Anime and Manga - ゴゴゴゴ

[uuuhhii]

7 hours ago, Sarex said:

Digimon is where it's at.

was going to recommend it

season 3 are really good

[Amentep]

Space Cobra Episode XIII: "Shi no Rūretto" aka "The Roulette of Death"

6 months later, and Dominique has left to return to the Galactic Patrol.  Lady brings a listless Cobra news a hijacking of gold, and he realizes that it has to have been hijacked by the head of Space Las Vegas, Hammerbolt Joe.

Spoiler

Cobra encounters a ditzy waitress, Lady gets captured because Hammerbolt Joe can shoot his hands out from his arms.  Joe thinks he's got the best of Cobra using an energy weapon dispersing glass, but Cobra breaks it.  The fight continues into the place where Joe is hiding the stolen gold.  There Joe's arm seem to get the best of Cobra until he gets the waitress to turn off the gravity, rendering Joe's arms inoperable.  Cobra then blows Joe out a window into space, which repairs itself before anyone else is killed.  The waitress reveals she's with the Galactic Patrol, so Cobra ends up with no booty for his trouble.

It was an okay adventure, sort of a back-to-basics story after the grand adventure. But...

Spoiler

They never explain why turning off the gravity effects Joe's rocket arms.  So Cobra wins, but its unclear why he won, unlike the strategies used to defeat other foes.

 

[Bartimaeus]

It occurred to me that I had no idea who the hell "Lady" was.

Um...that's a look. Anyways...

Hey @majestic, did you know they just made a live action Komi Can't Communicate?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15100806/

Looks like a lot of fun for you, .

[majestic]

18 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Hey @majestic, did you know they just made a live action Komi Can't Communicate?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15100806/

Looks like a lot of fun for you, .

I'm actually of a mixed opinion here to be honest. Komi Can't Communicate's faults are deeply entwined with it being an anime. Almost all of the things the anime does that I absolutely hate simply has to work differently in a live action TV show because it's a very different medium. The constant yelling of the characters, the over the top crazy animated stuff. Then there's some stuff that can't work, like Najimi, unless they managed to find an actor that can pass as both high school boy and a high school girl.

The one thing that's not going to be in the live action series is the best part of the anime, and that's Komi's face when she's scared. That's a major downside.

Fun fun I just looked at a character presentation because there's apparently no trailer for this on youtube, or at least not a trailer I can find. Najimi is a walking flaming homo stereotype. Good choice there, show. Very good choice. The actors are all terrible, and one of them is sitting around with face paint. So, scratch the above paragraph, this is a terrible idea all around. I shouldn't be surprised, because live action adaptations tend to suck (unless they suck in the good way, like Masters of the Universe).

Yeah. Uhm. Time coded to Najimi.

My brain's melting. Thank you Japan for this experience, and @Bartimaeus for finding it.

Edited February 22, 2022 by majestic

[Bartimaeus]

Lmao, this looks worse than even I expected. I guess it might work as a sort of absurdist parody comedy, though. As for how I found it, on the site I use, there's a banner that has six different images for recently added items. Text appears only when you mouse over it:

I accidentally did that for approximately a quarter of a second on my way to somewhere else and somehow managed to read the "Komi" part of it in that time to go "wait, what did I just read?". Lo and behold...

[Amentep]

57 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

It occurred to me that I had no idea who the hell "Lady" was.

Um...that's a look. Anyways...

She's an Armaroid - essentially a nigh-indestructable robot.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

58 minutes ago, majestic said:

 

Fun fun I just looked at a character presentation because there's apparently no trailer for this on youtube, or at least not a trailer I can find. Najimi is a walking flaming homo stereotype. Good choice there, show. Very good choice. The actors are all terrible, and one of them is sitting around with face paint. So, scratch the above paragraph, this is a terrible idea all around. I shouldn't be surprised, because live action adaptations tend to suck (unless they suck in the good way, like Masters of the Universe).

Yeah. Uhm. Time coded to Najimi.

My brain's melting. Thank you Japan for this experience, and @Bartimaeus for finding it.

