening. Strip away the comedy bits, and transplant an episode like the one where Minako wonders about what her life should or could be without her destiny in the way into Vampire Princess Miyu's setting, and you've got instant gold. Well, if done right, but let's assume for a moment it would be, because otherwise it would be a gothic-y emo "woe is me" trainwreck.

While I'm only halfway through Miyu so far and it might well change drastically towards more direct character drama and much less (non-jump scare, therefore actually quite good) horror, imagine, for a moment, a setup like this. It's the 90ies, obviously, and human life is beginning to take a very different turn. Information is much more readily available than before, everyone is beginnign to have cameras (and later camcorders). Or perhaps, transfer this into a more contemporary setting (I know Miyu was contemporary when it came out, never mind that).

Instead of just appearing at school as transfer student with no reason given, Miyu does that because she no longer has a choice (although, who knows, maybe that's why she actually joined the class in the manga, or if that was the implication in the anime and I've missed it - assuming that entire storyline isn't an anime original). It's impossible to fly under the radar as she's done for centuries now. In turn, she starts making friends - something she has avoided for equally as long, and for good reason.

Instead of spending most of the time being an understated contemporary horror anime with a focus on one-off characters, it's mostly about Miyu and her newfound friends and Miyu struggling to adjust to the ever so rapidly changing human environment while still trying to do her job. It's kind of interesting to notice that while Miyu didn't have any friends outside of Larva in the 80ies OVA, that was more what was going on than in the anime. 

Massively reduce the amount of shinma to fight, there's no need for one or more per episode. Make some episodes that are purely about Miyu not being able to invite her friends home, because she has no home, instead of making it a minor conversation that leaves you wondering what could have been. Show Miyu struggling with her newfound appreciation for human interaction and change her somewhat callous yet understandable "I'm not here to protect people" attitude. Explore what that would do to her psyche, essentially having to kill (is being stuck in your dream forever really life?) the people she's trying to protect, even if only indirectly.

Well, maybe that'll come up in the second half of the anime. I suspect a part of it will, why else give her friends. At this point I'm expecting them to die, except for Chisato maybe, she's in for a fate worse than death if she doesn't die.

Assuming for a moment Miyu survives at all, if not, then she could die saving Chisato. Or be banished to the Dark or whatever it is that demons go to by Reiha.

*I've decided to pretend that Clear Card is fanfiction. For sanity's sake.

[Bartimaeus]

3 hours ago, majestic said:

They finish the job with no problems and then spend the rest of the film on a vacation planet with the money they earned?

Uh...yeah, pretty much. Yep.

There's something about pre-cellphone (i.e. pre-2000s) modern horror that at least mostly tries to be subtle and grounded while also having mild fantastic elements that tickles my senses...and of course, Miyu specifically gets plenty of bonus points for other stuff as well. If you ever have a chance, maybe try the game Yuppie Psycho if it seems like it'd be something up your alley - strange little indie game whose setting and premise has resounded with me for a surprisingly decent amount of time and actually serves as a little bit of a backbone for me liking Miyu so much, at least in that specific regard. I only mention it and the bit about modern horror because I see you also have spent some time thinking of alternative setups and situations, and your concept for a show sounds fantastic. Yeah, I'd totally want that for an entire show, especially if it stayed with the dark and gloomy atmosphere.

3 hours ago, majestic said:

Well, maybe that'll come up in the second half of the anime.

3 hours ago, majestic said:

To be perfectly honest I've been thinking about that too. Somehow there's nothing else that comes close. I mean, at least when it comes to the, heh, silly girly stuff. Attack No. 1 has too much focus on volleyball and it does feel a tad, uhm, dated (certainly because it is), Princess Tutu and Revolutionary Girl Utena turned out to be something completely else, and while I loved Cardcaptor Sakura (not counting the fan-made abomination* that came out recently), there's a world of a difference between them.

I said "silly girl stuff" in absolute fondness, obviously, . Yeah, Sailor Moon is special...and no, Cardcaptor Sakura is...I mean, it is very similar, but it's also not at the same time, just like how Miyu is not at all like either of them as well while also basically being a magical girl anime with some very similar mechanisms. They just feel and operate too differently on too many levels...and of course, the character and thematic stuff is *way* different.

Edited August 15, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

27 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

If you ever have a chance, maybe try the game Yuppie Psycho if it seems like it'd be something up your alley - strange little indie game whose setting and premise has resounded with me for a surprisingly decent amount of time and actually serves as a little bit of a backbone for me liking Miyu so much, at least in that specific regard.

What's the actual gameplay like? I've looked at the Steam store page now, and the GOG store page, and I still have no idea. Not sure if I want to look up a gameplay video, so I'll just ask.

28 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

There's something about pre-cellphone (i.e. pre-2000s) modern horror that at least mostly tries to be subtle and grounded while also having mild fantastic elements that tickles my senses...and of course, Miyu specifically gets plenty of bonus points for other stuff as well.

