Anime and Manga - ゴゴゴゴ

[Bartimaeus]

18 minutes ago, majestic said:

allegory

Ah, but you see, as I've said so many times...for me, characters trump all. I won't care about your allegory, your themes, your plot if I don't like your characters, and I did not like that main character, the character which the entire film is framed around. I really, really did not like Suzu. So, in a sense, it's a credit to the film that I thought it was okay even given that I strongly disliked the singular protagonist...and that it was an anime film made in 2016, especially seeing as it is a drama. All of those put together should really spell out me hating this film, but I didn't, because it had other good qualities that made it so I watched the entire thing and didn't come out disliking it - I just thought my experience with it was was overall "okay" and that I wished the main character was...someone else. In other words, it was a good film hamstrung by issues of it failing to personally appeal to me, that's all. I have my reasons for not liking this particular kind of character - let's just say I had spent entirely too much time around someone who I would say is painfully similar to Suzu, and I unfortunately find that personality type incredibly grating as a result.

Edited February 19, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Ah, but you see, as I've said so many times...for me, characters trump all. I won't care about your allegory, your themes, your plot if I don't like your characters, and I did not like that main character, the character which the entire film is framed around. I really, really did not like Suzu. So, in a sense, it's a credit to the film that I thought it was okay even given that I strongly disliked the singular protagonist...and that it was an anime film made in 2016, especially seeing as it is a drama. All of those put together should really spell out me hating this film, but I didn't, because it had other good qualities that made it so I watched the entire thing and didn't come out disliking it - I just thought my experience with it was was overall "okay" and that I wished the main character was...someone else. In other words, it was a good film hamstrung by issues of it failing to personally appeal to me, that's all. I have my reasons for not liking this particular kind of character - let's just say I had spent entirely too much time around someone who I would say is painfully similar to Suzu, and I unfortunately find that personality type incredibly grating as a result.

That's both fair and fine - it's not like anyone needs an actual reason for disliking certain character types or genres. It perhaps being an allegorical choice doesn't change that, of course, and I mean, assuming the interpretation is a valid one (although, in some ways, all interpretations are valid as long as they're consistent) it is at the end a personal reason to accept Suzu the way she is, not a universal one (and certainly not one where anyone could claim it is the one correct version and you're wrong if you don't see it that way). Like my experience of the film was certainly enhanced by the ending in a similar way as the Utena movie improved my disposition towards the series, while it did the exact opposite for you.

Also, yes, something I wanted to add to the last post and forgot, for a 2016 war drama with a main character type you hate, that's pretty high praise. What did you think of the technical aspects, character models and animation?

Edited February 19, 2022 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Also, yes, something I wanted to add to the last post and forgot, for a 2016 war drama with a main character type you hate, that's pretty high praise. What did you think of the technical aspects, character models and animation?

I thought it looked...odd. If I'm recalling correctly, the backgrounds generally looked nice and fitting, but the character models and animations weren't exactly what I would have expected for a film of this type...but it was within acceptable parameters to at least get the job done. Still, it was strange looking to me - I especially remember that dumb look on the main character's face that they kept drawing over and over being a bit of an aggravation for me...but that might partially just be my dislike for the character speaking, . The pre-2000s era of animation we shall never return to...sigh.

Edited February 19, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

23 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I thought it looked...odd. If I'm recalling correctly, the backgrounds generally looked nice and fitting, but the character models and animations weren't exactly what I would have expected for a film of this type...but it was within acceptable parameters to at least get the job done. Still, it was strange looking to me - I especially remember that dumb look on the main character's face that they kept drawing over and over being a bit of an aggravation for me...but that might partially just be my dislike for the character speaking, . The pre-2000s era of animation we shall never return to...sigh.

The character models took some time getting used to, but they were still better than in most modern film, at least stylistically. Reminded me a bit of older ones, like an early 80ies TV anime throwback, except more modern. Some uncanny camera zooms though.

 

[Bartimaeus]

Yes, for sure better and more tolerable than most everything I see from...well, I'm sure that I don't need to repeat myself here. It did the job well enough without looking out of place or distracting, and that was what was important.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Since I've rewatched JoJo, I've decided to rewatch some other shows as well. First is Cowboy Bebop, which really holds up well. Everything, and I do mean everything, about it works so well to deliver a show that is damn near perfect noir cyberpunk space western. Firefly is a cheap imitation, this show is the real deal.