Me: how bad can it be?

Me 5 seconds later:

[uuuhhii]

most manga and light novel adaptation for live action are pure dumpster fire

creator for these adaptation learn shockingly little over so many years

[Bartimaeus]

  Rhea Gall Force. Forum just ate my post, but I saved it - very cool.

Opening title crawl:

"The third world war fought between East and West has reduced the cities of Earth to mountains of rubble."

Oh, how topical. The hell are we doing on Earth anyways? The last three movies were about an "alien" species that maybe were or maybe weren't at some point in the distant past related to humans before humanity's apparent extinction... Oh. Right, well, I suppose that makes sense. Oddly, a few of the girls up there have a strange resemblance to some of the characters from the other films... The film opens up with some sort of operation set in a burnt out post-apocalyptic city where the humans are apparently being hunted by armed flying Skynet automatons...some leftover remnant from the World War still acting autonomously. However, it turns out that the humans are doing some hunting of their own - it's a classic "hit them while they're distracted" trap set by some well-armed survivors, lead by our protagonist named Sandy (redhead in the center in the image). They head on back to their base to celebrate a successful mission...and find everyone's been slaughtered while they were out. Whoops. Seems as though it's time to get off this rock...and that's the mission of the film - evacuate off of Earth without our two different factions (the remnants of "East" and "West" - presumably kept vague so as to not unnecessarily date the movie) killing each other or getting killed by Skynet in the process.

The idea of this film is less interesting than the rest of the Gall Force series, but ironically, it's probably executed the best out of everything besides maybe the first film by just staying simple and dead-focused on the issue at hand, which is something the other films struggled with.

Spoiler

Plus, it even had a cheesily happy ending where everyone set aside their differences thanks to the main character proving her beliefs as well as grit, and it all worked out...well, um, kind of.

A solid enough if perhaps unspectacular little post-apocalyptic sci-fi - hey, as long as something like this isn't doing grossly stupid/boring/pathetic things that completely self-sabotage itself, I'm honestly not that picky. Unfortunately, it is really difficult to find stuff that doesn't do exactly that, .

Edited February 24, 2022 by Bartimaeus
goodness gracious, there were a lot of glaring wrong word uses in this post

[Bartimaeus]

Cardcaptor Sakura, Clear Card, episode 1:

What a sad intro song - no energy at all. But that comes with the time, I suppose.

Alright, so I'm not gonna lie...I just about ALT+F4-ed because of this:

Wimpy art with terrible lines and colors aside, they held on this for a couple of seconds and...I legitimately thought her dad was staring at her chest and the idea of that broke my brain so badly that it was going to be the first and final straw for this show. But no, apparently, he's just shocked at seeing her wear the middle school uniform - time sure passes by quickly don't it, daddy-o? Nevertheless, this should tell you how low my expectations for this are that I legitimately thought that was what was happening here...

Where are Sakura's rollerblades and why is she running around like a knock-kneed teen girl to school? She used to know how to run properly just fine...

"Rika went to a different school..." That's one way of explaining away the voice actress passing away from cancer in real life, I suppose. You know, now that I think about it, I don't think we really needed to see the mushy teen romance stuff...the original show ended on the exact perfect time so we never had to! And why is Mizuki...still hanging around Eriol? Another reason it was good that the original show ended exactly when it did, because I didn't want to see...whatever that was explored whatsoever.

This show looks uncomfortably like Love Live!, methinks. Well, it wasn't a total disaster, but it wasn't very good, either. Eriol said she'd have a dream, and she immediately had a dream that's making her go through the whole Cardcaptoring thing again...but with a different set of cards? It also coincides with the exact day Xiaolang returned to Japan...and also, they cut away to the slightly creepy-looking teddy bear that Xiaolang gave back to her that she apparently made that's sitting right in her room a few times. Is this some sort of ridiculous plot by Eriol and Xiaolang to make her stronger?

Also, I almost kind of wish they went with the slightly insane art style of the outro for the entire show. It's a bit too intense, but much funner-looking without being too different from the normal art style. The normal art style is so...just not enticing to look at in pretty much any way.

