What's new

HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII (1 Viewer)

ChristopherDAC

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Messages
3,729
Real Name
AE5VI
Just recieved a shipment of Japanese LaserDiscs. The second Sakura Wars OVA, with AC-3 5.1 audio ; the complete Giant Robo, to complement my US discs of 1-4 ; and the Giant Robo GinRei special episodes. This will be fun.
 

Andy_Bu

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jun 2, 2002
Messages
928
Has anyone seen Infinite Ryvius and can you give me your impressions and comparisons to similar anime series?

Thanks

Andy
 

JohnAD

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 21, 2002
Messages
2,335
Andy:

Infinite Ryvius is an OK series that is basically 'Lord of the Flies' in space. It's got a fairly decent story arc, if a bit unbelieveable. Starship Operators is a similar series, but instead of middle/high schoolers, it's got cadets. The story is shorter (13 eps, vs. 26 for IR), but I found it to be more satisfying.

John.
 

ChristopherDAC

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Messages
3,729
Real Name
AE5VI
Capsule Review Sakura Wars : Gouka Kenran. (Man, is it quiet in here!)

Anyway, I assume it was intended primarily for fans of the game, but it's decent enough on its own. The art is a mixture of computer and cel animation, which produces some rather jarring effects at times, though it's often quite nice. The series is essentially a set of 5 vignettes in 6 episodes (the last one is a double), showing various amusing or touching incidents in the lives of the girls of the "Hanagumi", with the framing device of Oogami Ichirou packing to go to France and picking up things which remind him of various incidents.

As far as I can tell, the "Hanagumi" is a group of girls who employ psychic powers and mecha to fight monsters in a steampunk 1920s Japan, while maintaining the cover identity of an all-girl theatrical troupe on the model of the real-life Takarazuka Theatre. There is actually a boy in the troupe/team, Rene, although he seems (from the ads) to have been tacked on for the second game ; they have an older man for a manager, who served with (star of the show) Shinguchi Sakura's father and is also their military superior, and (the aforementioned Oogami Ichirou) a young man seems to be their unit commander in action, although we don't actually see any of their fights in the series. As usual for game tie-ins, the characters are somewhat stereotyped, but not wearisomely so.

The soundtrack was mixed for 5.1, and it is very active, with directional dialogue when the staging calls for it, and no shyness whatsoever about using the rear channels, without any particular degree of "ping-ponging". There are plenty of effects and music, and the voice acting is pretty good.

Recommended for light entertainment.
 

JohnAD

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 21, 2002
Messages
2,335
I finally broke my anime 'fast' over the Thanksgiving weekend:

Submarine 707R: This one's a little hard to review, since it's not even complete. The two OVA episodes on the disk do show a bit of character development, although you never really learn the bad guys' motivations. The picture looked fine on my 61", and I didn't see any noticeable EE. I really would like to see more of this, if it ever gets finished. Provisionally 'B' - recommended.

Gate Keepers 21: I haven't seen Gate Keepers, so I went into this series expecting that I wouldn't get everything. What I found was a fairly decent action series. Sometime in the past, alien invaders (who look like MIBs/Agents with cowboy hats) sought to take over the Earth. At the start of the series, it appears that they have nearly succeeded. Only members of the gate keepers 'clan' can stop them. Relative to the length of the series (6 eps), there is a goodly amount of character development, although the plot is fairly simple. I didn't see any significant picture issues. I'll definitely be looking out for the first series. 'B' - recommended.

John.
 

MichaelSMI

Grip
Joined
Mar 6, 2006
Messages
18
Howdy,

I havent posted in a while, nor watched much Anime (or anything else for that matter).. my old 'anime' timeslot has been shifted due to some feeding pattern changes of my 4 month old! LOL..

Ive just finished Ghost in the Shell 2nd Gig, which has left me feeling like there are some aspects unanswered (unless I missed something in an earlier ep) and perhaps that it all got wrapped up rather quickly. Anyone else feel this? :)

I also recently finished cowboy bebop remix, which I really enjoyed

Ive got a few rentals to watch over the next week to see if I like the series (im looking for something else to get into now :). I grabbed a couple of discs of Excel Saga, Trigun, Last Exile, Daphne in the brilliant blue, Argentosoma.

Cheers,
Michael
 

TheLongshot

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 12, 2000
Messages
4,118
Real Name
Jason
I got my DDD order, so I was finally able to finish off Jubei-Chan 2. Overall, a satisfying series, even if it doesn't really top the first one. Those who were unhappy about the fight scenes in the first series will be much happier with the second series. The only downside is that for most of the series, Bantaro and his gang are pretty much out of the story. But, they keep managing to show up and make jokes about how worthless they are to the plot.

Jason
 

JohnAD

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 21, 2002
Messages
2,335
Michael:

I thought the series was wrapped up quite nicely, considering that Section 9 got their man, and ended the nuke threat.

John.
 

MichaelSMI

Grip
Joined
Mar 6, 2006
Messages
18
Hi John,

The main story was wrapped up cleanly, however there were some aspects that were only briefly touched upon.. I'd have liked some more. Perhaps some of this will be answered in 'solid state society' which im very much looking forward to (once ive rewatched both SAC series's again :)..