[majestic]

7 hours ago, KP the Torque Dork said:

Since I've rewatched JoJo, I've decided to rewatch some other shows as well. First is Cowboy Bebop, which really holds up well. Everything, and I do mean everything, about it works so well to deliver a show that is damn near perfect noir cyberpunk space western. Firefly is a cheap imitation, this show is the real deal.

I agree that Cowboy Bebop is really, really good (and some moments are damn near perfect, like the shootout in the cathedral early on). Not getting the Firefly thing to be honest, but that's fine.

Ok that one's a little obscure, maybe.

Edited February 20, 2022 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

5 hours ago, majestic said:

I agree that Cowboy Bebop is really, really good (and some moments are damn near perfect, like the shootout in the cathedral early on). Not getting the Firefly thing to be honest, but that's fine.

Ok that one's a little obscure, maybe.

I don't get that reference. Admittedly, I don't watch RLM.

The Firefly thing is there to slight Firefly. Maybe half the time I see Cowboy Bebop being recommended, it is as an anime Firefly. Which really sells Cowboy Bebop short, even without considering that it arrived before Firefly, it's much different and just much better. Really the only commonality is both being space westerns, but equating both based on shared subgenre is like equating The Witcher and GoT because both are dark fantasy.

I'm just booty blasted and I will fite anyone irl over this. Time to spend 10000 years at the gym.

[Sarex]

3 minutes ago, KP the Torque Dork said:

I don't get that reference. Admittedly, I don't watch RLM.

The Firefly thing is there to slight Firefly. Maybe half the time I see Cowboy Bebop being recommended, it is as an anime Firefly. Which really sells Cowboy Bebop short, even without considering that it arrived before Firefly, it's much different and just much better. Really the only commonality is both being space westerns, but equating both based on shared subgenre is like equating The Witcher and GoT because both are dark fantasy.

I'm just booty blasted and I will fite anyone irl over this. Time to spend 10000 years at the gym.

The only time I ever hear those two mentioned in the same sentence, is when people mention how Firefly was inspired by Bebop.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

11 minutes ago, Sarex said:

The only time I ever hear those two mentioned in the same sentence, is when people mention how Firefly was inspired by Bebop.

You must have been in better places than I was.

[majestic]

23 minutes ago, KP the Torque Dork said:

I don't get that reference.

Acronym is "Sensitive Joss Whedon" - SJW. That's from a while back.

23 minutes ago, KP the Torque Dork said:

Admittedly, I don't watch RLM.

Not too late to repent and make up for mistakes, you know? Or, never too late to start. Pick one. Heh.

23 minutes ago, KP the Torque Dork said:

The Firefly thing is there to slight Firefly. Maybe half the time I see Cowboy Bebop being recommended, it is as an anime Firefly. Which really sells Cowboy Bebop short, even without considering that it arrived before Firefly, it's much different and just much better. Really the only commonality is both being space westerns, but equating both based on shared subgenre is like equating The Witcher and GoT because both are dark fantasy.

Fandumb's gonna fandumb... and I bet the Firefly fandumb is particularily dumb. Most shows with a cult following tend to have... dumb cultists as followers.

23 minutes ago, KP the Torque Dork said:

I'm just booty blasted and I will fite anyone irl over this. Time to spend 10000 years at the gym.

You're wrong about Firefly, but you're not wrong about this... Carry on, gym god.

Edited February 20, 2022 by majestic

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Not too late to repent and make up for mistakes, you know? Or, never too late to start. Pick one. Heh.

My to do list is already massive, I don't know if I can fit the hack frauds into it.

1 hour ago, majestic said:

Fandumb's gonna fandumb... and I bet the Firefly fandumb is particularily dumb. Most shows with a cult following tend to have... dumb cultists as followers.

I remember hearing a joke about someone who had somehow only seen The Boss Baby comparing every single movie they hear about to it. I guess a lot of fandumb is like that, but the Whedonites (at least online) are probably the worst I've encountered. Even worse than Harry Potter or MLP.

1 hour ago, majestic said:

You're wrong about Firefly, but you're not wrong about this... Carry on, gym god.

