Anime - Kono Dio Da!

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

17 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

It's on my to-do list to at least try - it might just take a while to get to it, especially because I haven't really been much in a watching (anything) mood as of late.

I recommend it. The protagonist is a fella but instead of shonen yelling all the time he's more quiet and contemplative. There's a lot of fantasy violence too, so it may bring back memories of splattering bandits in BG1.

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by KP the meanie zucchini

[Bartimaeus]

22 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

I recommend it. The protagonist is a fella but instead of shonen yelling all the time he's more quiet and contemplative. There's a lot of fantasy violence too, so it may bring back memories of splattering bandits in BG1.

Yes, that was my understanding, which made me considerably more interested in it, .

How is an official dub of DBZ even more bizarre and meme-ish than the TFS Abridged dub?

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

7 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Yes, that was my understanding, which made me considerably more interested in it, .

Just a fair warning, **** gets dark.

7 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

How is an official dub of DBZ even more bizarre and meme-ish than the TFS Abridged dub?

I don't know, but it's hilarious.

[majestic]

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Remind me to give some more bonus points to Sakura for ditching the whole ridiculous transformation thing entirely - the best part of them even in Sailor Moon was the dope music. Oooooh, Sailor Moon! Sailor Mars, Sailor Mars! Sailor Veeeeenus! Sailor Juu-peh-tuh! ...IIRC, they didn't really do anything special for Ami's song, but it was still good. Dang, thinking about that really makes me want to re-watch the show.

Well, what doesn't make anyone want to rewatch Sailor Moon exceped two things: Thinking that it won't hold up to nostalgia (it so readily does!) and SuperS, and you can just skip the entire season without missing anything, really, unless you're weird in you head like I am...

It's a good thing that the second episode didn't have the full transformation, because I think that's the longest one I've seen so far. Just went on forever, plus there's only so much naked nine year old on my screen I can take before it begins to change from a regular genre convetion to being just creepy weird, and it really toes that line a bit too much. 

I'd link a YT video, but there's only the movie transformation. Or one of the movie transformations. None from the original series. They're either really into copyright strikes or YT killed them all for the nudity.

6 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

How come shows keep ripping off Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura? It's kinda like they were...great shows or something, I don't know!

Yeah, no idea either. I'll say this for Nanoha: While everything is familiar, two things do set it apart from the shows it so readily takes from. First, the magic is really more like hyper advanced alien technology (as is the talking ferret) which now that I think about it some more, as per Arthur C. Clarke, doesn't make any difference at all, and second, the first two episodes didn't have the comedic focus of either Sailor Moon or Cardcaptor Sakura. Nanoha spends most of the time talking to her friends, being in school or interacting with Yuuno, the action was shortish and unremarkable so far (not necessarily a bad thing), but it's more serious in tone.

Not to say it's dark or melancholy like Miyu. Far from it. It was occasionally funny so far, but unless something major changes, it looks like it wasn't primarily made to be funny. We'll see how that turns out. I'm off for work now, where a whole bunch of issues wait to be resolved, and some people need to be prodded into doing their jobs by making them think I appreciate their input and consider feedback from them worthwhile.

Ugh. What did I get into IT for when I still have to play the diplomat?

Edited October 19, 2021 by majestic

[Amentep]

11 hours ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

Perhaps it's because I grew up in Texas, but it doesn't surprise me at all. If anything I'm surprised there haven't been more imitators. The US is full of dumbasses who want to believe the dumbest ****, Alex gives the ones who want to believe conspiracies about alien demons an outlet and hawks the brain pills while he's at it. When you get down to it the grift ain't that much different from more normal media personalities or reality TV stars, they're building a brand based of an image and cashing in.

Which is to say we're all ****ed and should just watch anime instead of caring. Like Berserk, the best 90s seinen anime.

Thing is there have people peddling that kind of thing for decades (Wally George, anyone?)

So...anime it is. I actually have some anime series lined up (sadly not Sailor Moon, haven't found a copy) to watch here shortly.

