Anime and Manga - I respect the first human to have eaten a mushroom

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, Gorth said:

I "cheated" a bit and checked out some of the background lore and character bios from the manga fandom wikis

You naughty Gorthfucius !

[Bartimaeus]

ight imma head out

Edited May 27, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Vampire in the Garden

I suppose technically it's a series, but at 5 episodes clocking in at 20 minutes each it feels more like a film that got cut up.

It's set in a post-apocalyptic world where vampires and humans are at war. The humans live under a military dictatorship that is NO FUN ALLOWED while the vampires either do hedonistic balls and such that is evocative of fantasy nobility or live in squalor. No in-between is apparent. The main characters are two princesses (or similar) who hate their existence and dream of a utopia where humans and vampires can live together in peace. So of course they go on a road trip and are hunted by a katana wielding uncle and his special ops team and a retainer who carries around a dog.

Overall I liked it for what it was.

[Bartimaeus]

22 minutes ago, KP wants Blue Velvet said:

Vampire in the Garden

I suppose technically it's a series, but at 5 episodes clocking in at 20 minutes each it feels more like a film that got cut up.

It's set in a post-apocalyptic world where vampires and humans are at war. The humans live under a military dictatorship that is NO FUN ALLOWED while the vampires either do hedonistic balls and such that is evocative of fantasy nobility or live in squalor. No in-between is apparent. The main characters are two princesses (or similar) who hate their existence and dream of a utopia where humans and vampires can live together in peace. So of course they go on a road trip and are hunted by a katana wielding uncle and his special ops team and a retainer who carries around a dog.

Overall I liked it for what it was.

The few screenshots I saw of this...surprisingly really make me want to watch this, but it's a 2022 show and I feel like I'm being fooled by someone that just happened to make really appealing-looking screenshots.

. . .

I just watched what has got to be the strangest single-episode magical girl OVAs I've ever seen or heard of: Harbor Light Story - Pile of Shame

Tonally and stylistically speaking, it feels more or less like almost any other magical girl show from this era...until you start thinking about what's happening.

Quote

One day while in town, Miho is saved from an oncoming truck by a bad boy on a motorcycle. It turns out said bad boy, Kit, is a singer (I think -- this is never really made clear), and he's feuding with his dad -- the mayor -- about pushing back his release date. And he's also mad at his sister too, for some reason I can't really make out. But anyway, Kit is really really mad, and his only recourse, clearly, is to have his motorcycle gang infiltrate the dance contest and BLOW UP THE FREAKING BUILDING IT'S IN.

This part of the story isn't quite complete - the terrorist boy (who lives in a literal giant pirate ship, by the way) that is blowing buildings and people up, who is arguably the secondary protagonist of the story, is feuding with his father because it is strongly implied that the father is raping the terrorist boy's sister...aka, that guy's daughter, and the father is only hosting the dance contest to identify more girls to take advantage of. The main character's family seems to hate her (to the point of openly mocking and destroying her creations purely out of spite...and also doing the whole Cinderella "let's leave her locked in her room while we go have fun at the party!"), the terrorist boy implies that he's going to kill her unless she (a literal elementary-age girl) leaves town, people get shot and blown up...but don't worry, everything is fixed because some magical fairy dinosaurs make her older and able to dance real well within the last couple of minutes. Then she wakes up and the entire show was apparently all a dream: the end. Um...so all that messed up crap was just manifestations of her subconscious? What in the hell is going on in her real life that that happened? We don't know, because the show ends literally about 15 seconds after she finally wakes up.

Edited May 27, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Sarex]

24 minutes ago, KP wants Blue Velvet said:

Vampire in the Garden

I saw a trailer for that and it kind of tickled my interest I have to say.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

44 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

The few screenshots I saw of this...surprisingly really make me want to watch this, but it's a 2022 show and I feel like I'm being fooled by someone that just happened to make really appealing-looking screenshots.

33 minutes ago, Sarex said:

I saw a trailer for that and it kind of tickled my interest I have to say.

It's good. Not great like Evangelion or JoJo, but a good watch nonetheless.