The ubiquity of cellphones (although that has started very much pre-2000, but we're talking a good deal of differences between our part of Europe and the US in that regard, in 2000 we were already at a cell phone market penetration of almost 90% - currently sits at a comfortable 200%) certainly had an effect on storytelling for some genres, and horror is one particularily affected by it. I know that the recent resurgence of films and TV shows set in the 80ies is a understandable occurance of the 30 year cycle, but I wonder if that's not also because it's one of the easier ways to still have a somewhat contemporary setting and free yourself of the storytelling problems you get when quite frankly everyone and their dog can take pictures and videos on the fly with a small device in their pockets, or call someone when you get lost in the woods, or are being followed by something weird.

42 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I only mention it and the bit about modern horror because I see you also have spent some time thinking of alternative setups and situations, and your concept for a show sounds fantastic. Yeah, I'd totally want that for an entire show, especially if it stayed with the dark and gloomy atmosphere.

I wonder if that would have more than a target audience of two people though. Or who knows, maybe there is something like that out there. Like the truth! I mean, not that it fits entirely, but the X-Files is also something that worked for me purely on the strength of its characters and the atmosphere. At least until they moved filming to LA, after wich everything started looking like it was filmed in LA, rather than in Stargate City.

Sigh. Ah, never mind.

48 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I said "silly girl stuff" in absolute fondness, obviously, .

Of course, I wouldn't have taken it in any other way.

51 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Yeah, Sailor Moon is special...and no, Cardcaptor Sakura is...I mean, it is very similar, but it's also not at the same time, just like how Miyu is not at all like either of them as well while also basically being a magical girl anime with some very similar mechanisms. They just feel and operate too differently on too many levels...and of course, the character and thematic stuff is *way* different.

The irony here is that Love Live! has more parts of what made Sailor Moon so great for me than most suggestions when you go look for "shows like Sailor Moon" online, but it comes with ridiculous fanservice moments, bad animation and, well, a casting show storyline that  has most Sailor Moon season arcs beat in being completely uninteresting. Because in which universe does Pricess Tutu fit that bill. I really enjoy Princess Tutu, don't get me wrong, but Ahiru's interactions are, except for a few episodes here and there, purely limited to the fairy tale being told. It's really good in what it does, but other than that she's transforming into a magical ballet dancer, this has nothing in common with Sailor Moon.

It's like being told to watch Star Wars when asking for something similar to Star Trek*. Sure, technically both have space ships. The end.

Cardcaptor Sakura is, well, incredibly great, superbly written and more than occassionally brilliant, and it keeps the magical girl stuff limited to an understated sort of happenstance for Sakura, but at the same time, there's a limit to what you can do with characters of that age, and the writers were very aware of that limitation and acted within it. It does make it all the more endearing, but it kicks it far out of the way of being an actual "Sailor Moon like" in terms of character interactions and themes. I mean, when not talking about Usagi and Chibi-Usa in SuperS. Because compared to those two, Sakura is a wellspring of maturity and reason. Sheesh.

*Pre-2009, really. It's no wonder Star Trek 2009 landed Jar Jar Abrams the job to direct Star Wars.

[Bartimaeus]

42 minutes ago, majestic said:

What's the actual gameplay like? I've looked at the Steam store page now, and the GOG store page, and I still have no idea. Not sure if I want to look up a gameplay video, so I'll just ask.

It's...mostly exploration and world-based puzzles/investigation with a helping of "don't get murdered"? ...I don't know if "world-based puzzles/investigation" is the best descriptor, but it's not usually like...I don't know, Myst-like puzzles where you're trying to figure out arbitrary solutions to arbitrary problems or anything like that, it's more "...so I was exploring and found and did some stuff, this opens up new places to go and things to do and maybe even new interactions with some of the other characters"? I think that's a fair description of it. To be honest, I myself was looking at the Steam store page and thinking "this doesn't...really properly convey what the game is about, not really".

Cellphones: I actually meant to write smartphones, not cellphones, RIP me. Yeah, cellphones were obviously around in the 90s, but...cellphones are a lot easier to wave away than smartphones, since all cellphones did back then was make calls and you can just say "lol no service for whatever reason" to fix that problem...or just have your characters be too young to have them, or too rural or poor to have them, or some other kind of arbitrary reason. In contrast to now, where smartphones are so incredibly ubiquitous and advanced with so many different functions and service is available most everywhere except truly remote areas...it's just, yeah, it's different.

42 minutes ago, majestic said:

It's like being told to watch Star Wars when asking for something similar to Star Trek*. Sure, technically both have space ships. The end.

Hah. Reminds me of trying to get recommendations for stuff based off of me liking (x). Yes, your suggestion of (y) may have (a), (b), (c), (d), and even (e) all in common with (x), but in actuality the way they're stylistically and tonally presented is so completely and utterly different that they may as well be in totally separate genres. Now (z) that I just chanced upon by accident on the other hand, has almost *nothing* in common on the surface with (x)...and yet somehow feels the closest out of anything else I've ever seen! Inherent qualities and different styles of communicating and coding themes, characters, plots, and the world-building play a huge part in how stuff actually comes across...a much bigger part, I'd say, than the fact that two shows share a similar horror setting, or a similar group of superheroes, or a similar coming-of-age theme, or...anything else.

Edited August 15, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Evangelion 1.11

Pretty much the first few episodes before Asuka shows up, of all of the rebuild films this one is probably the easiest to skip without missing anything.

Watching 2.22 shortly, maybe I'll just binge Evangelion today and come out with my sanity shattered. Tuxedo Kamen on the plane.