[majestic]

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, episode three. I'd warn of any spoilers, but nothing that happens is worth the effort (in a way). We're still doing setup and Yuuno is explaining his stuff to Nanoha, and Nanoha talks about Earth stuff to Yuuno. It's not the worst setup for a bit of exposition here and there.

Nanoha has a full transformation sequence again. I guess that's go-to runtime padding. Just to make you you guys understand just how much padding that really is, that sequence takes one minute and twelve seconds (roughly twenty of those she spends in various states of undress, first only in underwear, then topless, then fully nude, then she goes back to fully clothed). The juxtaposition between her usual outfits, the transformation and her battle costume is baffling, because that's the least revealing battle costume of any magical girl ever. Tomoyo puts Sakura into much worse on a regular basis.

I guess I keep mentioning it because it's sort of baffling. The school uniform has a long skirt, her normal streetwear is a shorter skirt, but nothing near as skimpy as the ones in other shows. It really is just... that transformation.

Here, take a look. The first 1:12 of this video. The others I haven't looked at because while it's unlikely to contain spoilers, I'm not sure I want to know what's coming before it happens. If I wasn't entirely clear, not really safe for work:

Just don't watch this in front of spouses, fiancées, your boss or on any work computer. Really.

Since that really does a number on my brain trying to figure out what the point of the transformation sequence in this state is compared to the rest of the anime (so far, at least), tell me guys, am I... making a mountian out of a molehill here? I could be, because after Love Live! and certain parts of Steins;Gate I've become a bit paranoid.

Yuuno has a moment where he proves himself better than a certain winged unicorn from Sailor Moon when he suggests Nanoha to not sleep in her clothes but at least put on a pyjama, which she absent mindedly (magic is really tiring, right Sakura Nanoha?) starts to do with him in the room. He just turns around and doesn't peek, and Nanoha is decidedly less nude than during her transformation, which Mr. Ferret has no issues being around, so make of that what you will.

The enemy of the episode turns out to be a group of trees, it just causes a lot more harm than the one in Cardcaptor Sakura. Nanoha blames herself because she saw someone with a Clow Card Jewel Seed and thought she just imagined things, until it got activated and caused a whole lot of ruckus. I'm unsure, this is the first time a Jewel Seed caused enough damage for everyone to really notice, I hope this doesn't go uncommented in the next episode. I also hope it doesn't get the Sailor Moon Crystal treatment where Usagi's father is watching the news about a giant tick monster attack in Tokyo and deals with the news as if that stuff happens there every day.

The first roughly two thirds are spent on her spending a sunday going to her father's soccer game, hanging out with her friends and playin with Juuno. All in all this is... surprisingly nice. It's still extremely derivative, doesn't do anything special, but even with that transformation sequence it's less offensive than some of the other stuff I've watched recently.

Storywise we're doing the neurotic plot structure thing for the time being. Capture Seal Clow Card a Jewel Seed per episode, and occasionally seal one off screen. While it's too early to tell, so far doesn't come close to the writing quality of Carcaptor Sakura (well, what does) or the strength and likeability of Sailor Moon's characters (well, again, what does).

So far, it's all right. It is much better than Sailor Moon Crystal, but that's not an achievement. Licking live car batteries is more fun than watching Sailor Moon Crystal. Not as good as either CCS or Sailor Moon. Better than Utena, but that's barely comparable at this point.

Still expecting it all go to hell soon. That transformation can't be ALL of what's to come, can it?

edit:

This one is more for @Bartimaeus than anyone else, because he's the only one in here who watched enough Cardcaptor Sakura, but just so you know what I mean when I say this feels derivative:

Does this image remind you of something?

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

9 hours ago, Amentep said:

Thing is there have people peddling that kind of thing for decades (Wally George, anyone?)

So...anime it is. I actually have some anime series lined up (sadly not Sailor Moon, haven't found a copy) to watch here shortly.