[Bartimaeus]

Girls' Last Tour, episode 2:

I'm watching this part where blond girl is shooting the hot pipe, and the show is playing like...this slow "hopeful" string music as her bullets bounce off the pipe and ricochet. This scene genuinely feels better when I mute it - why telegraph what's going to happen in the scene so hard with this kind of music? Totally unnecessary, especially because you could've had a little tension what with these bullets richocheting around (not that the characters seem to care...or even notice - literally no reaction at all, much less even an attempt at a suggestion that this might not be the wisest method to do this; don't show the bullets ricochet if you don't want me to notice the complete lack of reaction to said ricochets, ) as they desperately try to get some heat and water. It's not the first offense where the music has made scenes feel weirdly artificial so far, but it has been the worst one so far. Music being used to telegraph how an entire scene will go is one of my pet peeves of modern film-making though, because of how extreme a lot of shows and movies will go with it - makes me thankful for when there's silence instead, particularly if the alternative is strings or pianos. Ironically, I like both pianos and strings as instruments...just not how they're overwhelmingly used in media like this.

Lmao, I'm not kidding, I just unpaused the show after I wrote all that and after the pipe did indeed burst, and then the show immediately hits me with the stupid "muted joy" piano music. I just...it makes me want to grind my teeth how horribly predictable it is. Find some other stinking instruments besides pianos and strings to use, you hack freaking frauds - I'm sick of these tired attempts at emotional manipulation through this lousy style of music! Let me decide how I want to feel about what's happening in a scene without you trying to press your thumb on my ears.

...I'm gonna set this episode down for the moment, since the show hasn't been bad enough to warrant me being mad at it for its incredibly stale use of music.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

5 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Girls' Last Tour, episode 2:

I'm watching this part where blond girl is shooting the hot pipe, and the show is playing like...this slow "hopeful" string music as her bullets bounce off the pipe and ricochet. This scene genuinely feels better when I mute it - why telegraph what's going to happen in the scene so hard with this kind of music? Totally unnecessary, especially because you could've had a little tension what with these bullets richocheting around (not that the characters seem to care...or even notice - literally no reaction at all, much less even an attempt at a suggestion that this might not be the wisest method to do this; don't show the bullets ricochet if you don't want me to notice the complete lack of reaction to said ricochets, ) as they desperately try to get some heat and water. It's not the first offense where the music has made scenes feel weirdly artificial so far, but it has been the worst one so far. Music being used to telegraph how an entire scene will go is one of my pet peeves of modern film-making though, because of how extreme a lot of shows and movies will go with it - makes me thankful for when there's silence instead, particularly if the alternative is strings or pianos. Ironically, I like both pianos and strings as instruments...just not how they're overwhelmingly used in media like this.

Lmao, I'm not kidding, I just unpaused the show after I wrote all that and after the pipe did indeed burst, and then the show immediately hits me with the stupid "muted joy" piano music. I just...it makes me want to grind my teeth how horribly predictable it is. Find some other stinking instruments besides pianos and strings to use, you hack freaking frauds - I'm sick of these tired attempts at emotional manipulation through this lousy style of music! Let me decide how I want to feel about what's happening in a scene without you trying to press your thumb on my ears.

...I'm gonna set this episode down for the moment, since the show hasn't been bad enough to warrant me being mad at it for its incredibly stale use of music.

 

 

[Bartimaeus]

lmao wth was that

[majestic]

13 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

lmao wth was that

Blocked for copyright reasons. Oh, wait, that is probably just me.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

20 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

lmao wth was that

Laura Dern running in slow motion in the film Inland Empire (2006) also known as the time David Lynch decided to make a feature length home movie with a digital camera he bought.

[InsaneCommander]

Spy x Family 8

 

 

A hilarious episode. Yuri, Yor’s brother, comes to visit the family and everyone has to pretend to be someone else. Luckily he came late at night and Anya was not there to read his thoughts. And of course Yuri is an interrogator torturer for the eastern country’s secret police. It is not mentioned in the anime, but I read on a website that it is called the State Security Service, or “SSS”. Sure, nothing bad there. 

 

Yuri is also a spy. Who would have imagined? Oh, and he is looking for Twilight, who he considers to be his natural enemy. Although he is only 20 years old, he seems to be really good at his job. I’m sure everything will be fine once he discovers the truth.

 

One moment they show us Yuri doing his work and the next Anya watching a torture in the spy tv show. Not serious torture, but still Loid is just there near her not caring at all. So much for him deciding to be a better father in the previous episode.

 

Yuri visits the Forgers and he and Loid immediately become suspicious of each other. Yuri is obviously jealous and displeased and he doesn’t even try to hide it. And there is the problem that Yor has been officially married for a year and never told her brother. Her excuse? “I forgot. And then I forgot that I forgot.”

 

Yuri ends up getting drunk and telling a story that Twilight saw in a manual for the secret police. So now Loid is aware Yuri is not just a public servant. But Yuri gets suspicious too and demands that they kiss to prove that they are indeed married. And then the episode ends.

 

Yor: “I could never tell him that I got married so that I could continue killing in peace!”

 

Yuri: “What did my sister see in this guy? Just because he can cook, he is handsome, tall, considerate and a doctor…”

 

This one almost killed me:

Yuri: “She would always work herself to death for me.” She literally used to arrive home covered in somebody else’s blood:

 

 

Teacher: “How much is 5/6 – 2/3? Anya?”

Anya: “3/3!”

Edited May 28, 2022 by InsaneCommander

[Gorth]

Slime story continued, episode 20...

For those who don't get the irony of Milim's 'Showing newfound restraint' comment in the last video clip, the last time she got really angry she completely wiped out a nation (Milim the Destroyer indeed)...

 

It starts out in a hot spring (very Japanese I suppose), everybody relaxing after the latest scare and disaster averted. Milim brings up the subject of Rimuru becoming a demon lord again (she wouldn't object!). Rimuru is confused however, why would he want to be that and what's the merit in it? Milim being a bit baffled by the question, why did she become one? Milim is/was a dragonoid like Veldora, who currently resides in one of Rimuru's pocket dimensions inside him since episode 1 (where he agreed to take up residence for now, to escape the trap that had been laid for him).

She can't remember why she did so, but poses it as a question... did something bad happen to me and I became one out of frustration? Leaving Rimuru confused, as to why she's asking him why she became one...

But... she suddenly thought up one benefit. Thanks to being a demon lord, she gained herself a bestie! Anyway, she takes off because she has to "go back to work", which means hang out with other demon lords and do demon lord stuff. Which concludes the mini-arc that was Milim's introduction. Rimuru is now getting back to a promise he made to Shizu. Leaving people in charge of his city, he makes his way to the Kingdom of Ingrassia, together with Ranga (his dire wolf). Through contacts, he had already sent a letter of introduction to the founder of the school "The Freedom Academy", which was originally one of Shizu's students, 'Yuuki' and a Japanese family name (which I cant spell correctly from top of my head, too many syllables), which Rimuru takes as he's probably originally from Japan, just like Shizu was (full name Shizue Izawa). As for why these kids needs some attention... they are all summoned from other worlds and discarded as "failures", because their summoner didn't get what he wanted out of them. That leaves them with accumulating magical powers, which will soon kill the kids by spontaneous self combustion and/or explosion. Not a bright future ahead for these kids and they know they're not going to grow old. Shizu survived because her summoner forced her to merge with a superior fire spirit, which absorbed some of the magical energy until she got strong enough to control both the spirit and the magic.

Rimuru make his way past the city guard and for the first time in a long time is in a city with the hustle and bustle of a human city (having previously been to the Dwarven capital and other cities with a lot of mixed species in the streets). He's convinced the city must be very wealthy as they have glass windows! Rimuru meets Yuuki and after a bit of misunderstandings (because he was using Shizu's mask to hide his magical aura at the city gates and Yuuki thinks he has killed Shizu to take her mask), he gets on Yuuki's good side by using his knowledge of manga's to instantly print a library of manga's that Yuuki hadn't read before he got summoned to this world 

He gets the job. Even a regular salary

On their way to class, Yuuki drops the name 'Hinata', being one of Shizu's former students, but Rimuru knows very little about her other than Shizu mentioning she had a student by that name who left her.

Well, the class is something out of a horror movie. A bunch of kids rampaging through the class room, not giving a damn about anything, because hey, we're going to die tomorrow anyway, right?

 

More to follow later...

 

 

[Sarex]

 

[Bartimaeus]

was that a joke comedy trailer, or was that for real

(e): I just watched it again, and it's even funnier the second time, but I feel like it's unintentional

Edited May 29, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Gorth]

I don't know what it is about CGI, but it usually just feels very "lifeless". The kind of stuff you would use to prototype a live action movie sequence with, to show your actors how you imagine an action sequence should happen before doing it for real

[Bartimaeus]

6 minutes ago, Gorth said:

I don't know what it is about CGI, but it usually just feels very "lifeless". The kind of stuff you would use to prototype a live action movie sequence with, to show your actors how you imagine an action sequence should happen before doing it for real

you're calling this masterpiece of animation and music lifeless? smh my head

At least it's not as bad as RWBY, which I think is literally, for real, actually the worst anime-related thing I've ever seen in my life. That trailer wasn't hilarious because of the animation, but it did help contribute to the whole thing feeling like it was supposed be funny and not serious.