The forum software ate this post twice, it must hate our Aztec gym gods.

[Bartimaeus]

Gall Force 3: Stardust War. The title comes from the two sides of the war that's been dominating every second of this series having reduced each other to stardust, since neither side has any inhabited planets remaining and thus no way to replenish diminishing manpower and resources. Guess that's what happens when your weapons are infinitely stronger than any kind of defense you can put up - suppose that's pretty realistic, given that we face the same situation here on Earth. Anyways, the series ends with our group of main characters not being able to do much to stop the annihilation of either sides, and decide to create a capsule that would pass on all the scientific and historical knowledge that their race had amassed for some future race hundreds of millions of years into the future. Pretty dour ending - pretty much an allegory for what will probably happen to us given our propensity for becoming irrationally set on no-win courses that will inevitably bring our doom. However, it is my opinion that this series lacked the necessary tension and gravitas to really pull off such a heavy subject, and the series would've almost definitely been better if it had been sillier and more focused on fun character-driven adventures. It's not bad, but you need some serious creative chops to make something like this really work as well as it should, and this just wasn't quite it.

Still, I suppose it ranks as one of the better anime sci-fi things I've seen - no, it's not Crusher Joe, much less Magnetic Rose or Neon Genesis Evangelion, but it was fine-ish.

Edited February 20, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

4 hours ago, KP the Torque Dork said:

I remember hearing a joke about someone who had somehow only seen The Boss Baby comparing every single movie they hear about to it. I guess a lot of fandumb is like that, but the Whedonites (at least online) are probably the worst I've encountered. Even worse than Harry Potter or MLP.

I take it you don't like Bronies?

I never interacted with one, however, I know of only one of them, and that's Unicorn of War, and if he's any indication then thanks, but no thanks. I can imagine the fandumb for Whedon outings to be particularily bad.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Gall Force 3: Stardust War. The title comes from the two sides of the war that's been dominating every second of this series having reduced each other to stardust, since neither side has any inhabited planets remaining and thus no way to replenish diminishing manpower and resources. Guess that's what happens when your weapons are infinitely stronger than any kind of defense you can put up - suppose that's pretty realistic, given that we face the same situation here on Earth. Anyways, the series ends with our group of main characters not being able to do much to stop the annihilation of either sides, and decide to create a capsule that would pass on all the scientific and historical knowledge that their race had amassed for some future race hundreds of millions of years into the future. Pretty dour ending - pretty much an allegory for what will probably happen to us given our propensity for becoming irrationally set on no-win courses that will inevitably bring our doom. However, it is my opinion that this series lacked the necessary tension and gravitas to really pull off such a heavy subject, and the series would've almost definitely been better if it had been sillier and more focused on fun character-driven adventures. It's not bad, but you need some serious creative chops to make something like this really work as well as it should, and this just wasn't quite it.

Still, I suppose it ranks as one of the better anime sci-fi things I've seen - no, it's not Crusher Joe, much less Magnetic Rose or Neon Genesis Evangelion, but it was fine-ish.

I think I'll quietly push this down the watch priority after it wormed its way up a fair bit. Not because that sounds bad, but I've had my fill of exploring the futility of war for the time being after In This Corner Of The World.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

24 minutes ago, majestic said:

I take it you don't like Bronies?

I've meet one online who was a cool guy. For the most part though, bronies in my age group either became girls or white supremacists. A 50% chance of running into a nazi is not good odds at all.

24 minutes ago, majestic said:

I can imagine the fandumb for Whedon outings to be particularily bad.

It's been consistently bad. I think I had some guy threaten to kill me over saying Buffy was dull and repetitive. But whom amongst us haven't had someone threaten us with murder over the internet?

[Bartimaeus]

I've watched some of MLP because my niece (note: different niece from "my nieces") was super into it for a few years and I used to babysit her 2-3 hours a few times a week for a couple of years - before she was in school. It's alright as far as children's entertainment goes (certainly a lot better than a lot of other garbage I've been subjected to), but I don't think I could quite qualify as a "brony", especially seeing as I didn't turn into either a girl or a nazi. It was so much better than what came next, which was...ugh, Pokemon. I hate Pokemon. She's unfortunately still on Pokemon.