Tempted to upload the first episode somewhere and say "look, you found a copy!". ...I mean, it'd only be the first episode, but

@majestic I'm a bad person to ask, since I'm always against pointless nudity. However, I maintain that I didn't detect anything super wrong off the bat with this show, so it's up to you to prove my process wrong.

Yeah, no kidding, looks straight stolen out of Sakura. Is the song at least better than CCS S3's?

[InsaneCommander]

9 hours ago, Amentep said:

So...anime it is. I actually have some anime series lined up (sadly not Sailor Moon, haven't found a copy) to watch here shortly.

[majestic]

10 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Tempted to upload the first episode somewhere and say "look, you found a copy!". ...I mean, it'd only be the first episode, but

I know of a way to freely watch the German dub of Sailor Moon. Just as long as you can deal with some unsavory ads along the way. However I kind of doubt that Amentep is interested in either the Russian mail order brides of the ads, nor the German dub... so I'm kind of out.

10 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

@majestic I'm a bad person to ask, since I'm always against pointless nudity. However, I maintain that I didn't detect anything super wrong off the bat with this show, so it's up to you to prove my process wrong.

Nothing overly wrong so far, except Nanoha changing into a pyjama, which was framed as a joke because it embarrassed Yuuno.

10 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Yeah, no kidding, looks straight stolen out of Sakura. Is the song at least better than CCS S3's?

There's not much that wouldn't be, right?

Except I could easily see how that song was at some point made for a CCS intro and rejected.

edit: One of Nanoha's friends comes from a filthy rich family and they have a mansion with servants. Yeah. Very original. I wonder if they also own a toy company, or a hospital, or perhaps both?

Edited October 19, 2021 by majestic

[Amentep]

I actually saw the DIC dub that aired in syndication in the US  and was never finished back in the day. But I haven't seen any new theoretically better sub that would include the whole thing.

[majestic]

7 minutes ago, Amentep said:

I actually saw the DIC dub that aired in syndication in the US  and was never finished back in the day. But I haven't seen any new theoretically better sub that would include the whole thing.

I don't think the Viz dub is available for streaming at the momet, but I could be wrong. Hulu has the original with subs though.

What are you going to watch, by the way?

[Bartimaeus]

...Yeah, nah, I actually do like the the CCS S3 intro more. Might be a minor case of Stockholme syndrome, though - while I still don't care for that song (especially the middle main chunk which is a complete drag), at least it ends well enough.

29 minutes ago, majestic said:

edit: One of Nanoha's friends comes from a filthy rich family and they have a mansion with servants. Yeah. Very original. I wonder if they also own a toy company, or a hospital, or perhaps both?

What a disgusting display.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

11 minutes ago, majestic said:

Hulu has the original with subs though.

It also has up to season 4 dubbed, which I think is the new one and not the Sailor Moon Says one. So you can't hear Pedosus tell Chibi-Usa that she'd make a beautiful bride, but you can hear him voiced by a real life sex creep.

[Amentep]

14 minutes ago, majestic said:

What are you going to watch, by the way?

The original Space Adventure Cobra series from 1981 (cue disappointment it isn't a magical girl series). I saw the movie years ago, but I know the story is a bit more involved than the movie could show and have been curious to see the original anime series which I think is a more straight adaption of the manga, while I think the movie trades on a certain understanding of the characters you could get from the show.

I have a few other anime series around so may roll into one of those (the Galaxy Express 999 tv show or Future Boy Conan if it's released by then on the upcoming new bluray release in the US) afterwards.

EDIT: I don't have a streaming or cable service, so rely on rentals, borrows or purchases fir anime.

[majestic]

8 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

...Yeah, nah, I actually do like the the CCS S3 intro more. Might be a minor case of Stockholme syndrome, though - while I still don't care for that song (especially the middle main chunk which is a complete drag), at least it ends well enough.

Yeah, sounds like Stockholm syndrome all right, but... looks like the Sakura effect is in full play, huh? Show will eventually make you like everything, at some point.

14 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

What a disgusting display.