Edited February 27, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

8 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Wimpy art with terrible lines and colors aside, they held on this for a couple of seconds and...I legitimately thought her dad was staring at her chest and the idea of that broke my brain so badly that it was going to be the first and final straw for this show. But no, apparently, he's just shocked at seeing her wear the middle school uniform - time sure passes by quickly don't it, daddy-o? Nevertheless, this should tell you how low my expectations for this are that I legitimately thought that was what was happening here...

Where are Sakura's rollerblades and why is she running around like a knock-kneed teen girl to school? She used to know how to run properly just fine...

  Yeah, overall Clear Card is such a low effort job it hurts.

8 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

"Rika went to a different school..." That's one way of explaining away the voice actress passing away from cancer in real life, I suppose. You know, now that I think about it, I don't think we really needed to see the mushy teen romance stuff...the original show ended on the exact perfect time so we never had to! And why is Mizuki...still hanging around Eriol? Another reason it was good that the original show ended exactly when it did, because I didn't want to see...whatever that was explored whatsoever.

Eriol and Kaho, sitting on a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g... it's not weird, really, because Eriol is a whole lot older than the 13 he looks. Really. Pinky swear! Rika has one very teensy tiny cameo with a different voice actress once in the show. If there's one thing about the manga and the anime that's really weird is the writer's obsession with teacher/student romance. I think Ms. Ohkawa might have had a few crushes on her 先生 in her early teens.

8 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

This show looks uncomfortably like Love Live!, methinks. Well, it wasn't a total disaster, but it wasn't very good, either. Eriol said she'd have a dream, and she immediately had a dream that's making her go through the whole Cardcaptoring thing again...but with a different set of cards? It also coincides with the exact day Xiaolang returned to Japan...and also, they cut away to the slightly creepy-looking teddy bear that Xiaolang gave back to her that she apparently made that's sitting right in her room a few times. Is this some sort of ridiculous plot by Eriol and Xiaolang to make her stronger?

Well... spoilers for a part of the "plot" of this travesty:

Spoiler

No, it's not, luckily. However, it's not much better.

Spoiler

Sakura's magical power is growing faster than she can control, hence all the outbursts and her producing "Clear" cards.

Spoiler

Eriol and Shaoran know of this, of course, but elect to not tell her for some reason that surely makes sense to them, not to the viewer.

Spoiler

Shaoran has Sakura's Sakura cards.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

I guess you didn't watch the episode "0" prequel-OVA bridge between the old and the new series? Loved all the inconsistencies and continuity errors, but they're semi-handwaved in a conversation (or "intentional" if you will). Also a big plus is the tech up. This is a year later than the original, but 20 years ahead in technology. No, that isn't weird at all. It also wasn't totally weird in Sailor Moon Crystal. Nope. Not weird at all...

Hooooooooooooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[Bartimaeus]

6 hours ago, majestic said:

Eriol and Kaho, sitting on a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g... it's not weird, really, because Eriol is a whole lot older than the 13 he looks.

See, this is stuff I didn't really want to think about, because once you do, you start thinking other stuff like...well, wait, Eriol said he's the reincarnated version of Clow...which means Clow really did pass away. And if Clow really did pass away, why does his reincarnated version have all of his past memories and magical abilities...and so specifically Eriol really is like 13 years old, but doesn't act like it? Why? None of it really makes sense. In the original show, it doesn't feel that important, especially because the show more or less ends right as you discover some of this information, but that's not the case here. And when you're not enjoying something, your mind has a tendency to start over-analyzing the details because it doesn't have much else to focus on, so that's a bit of a double whammy...

6 hours ago, majestic said:

Shaoran

Okay, so it is essentially some sort of ridiculous plot to make her stronger by Eriol and Xiaolang (except that I guess she was "getting stronger" already without their help...the ridiculous plot by them remains, and also, didn't she literally say she hadn't had to use he powers in a long while in that episode - how do they know she's getting stronger, and why would she be getting stronger if she isn't ever even using her powers?), and I more or less guessed it in literally the first episode. They maybe shouldn't have telegraphed that quite so heavily.