Edited February 20, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

It's kind of interesting to note that I have, to date, not played a single Pokemon game or watched an episode of the Pokemon anime(s). I'm vaguely aware of there being a Team Rock which was westernized as Team Rocket, and it's really weird because of all the rock imagery used which makes no sense with rockets. That's because someone at school told me about that, so that must have been like 22 to 25 years or so ago.

I also have no idea if Digimon is something similar, or a rip-off, or something else. I think I dodged a bullet there.

25 minutes ago, KP the Torque Dork said:

It's been consistently bad. I think I had some guy threaten to kill me over saying Buffy was dull and repetitive. But whom amongst us haven't had someone threaten us with murder over the internet?

I've been called every name in the book, but I can't recall any actual death threats, so I got lucky, huh?

Edited February 20, 2022 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

I'm gonna kill you. Yeah, bet you didn't expect your first death threat to come from me - you're welcome.

I haven't been exposed to too much of the Pokemon anime(s), because it's not something I can really stomach to watch. But the entire franchise, from the shows, cards, video games, and general merchandise, just reeks of cheap addictive garbage meant to prey on children. If any of it was at least half-decent, I'd at least be a little more tolerant of it... Well, she's 8 years old now, so I guess it's time I have her watch Neon Genesis Evangelion instead. Hopefully, that'll break her out of her Pokemon habit, .

[Sarex]

Digimon is where it's at.

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'm gonna kill you. Yeah, bet you didn't expect your first death threat to come from me - you're welcome.

お陰様で。

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

It was so much better than what came next, which was...ugh, Pokemon. I hate Pokemon. She's unfortunately still on Pokemon.

The games are ok, but the shows are really bad. Unless you realize that the whole gotta catch em all was just Professor Oak getting Ash out of the way so he could **** Ash's mom.

1 hour ago, majestic said:

I've been called every name in the book, but I can't recall any actual death threats, so I got lucky, huh?

Some say it builds character, who is to say if it's luck or missing out on a milestone?

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

I'm gonna kill you. Yeah, bet you didn't expect your first death threat to come from me - you're welcome.

I haven't been exposed to too much of the Pokemon anime(s), because it's not something I can really stomach to watch. But the entire franchise, from the shows, cards, video games, and general merchandise, just reeks of cheap addictive garbage meant to prey on children. If any of it was at least half-decent, I'd at least be a little more tolerant of it... Well, she's 8 years old now, so I guess it's time I have her watch Neon Genesis Evangelion instead. Hopefully, that'll break her out of her Pokemon habit, .

 

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

But the entire franchise, from the shows, cards, video games, and general merchandise, just reeks of cheap addictive garbage meant to prey on children.

 

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

reeks of cheap addictive garbage meant to prey on children

 

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

prey on children

1 hour ago, Sarex said:

Digimon is where it's at.

It really is, I think s3 remains something I periodically think about. Too bad the US version edited out Beelzemon pointing guns at kids.

[Bartimaeus]

7 minutes ago, KP the Torque Dork said:

The games are ok, but the shows are really bad. Unless you realize that the whole gotta catch em all was just Professor Oak getting Ash out of the way so he could **** Ash's mom.

I haven't touched the original Game Boy games, which are presumably at least decent for this garbage franchise to have lasted this long, but I've played some of Sword and Shield on the Switch with my niece, and I can't even... This is the best a trillion dollar franchise has to offer? Really?

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

3 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I haven't touched the original Game Boy games, which are presumably at least decent for this garbage franchise to have lasted this long, but I've played some of Sword and Shield on the Switch with my niece, and I can't even... This is the best a trillion dollar franchise has to offer? Really?

Yeah, they made it incredibly easy with recent releases where it feels like no effort at all.

[Gorth]

8 hours ago, KP the Torque Dork said:

The forum software ate this post twice, it must hate our Aztec gym gods.

Argh.... I'm no gym god, that's for sure, but laughing out loud at this while this much abused old body is aching all over from gym visits didn't help

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

2 hours ago, Gorth said:

Argh.... I'm no gym god, that's for sure, but laughing out loud at this while this much abused old body is aching all over from gym visits didn't help

Do it again, the gym gods are smiling on you.

AYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA