HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII (1 Viewer)

[AlannaE]

I watched vol 2 of Strawberry Marshmellow...and am still enjoying it. Miu is starting to grate on my nerves as well but she does remind me of some the kids I knew in grade school that just did really stupid, outlandish things and were really in-your-face. The other characters are great, and there have been some truly humorous moments throughout. i recommend it so far...

Also watched the first three eps of Chrono Crusade. I have no idea whats going on thus far but it seemed interesting. was too distracted really ... should rewatch these again so i have more of a clue whats going on.

 

[Max Leung]

wow it certainly has been dead here - too much summer activities I bet. (And how's the baby?)

Anyways, I am all caught up with Gankutsuou now - really good show. Predictable, but that's because we know the original storyline. It does suffer a bit from the constant in-your-face foreshadowing - long lingering closeups of the good/bad guys.

This thread reminds me that I should start watching Banner of the Stars II.

 

[James_Kiang]

I've only watched the first two episodes on disc 1 of Basilisk but my initial impressions are very positive. The artwork/animation looks extremely good to me. As an example, there are a couple of old, wrinkled characters. On another recent show like Samurai 7, these types of characters would look very, well, cartoonish for lack of a better word. Here, the characters, while still old and wrinkled, come off more appealing and realistic, if that makes any sense.

For those who aren't familiar with the story, let me attempt to give a brief summary. It appears that two sons are in contention to inherit leadership from their father. Rather than pit them against each other specifically, two ninja clans are chosen to represent the sons. There are a couple of complications. One, the two clans hate each other and have a pact that prevents them from conflicts. Two, there appears to be the prospect for a lasting peace as there is a love (pending marriage?) between two ninjas from opposite sides. Because of the plan for determining the future ruler, the pact is broken and I would guess this does not bode well for the lovers.

Chris Beveridge at animeondvd.com was disappointed by the ninjas being superhuman/supernatural. In one sense, I get what he is saying. I think the story could have worked just as well with normal, highly-skilled ninjas. Still, given that the characters have been created with these powers, I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I can't speak for the quality in the long run, but for now it gets my recommendation.

 

[Kong Chang]

I've no interest in Basilisk since the interest in Basilisk was subdued from the early acquisition announcement and hence the lack of fansubs to draw interest into the anime.

I don't buy what I haven't seen/watched.

 

[James_Kiang]

Kong -
I hope someone you know picks it up so you can take a look at it. I'm not guaranteeing you're going to like it, but I definitely think it is worth checking out.

There is a preview for Trinity Blood on the Basilisk disc. Have to say, it didn't do that much for me and since I want to curb some expenses anyway, I'll probably be taking a pass on this series. I almost passed on Basilisk, but the box is quite nice and it was reasonable priced. Being a 6 disc series doesn't hurt either.

 

[JohnAD]

I have to say that I also wasn't terribly interested in Basilisk. FUNimation(?) had a trailer on one of its more recent disks, and I was definitely put off by the 'supernatural' ninjas myself.

John.

 

[Max Leung]

Any comments on Blood+? If I remember right, it is based off of the Blood: The Last Vampire. The OVA wasn't terribly interesting, but I did like the mood and the character designs.

It's been a slow month for anime for me - I've been busy building my new HTPC and there are still a few quirks to work out.

When I feel particularly brave, I may try some of the advanced real-time deinterlacing methods on this new powerful PC to try to deal with most of the deinterlacing problems that plague anime on DVD. Grrrr.

 

[TheLongshot]

I saw the first disc at Otakon, and I liked it.

I actually think the "supernatural" aspect helps the show, because characters go down left and right in the first disc, and it helps with developing their personalitites quickly, so you can give a damn a bit about their characters.

A couple concerns: The high attricition rate for characters in this series is going to make it tough to attach yourself to any character. I think after the first disc, 5 of the 20 ninjas involved are dead.

The other is the relatively weak female who is head of one of the clans. I'm not sure how that is going to work out.

Hopefully, it gets away from some of the killing and the plot moves a different direction.

 

[JohnAD]

There was more than enough supernatural ninja action in Ninja Scroll to satisfy my taste. What I'd like to see is a series that takes a more realistic view of ninjas.

John.

 

[Andy_Bu]

Question for the audiance.

What are your impressions of IRRESPONSIBLE CAPTAIN TYLOR?

The limited ultra box sets are so well priced and so jam packed with extras (CD, books, etc) that I am close to buying it. Does anyone know if the books in the ultra box set are in english?

http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/d...views/4175.php


Andy

 

[TheLongshot]

I like Tylor very much. It is a very silly series. You are never quite sure if Tylor is just an idiot or a genius in how he's able to get things done. Maybe he's just lucky, or maybe his unique outlook on life allows him to see things that others cannot.

I'm pretty sure the novella in this set is translated. I wonder if RightStuf is going to offer it seperately, since I already own all of Tylor and I'm not interested in rebuying it.

Jason

 

[Andy_Bu]

Thank you for your comment.

I need a point of reference for the sillynes factor. Is it at the sillynes level of Kenshin Season One or some parts of Outlaw Star, or does it get significantly sillier than that?

Andy

 

[TheLongshot]

I think Kenshin is a very appropriate comparison. The show definitely has its serious moments, but they are lightened up by Tylor's unorthodox methods. The cast is pretty colorful, since they are all rejects of the fleet.

Tylor himself is an extremely laid back character, so you won't get stuff like, say, GTO.

Jason

 

[Kong Chang]

Ugh, time to repurchase Tylor again. I bought the original when they were under Media Blasters (??)... I forgot. Anyways, TRSI looks to have made a better version.

 

[Kris Z.]

I think Tylor was always TRSI and if I'm not mistaken, the discs in the collections are the exact same as the previous ones.

 

[Andrew Beacom]

Has anyone watched any Desert Punk?

I noticed there seems to be a lot of Patlabor stuff out there. Where is the best starting point?

 

[Kris Z.]

There are basically two different timelines; the original (OAV1 and the movies) and the TV (TV and OAV2) timelines. I'd suggest you get the original OAV set in order to get to know the characters, settings and all that stuff and then continue with the excellent movies that were released remastered this year by Honneamise. Do not watch the movies without having seen the OAV first, as you will not get as much out of them if you do (they are called 'The Movie' for a reason.) People often say the films are incredibly dull, but I have suspicions that most of the ones who do never actually saw anything of what came before them.

If you want more of the characters after that then you can start on the TV series, but it's not as good as the OAV (and of course the movies) in my opinion. It looks a bit different and the animation is, unfortunately, very low-budget most of the time.

 

[Eric F]

I will say, after watching the first Patlabor OAV and moving on to the 1st movie (the recently rereleasted anamorphic version), I was totally blown away by the animation. But in Patlabor animation is secondary to a good story. Wait until the %off 20 DDD sale and buy the whole set, 1 and 2 OAV set, and the whole TV Series for ~$75. Well worth it.

 

[TheLongshot]

Only an episode, so I don't know enough about it to really give an opinion. Basically, looks like it is about scavengers in a post-apocalyptic world.

Jason

 

[JohnAD]

I finished off Tenjho Tenge last night. Volume eight didn't really wrap up very much, except for the back story, and I'm wondering if the manga hadn't finished up by the time they were writing the show. It was an ok, mostly mindless combat series, but not a whole lot better than some others. 'B-'.

John.