A couple of minor things i'd like to have seen fleshed out a little more were the two bioroids? - working for ghoda that were shown predominatly laying down wired-in and brains pulsing .. Im presuming these were some of ghoda's information manipulation people.. the other was the destruction of the tachikomas physical bodies - whilst there was a hint that they uploaded themselves into the net their assumed death was fairly downplayed by section 9.. i'd have thaught these members of section 9 would have been missed a little more.. maybe thats just my interpretation :)


Cheers,
Michael
 

TheLongshot

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 12, 2000
Messages
4,118
Real Name
Jason
Just got done watching Gankutsuou Vol. 5. Whoa, the series has taken a left turn of sorts. I just got done reading the original book, and kinda got thrown with the change of direction, after being pretty close to the book in many ways. I'm going to be interested to see how this all works out now.

Jason
 

JohnAD

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 21, 2002
Messages
2,335
Michael:

If you want to add a spoiler tag, use < spoiler > and < /spoiler >, except with square brackets.

The bioroids didn't really stand out for me, but I think the tachikomas are supposed to be liked more by the viewers than by Section 9. I got the distinct impression that Section 9 thinks of them more like intelligent tools rather than machine people.

John.
 

TheLongshot

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 12, 2000
Messages
4,118
Real Name
Jason
And I finished off Gankutsuou last night. Now, there is a hell of an ending. I guess at the end of most filmed versions of the story, you gotta have a physical confrontation between Ferdinand and the Count. Very well done series, tho the epilog felt a bit truncated.

Not really sure what Albert was doing for 5 years, and why he didn't reconnect with Eugenie in that time. I understand having time for yourself, but 5 years?

Afterwards, caught up with R.O.D. TV Vol. 4. A resolution to the cliffhanger from the previous disc, a recap episode, and the return of Yokimo Readman. Also, seeing how the original OVA connects with this show. Very interesting.

Jason
 

ChristopherDAC

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Messages
3,729
Real Name
AE5VI
I should mention that Episode 4 of Giant Robo is emotionally powerful if you're at all a sucker for that kind of thing.
 

Max Leung

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2000
Messages
4,611
It looks like the first volume of Ergo Proxy will or has hit DVD here in North America.

Just a heads up if you're curious.

IMHO it has a bit of a rough start, but really hooks you in after episode 3. Unfortunately I stopped following the show after episode 13. I had an impending sense of jumping sharks at the end, but I could be wrong - I'll have to revisit the show once all the DVDs are available.

And yes, I got back from Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Tokyo is an amazing city - I never imagined a city of that size could be so clean and the people so orderly. And the food - OMG the food is awesome (and not that expensive). I've had the best ramen in my life in the Aqua City mall in Tokyo - right next to the Fuji TV network building. We picked the noodle house that won the award for best ramen noodles in Japan.

Hong Kong is - well - Hong Kong. I wish I brought a gas mask with me for those smoggy days *choke*. The Chinese food is very cheap and very very very good.

Both cities hammer home how slow we North Americans are. When 50 people waiting in line for the bank to open are serviced by human tellers in 2 minutes flat you realize what lazy asses we are. ;) :D

(And now I've confirmed that our restaurants serve terrible food.)
 

JohnAD

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 21, 2002
Messages
2,335
I'm slowly making progress through my DVD pile. I watched volume one of Sugar: A Little Snow Fairy on Saturday. Not a bad little series so far. It has no real violence to speak of, which is kind of refeshing. I'm sure my daughter will be scrambling to watch this in a few years.

John.
 

Max Leung

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2000
Messages
4,611
Anyone watch Kemono Zume? Currently only in fansub form. I've watched the first 3 episodes so far - the animation is somewhat bizarre and reminds me very much of Aeon Flux. Very unique, and in a way refreshing when compared against the more realistic anime that you see nowadays.

And what the heck is up with that monkey?

A quick look at the credits shows a big list of Korean names - perhaps they convinced the animators to go for the Aeon Flux look. :)
 

JohnAD

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 21, 2002
Messages
2,335
I watched volume two of Sugar: A Little Snow Fairy yesterday. A few new characters were introduced. I'm not sure that some of the character interaction, specifically between The Elder and Ginger, is ok for the 3&up crowd. Nothing bad has happened, I'm just not sure that they would understand. still, fun, and cute.

John.
 

TheLongshot

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 12, 2000
Messages
4,118
Real Name
Jason
Forgot to mention that I finished off R.O.D, The TV last week. Pretty solid series overall and wraps up quite nicely. Quite enjoyed it.

Now, I'm going back to live action for a little while to catch up on some movies.

Jason
 

Max Leung

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2000
Messages
4,611
Wow, it's pretty dead in here. But at least some of us are hardcore enough to keep it alive! :)

I used my magic connections and got my dirty dirty hands on a fansubbed version of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society.

Great movie: It follows the same formula as the TV series, so no need to slog through existential monologues that are a trademark of the theatrical movies.

It is essentially an extra-long episode, but with slightly better animation. Plenty of eye-candy, although I was surprised when some of the music from the show was recycled.

I am still very impressed with how the show deals with societal issues in a high-tech society, and this movie is no exception. The writers don't need to go over-the-top with the plot (like in the 24 television series...) - they'll pick a difficult social issue and explore it within the framework they envisioned, and spin an entertaining and intelligent story out of it.

Highly recommended. I for one will be there day-and-date when it hits DVD here in North America.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,815
Messages
5,123,837
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top