6 hours ago, majestic said:

I guess you didn't watch the episode "0" prequel-OVA bridge between the old and the new series? Loved all the inconsistencies and continuity errors, but they're semi-handwaved in a conversation (or "intentional" if you will). Also a big plus is the tech up. This is a year later than the original, but 20 years ahead in technology. No, that isn't weird at all. It also wasn't totally weird in Sailor Moon Crystal. Nope. Not weird at all...

Don't think so, not unless it was at the beginning of the first episode. Kero had some sort of short re-cap at the beginning of episode 1, but he only got like halfway through it before saying "screw it" and just started the episode, . To be honest, this...doesn't really feel like it's worth watching - I think I'd rather watch Princess Tutu instead, .

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

See, this is stuff I didn't really want to think about, because once you do, you start thinking other stuff like...well, wait, Eriol said he's the reincarnated version of Clow...which means Clow really did pass away. And if Clow really did pass away, why does his reincarnated version have all of his past memories and magical abilities...and so specifically Eriol really is like 13 years old, but doesn't act like it? Why? None of it really makes sense. In the original show, it doesn't feel that important, especially because the show more or less ends right as you discover some of this information, but that's not the case here. And when you're not enjoying something, your mind has a tendency to start over-analyzing the details because it doesn't have much else to focus on, so that's a bit of a double whammy...

Oh, it is, and then you add the other plot that's the main story to Clear Card that's not been revealed yet, and it becomes a dumpster fire.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Okay, so it is essentially some sort of ridiculous plot to make her stronger by Eriol and Xiaolang (except that I guess she was "getting stronger" already without their help...the ridiculous plot by them remains, and also, didn't she literally say she hadn't had to use he powers in a long while in that episode - how do they know she's getting stronger, and why would she be getting stronger if she isn't ever even using her powers?), and I more or less guessed it in literally the first episode. They maybe shouldn't have telegraphed that quite so heavily.

That's what's going on with Sakura, there's another plot going on involving the new Mystery Transfer Student (very creative choice there), but I think that starts in a couple of episodes, outside of strange dreams.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Don't think so, not unless it was at the beginning of the first episode.

No, there's a full episode that acts as a bridge between the final epsiode and Clear Card with some flashbacks and helpful information for people who start with Clear Card:

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Prologue: Sakura and the Two Bears

Quote

After Eriol announces that he is returning to England, Syaoran confesses his feelings to Sakura, but she refrains from answering. Sakura and Syaoran then pay one final visit to Eriol and his friends before their departure, and Syaoran tells her that he is also returning to Hong Kong. Sakura then rushes to make a teddy bear for him, and with Toya's help, reaches Syaoran in time to give it to him, revealing that she also loves him in the occasion. As the bus begins to leave, Syaoran promises to return to Tomoeda when he is finished with his business in Hong Kong, and Sakura promises to wait for him. Two years later, on Sakura's first day as a junior high school student, she reunites with Syaoran.

If that sounds like a garbled bullcrap version of the actual final episodes of the anime, then that's because it is.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Kero had some sort of short re-cap at the beginning of episode 1, but he only got like halfway through it before saying "screw it" and just started the episode, . To be honest, this...doesn't really feel like it's worth watching - I think I'd rather watch Princess Tutu instead, .

I'd say stick to it, it gets better, but really, it just doesn't. In fact, the first few episodes are actually the best, not counting the ones where they brought Meiling back. If you don't mind missing parts of the ludicrous plot, you could just jump ahead to the episode where Meiling and Tomoyo watch her "Sakura video tape best of" at Tomoyo's home cinema, episode 15, Sakura's Nostalgic Viewing Party.

Meiling is in he series from episodes 13 to 16, but 14 is a real barn burner where people randomly turn into animals, so I can't even recommend the full run. The only other halfway worthwhile episode is Sakura, Rainbows, and Grandpa (20). Or you could try episode nine, the moment when watchers realize this is creatively bankrupt. Sakura returns to the aquarium where she captured Watery, and imagine that, a tank breaks...