As of yet unnamed rival girl showed up to steal Nanoha's Clow Card Jewel Seed. I guess from now on the show will deviate a bit from its predecessors. I hope, at least. There's only so much you can take and make it your own before it becomes a bit ridiculous.

Still, so far, it's not half bad. At the moment I'm expecting that the two will become friends to either fight off some mysterious something or other that will show up or they'll team up because Nanoha decides to help her with whatever she's doing. Even if she entered the show shooting a kitten with laser beams.

Giant 50 foot kitten, but a kitten.

1 minute ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

It also has up to season 4 dubbed, which I think is the new one and not the Sailor Moon Says one. So you can't hear Pedosus tell Chibi-Usa that she'd make a beautiful bride, but you can hear him voiced by a real life sex creep.

What a wonderful choice then.

2 minutes ago, Amentep said:

(cue disappointment it isn't a magical girl series)

 

Heh. Actually I haven't seen that many straight magical girl animes. There's Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura and now Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Some animes contained elements, like Utena, were a parody of a much larger genre like Kill la Kill (Ryuko technically is a magical girl, I guess). Then there's Madoka, which is anything but a straight example.

Not sure where to put Princess Tutu. Dunno why, but I'd almost recommend that one to you.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

2 minutes ago, majestic said:

What a wonderful choice then.

[majestic]

I... really. Yeah.

  

12 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

This is for KP only!

Spoiler

 

 

edit:

Spoiler

I'll show myself out. But only beause I really have to get some sleep now. Nighty night, and if I dream of any unicorns, I'll sue you.

Edited October 19, 2021 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

God damn it stop editing your posts before I pull out a stone mask and reject my humanity.

4 minutes ago, majestic said:

I... really. Yeah.

  

This is for KP only!

  Hide contents

 

 

 

 

At least that guy wouldn't try to romance a 10 year old. Or a 1010 year old who was stuck in the body of a child before DEATH PHANTOM unlocked her puberty and transformed her into BLACK LADY. Sailor Moon is very strange.

[majestic]

Just now, KP the meanie zucchini said:

God damn it stop editing your posts before I pull out a stone mask and reject my humanity.

I'm sorry, I accidentially copy/pasted the wrong link.

1 minute ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

At least that guy wouldn't try to romance a 10 year old. Or a 1010 year old who was stuck in the body of a child before DEATH PHANTOM unlocked her puberty and transformed her into BLACK LADY. Sailor Moon is very strange.

Yeah, no kidding, and you haven't even seen the films, where Mamoru's former flower boyfriend shows up, Chibi-Usa gets taken away by the Pied Piper of Hamelin and Luna turns into a girl for a few hours.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 minute ago, majestic said:

Yeah, no kidding, and you haven't even seen the films, where Mamoru's former flower boyfriend shows up, Chibi-Usa gets taken away by the Pied Piper of Hamelin and Luna turns into a girl for a few hours.

 

 

[Bartimaeus]

33 minutes ago, Amentep said:

Future Boy Conan if it's released by then on the upcoming new bluray release in the US) afterwards.

Unfortunate news for @majestic, this has been on the horizon for a long while now (maybe as long as a year now?) and was almost already started before Nadia was, but then I'd randomly come across news that it'd been licensed and was in the process of being re-dubbed, so it got shuffled back a bit. So that's likely to be the next major show for me, though whether we go with the English or Japanese will depend, of course, on what it actually sounds like.

33 minutes ago, Amentep said:

The original Space Adventure Cobra series from 1981 (cue disappointment it isn't a magical girl series). I saw the movie years ago

I tried watching the movie for this probably like 5-6 months ago, and I made it about ten minutes in before I was like "I guess you had to be there when it came out, or maybe watched the original show, or something, because this ain't working".

19 minutes ago, majestic said:

Yeah, sounds like Stockholm syndrome all right, but... looks like the Sakura effect is in full play, huh? Show will eventually make you like everything, at some point.