Edited May 29, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Gorth]

Just now, Bartimaeus said:

you're calling this masterpiece of animation and music lifeless? smh my head

There are always exceptions. One of my all time favourite movies was Finding Nemo. Pixar managed to make a desk lamp more expressive than anything in all Lucas' post 1980 movies combined. But for every exception, there is a horde of generic, soulless CGI movies...

[Sarex]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

was that a joke comedy trailer, or was that for real

(e): I just watched it again, and it's even funnier the second time, but I feel like it's unintentional

No words, just tears.

[majestic]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

was that a joke comedy trailer, or was that for real

(e): I just watched it again, and it's even funnier the second time, but I feel like it's unintentional

This trailer feels an awful lot like this:

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

2 hours ago, Sarex said:

 

 

8 minutes ago, majestic said:

This trailer feels an awful lot like this:

 

 

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

was that a joke comedy trailer, or was that for real

(e): I just watched it again, and it's even funnier the second time, but I feel like it's unintentional

It's part of a very long joke being played on the world.

[Bartimaeus]

@majestic lmao that was actually pretty close to the same kind of feeling

@Sarex I'm just glad I'm not the only one being a complete bastard about it...this time.

[majestic]

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

@majestic lmao that was actually pretty close to the same kind of feeling

@Sarex I'm just glad I'm not the only one being a complete bastard about it...this time.

Reboot: The Guardian Code was one of the funniest series I've ever watched, but none of the comedy was intentional. The Sourcerer is villain of the century material though, and it has Nicholas Lea in the second season.

[Bartimaeus]

Robot Carnival (1987).

This is the description:

Quote

8 of Japan's leading animators were asked to create a short segment that followed the theme of Robots, for their inclusion in this film. Essentially, this movie is 9 short films, all independent of one another. The common element is human interaction with robots, namely the consequences of creating life with one's own hands, played in nine very different ways.

Nine different shorts ranging from 5 minutes to 20 minutes long created by (apparently) acclaimed animators about the interfacing of humans and robots/androids in a variety of ways. I slightly question the "8 of Japan's leading animators" bit of that description, because so much of the animation was kind of awkward and jittery in a way that it really shouldn't have been for a late 80s production, but I guess if I think about it, it might've just been the result of the film trying to do more fluid motion than most other affairs of that time and it looking pretty weird because of it.

As for the shorts themselves, while I don't usually have issues with like 30-40 minute-long shorts because they have enough run time to breathe a little, I do usually dislike 15 minute and less shorts because...well, they're usually dead-set on getting exactly one idea across at the cost of everything else. Luckily, that wasn't much of an issue here because about half of the directors decided to make very serious action shorts that I nearly fell asleep through while watching, and one of the others was instead a silly action short (...which was at least better, I guess). Really, only exactly one was very interesting - the one where a guy made an android woman that he intended to be motherly owing to his own lack of a mom growing up, but who inexplicably came out...somewhat adolescent and promiscuous instead, causing him to want nothing to do with her. And even that one, it wasn't particularly interesting or good, more just "huh, that was kind of odd and different". All in all, Memories this is very much not, but I suppose it wasn't terrible either.

Edited May 30, 2022 by Bartimaeus

[Gorth]

That time I got reincarnated as a slime episode 21...

The slime overlord turned school teacher manages to earn the respect of the kids... backed in part by a giant intimidating and growling giant dire wolf (leaving no doubt that the kids are close to becoming dog food) and a "test", where the kids all get 10 minutes of one on one fighting and a chance to see if they can take him down.

Of course it was never really a contest and he also observes that none of their excess magical energy got "burnt off" in the skirmishes. One kid, Chloe caught his attention for reasons he can't pinpoint. He shows them Shizu's mask (which they all recognize) and tell them she entrusted them to him and he will do anything he can to save them. The kids start acting just a little nicer....

Following up on his hunch, that Shizu survived until adulthood because of her merging with a superior spirit, he asks the Dryad for advice, where to find superior spirits. She points him towards something called The Dwelling of Spirits, ruled over by The Queen of Spirits. Yeah... getting all spiritual now (including a nightly conversation, well monologue, with Shizu's spirit where he repeats his commitment to save the kids)

Unfortunately, the Queen of Spirits that the Dryad served, passed away a long time ago and she has no connection to the current ruler. Which means, she can't give him any directions towards an entrance to the place

Rimuru spends the next month trying to figure out how to access the place. More teaching, class excursions, lessons and bonding exercises follow. A chance encounter with a human gives him a clue to the places whereabouts, as she claims it was close to the village where she grew up.

Off Rimuru, Ranga and the class goes in search of superior spirits...