 

[Amentep]

Space Cobra Episode XIV - "Dai Ma Ō Garutan" aka "The Great Magician, Galtan"

aka

Spoiler

The episode with the magic girl

Cobra is bored in space, and wishes he had a tower of treasure and a bevy of babes.  And then, just like magic...

"Whoa, the sun's gotten really close!"

Spoiler

He gets one girl, flying through his window in a ball of light.

Inroducing Bellamy!

Seems she learned some magic from the Great Magician, Galtan and used it to escape.  Because Galtan is a letch who has been using his magic to accumulate wealth and a harem of women.

Naturally, Cobra is a tad bit envious.  Galtan shows up and peeps like a perv.

"I see you!"

Cobra defies Galtan, so Galtan naturally kidnaps him as he finds him amusing.  Bellamy frees Cobra and they try to escape of a magic carpet, but end up in Galtan's throne room.  Much of which I can't show screenshots from because of Galtan's harem of of topless ladies.

Seems that Galtan wants to break Cobra and has lady and his ship in his trophy room where magic there is slowly turning them to stone.  Galtan forces a magic balloon fruit into Cobra that will cause him to expand if Galtan wishes (and he demonstrates how deadly it can be on one of his harem).

Cobra remains defiant in a sequence that is probably not his finest hour.  Luckily Lady wasn't around to see it, or else she'd mock him mercilessly for it.

Seems Galtan unwisely told Bellamy how to use the Balloon fruits, and she is able to get it out of Cobra and into Galtan for a bit of turnabout.  Galtan stops his ballooning but not before Cobra and Bellamy escape.

Cobra and Bellamy get to the treasure room where Bellamy reveals that somewhere in the treasure room is a skull that will unveil Galtan's secret vulnerability.  They also find statues of women Galtan turned to stone and the Turtle and Lady also stone.  Galtan catches up to them and they fight, with the Psychogun being worthless against Galtan until Cobra notices that the dancing figures on the giant clock briefly for a skull shape.  Shooting at it reveals a bottle - yes Galtan is a genie from a lamp.  With the lamp open, Galtan is sucked into it.  He promises Cobra wealth and power if he lets him out, but Cobra corks him.  With the magic spells broken, all the people turned to stone return to normal.  Cobra departs, regretting as a pirate he must leave behind the ladies on Galtan's planet while also tossing Galtan's bottle into space.

A bit of a nutty episode, very much a fantasy story with very little of the science fantasy of other episode.  

Edit: Also noticing a trend in this episode - 

Spoiler

Whenever Cobra finds a treasure, his first instinct is to put on the most ridiculous looking crown or hat, as well as other jewelry. 

 

[Sarex]

Wut.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

57 minutes ago, Sarex said:

Wut.

 

There are a lot of Evangelion OP edits like that, A Cruel Arthur's Thesis is one I liked.

 

I guess it's because a lot of that shows were really weird. King of the Hill was definitely something else.

[Bartimaeus]

11 hours ago, Amentep said:

Galtan forces a magic balloon fruit into Cobra that will cause him to expand if Galtan wishes (and he demonstrates how deadly it can be on one of his harem).

...Are you saying this villain caused a slave girl to violently explode in a bloody cloud of gore merely as a demonstration? 

Also, that ending kind of came out of nowhere, or so it seems to me.

11 hours ago, Amentep said:

Whenever Cobra finds a treasure, his first instinct is to put on the most ridiculous looking crown or hat, as well as other jewelry. 

Although I haven't actually heard him talk or anything, it sure seems like he's basically an overgrown kid at times, .

NGE: I'd seen the King of the Hill one before and thought it was great, but the Arthur one is pretty good too.

 

[majestic]

This is thread is sure going places.

13 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

...Are you saying this villain caused a slave girl to violently explode in a bloody cloud of gore merely as a demonstration? 

If it's an actual harem*, it might have been one of his daughters, sisters, wives, or any other woman of the household, rather than a slave. Wait, that doesn't make this any better, does it?