That, and as not great as the Sakura song is (which makes it stand out as being worse than it is in a show of Sakura's pedigree), it's still better than that, .

19 minutes ago, majestic said:

Still, so far, it's not half bad.

Hey, maybe it'll surprise you and K-On it on up.

7 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

God damn it stop editing your posts before I pull out a stone mask and reject my humanity.

I'm the absolute worst post editor around here, there have been a number of times I've actually had to edit out some of my edits so that I can put it in the next post because I can't stop myself from revising and adding more on.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

1 minute ago, Bartimaeus said:

Unfortunate news for @majestic, this has been on the horizon for a long while now (maybe as long as a year now?) and was almost already started before Nadia was, but then I'd randomly come across news that it'd been licensed and was in the process of being re-dubbed, so it got shuffled back a bit. So that's likely to be the next major show for me, though whether we go with the English or Japanese will depend, of course, on what it actually sounds like.

if you mean because of Samurai Champloo, that's okay. Future Boy Conan is also something I'd like to watch at some point, mostly because we never got a release over here, and while following CLAMP around the block has been a mixed bag so far, Miyazaki always delivered something at the very least watchable.

4 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

That, and as not great as the Sakura song is (which makes it stand out as being worse than it is in a show of Sakura's pedigree), it's still better than that, .

No, not really, but that's between me, my peculiar musical tastes and yours.

5 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Hey, maybe it'll surprise you and K-On it on up.

I already surprised me by being quite decent, even if not very original. Overall my impression of the first four episodes is quite positive, but that might not shine through my posts that much.

[Bartimaeus]

9 minutes ago, majestic said:

if you mean because of Samurai Champloo, that's okay. Future Boy Conan is also something I'd like to watch at some point, mostly because we never got a release over here, and while following CLAMP around the block has been a mixed bag so far, Miyazaki always delivered something at the very least watchable.

I had Princess Tutu in mind, actually. I don't know when/if we'll ever get back to that, . Might actually become something I check out more on my lonesome at some point after I've finished Sakura instead...

Hey, my prognostication said it looked alright outside of the cat/foxgirl, and it looks like I wasn't wrong, .

[majestic]

1 minute ago, Bartimaeus said:

I had Princess Tutu in mind, actually. I don't know when/if we'll ever get back to that, . Might actually become something I check out more on my lonesome at some point after I've finished Sakura instead...

I'm sort of curious what you think of it, so yeah, if that's no longer a viable project (and I was surprised it was one in the first place) then try it at some point. It does have some annoying elements, like Ahiru's ballet teacher, and I could have done without the anthropomorphic animals, but I liked it well enough. I still have no idea what to really make of it though. It was a nice fairly tale.

4 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Hey, my prognostication said it looked alright outside of the cat/foxgirl, and it looks like I wasn't wrong, .

Which has yet to show up, so, yeah. It's not the magical boy that turned into a ferret like I assumed at first. So yeah, so far you're two for two. Or three for three, actually, you did warn me to leave Magic User's Club be.

[Bartimaeus]

I'm trying to think of what I've actually made a prediction about (something where I've actually said "from what I can tell, I think this is going to be (x) for me/you") and been wrong about. I don't always have predictions, because sometimes I don't have a strong enough of a feeling to say confidently right off the bat before even trying the show out (e.g. Steins;gate, Princess Tutu, Utena), but other times I do (e.g. Clannad, Magic User's Club, Violet Evergarden, K-On, etc.), and I'm not sure I've actually made a wrong prediction thus far. Maybe the closest was Blood-C...but even then, I wasn't exactly totally wrong with that, right? We saw the trailer and that looked gosh-awful, and I took a quick look at some screenshots and said "I don't think that trailer's really representative, though - I think it'll be less dramatic action-y and more silly character-y than that trailer would have you think"...which was true, at least early on. Didn't end that way, but you could see why I made that prediction, . So that's probably the closest that I can think of to being wrong with an actual prediction.

Edited October 20, 2021 by Bartimaeus