 

*I think historical accuracy isn't part of Space Cobra, so that's unlikely, huh?

[Amentep]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

...Are you saying this villain caused a slave girl to violently explode in a bloody cloud of gore merely as a demonstration? 

Also, that ending kind of came out of nowhere, or so it seems to me.

Well, she explodes, but it's an un-gory explosion.

I may have glossed over a bit of story as they search the treasure room, but it has an abrupt end.

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Although I haven't actually heard him talk or anything, it sure seems like he's basically an overgrown kid at times,

 

Yeah, that's probably fair.

1 hour ago, majestic said:

This is thread is sure going places.

If it's an actual harem*, it might have been one of his daughters, sisters, wives, or any other woman of the household, rather than a slave. Wait, that doesn't make this any better, does it?

 

*I think historical accuracy isn't part of Space Cobra, so that's unlikely, huh?

I think in the context of the story, they're all women he's stolen.

[Bartimaeus]

Gauche the Cellist (1982). Man can't play a danged cello, and it's dragging the whole band down. I expected this to be really drab and boring based off the premise (this is really not something I'd ever think I'd enjoy), but this opening scene sold me: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/284rqhnriqbw98z/mpc-hc64_Y0VxznSPgD.mp4

Doesn't this face just say it all?

Odd but quite enjoyable little film. Helps if you like classical music...and can appreciate the animation.

(e): Director: Isao Takahata. Well, I guess that explains that - that guy has done a remarkably awful job of making movies that I dislike. He should really get with the program of making junk that I hate like everything else!

Edited March 1, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

24 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

(e): Director: Isao Takahata. Well, I guess that explains that - that guy has done a remarkably awful job of making movies that I dislike. He should really get with the program of making junk that I hate like everything else!

While it's not a film, I've been on and off debating with myself about rewatching Anne of Green Gables. I'm not sure if that's such a good idea in light how how not so well rewatches of Attack No. 1 and Robin Hood went so far (they're fine, but I loved those when I was younger). Plus it's not like I have much time for anything and way too much to watch anyway.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

While it's not a film, I've been on and off debating with myself about rewatching Anne of Green Gables. I'm not sure if that's such a good idea in light how how not so well rewatches of Attack No. 1 and Robin Hood went so far (they're fine, but I loved those when I was younger). Plus it's not like I have much time for anything and way too much to watch anyway.

I've watched a few episodes of Takahata's Anne of Green Gables - it was basically the same as Heidi for me. Nice and enjoyable enough to casually watch, but not particularly the most interesting, which kind of just makes me want to watch something else...particularly knowing that it's like 40 episodes or something long. That kind of content works better at movie-length for me.

[Lexx]

I actually started rewatching it again a few days ago. Didn't really work that well anymore than it did on the first watch, because there's some very.. uh, overdramatic scenes and word-throwing-around that kinda loses its appeal once you went through it once. At least for me.

I still like it, but had a harder time to sit through a full episode.

/edit: Oh wait, it's about the anime, not the Netflix show. Confused the threads and never seen the cartoon version. : >

Edited March 1, 2022 by Lexx

[Bartimaeus]

13 minutes ago, Lexx said:

I actually started rewatching it again a few days ago. Didn't really work that well anymore than it did on the first watch, because there's some very.. uh, overdramatic scenes and word-throwing-around that kinda loses its appeal once you went through it once. At least for me.

I still like it, but had a harder time to sit through a full episode.

/edit: Oh wait, it's about the anime, not the Netflix show. Confused the threads and never seen the cartoon version. : >

Is that Anne with an E you're talking about? Feel like I heard that the first season was pretty good, but subsequent ones were kind of...not so good. Although now that I'm thinking about it, I feel like I heard that from the Obsidian forums...and possibly literally you?

[Lexx]

Yeah, first season was good, then the problems they dealt with became "too big" and it just felt awkward. First season still dealt with smaller day-to-day issues and was much better because of that.

Don't remember what I wrote about it in the past, but could be that it was one of my rants. : >

Edited March 1, 2022 by Lexx