HTF Anime Discussion Part VIII (1 Viewer)

[TheLongshot]

We start off with a family of cats, with the young son being the main character. He witnesses Death taking his older sister's soul. He manages to save part of it and animate his sister with it. With her, he goes on a search for the rest of her soul, which takes them to some strange places.

The animation style kinda reminds me of Bill Plympton, and probably had the influence of a lot of drugs as well. There is no dialog in the film at all. There are some word balloons, but mostly the actions speak for themselves. (Sort of)

Jason

 

[Tony-B]

I'm so checking that out! It sounds like it could be like 12 Oz Mouse, a show which I absolutely love.

 

[Max Leung]

Tony-B, I like your new .sig picture.

BTW, how many episodes of Afro-Samurai are there anyways? And how well does it end?

 

[Jay Pennington]

mmm, I dunno. Cat Soup is really wiiiiieeerrrddd. It really has an "European art house film" feel to it. Not like any other anime I've seen.

 

[Tony-B]

Max, I just got a DS like a week ago and I've been hooked on Phoenix Wright ever since.

Also, there are only 5 episodes of Afro Samurai. The series is over, and it ended pretty well. Funimation will be releasing the DVD of the series in May, and it will have extra footage that did not make it into the version that aired on Spike TV. I presume that there will be more cursing (although they did say "shit" on the show quite frequently), more violence, and probably some more sex.

 

[AlannaE]

I love my DS but dont have Phoenix Wright on it. Is it any good? Ive heard alot about it but have a bad backlog of games on it right now (playing Castlevania Portrait of Ruin and just picked up Trauma Center and Frogger Toy Trials through an Amazon promotion). My DS is pink and fluffy and so cuddly (replaced the phatty grey one).

Still watching Magic Users Club. I think there's maybe four eps left in the TV series. So far the TV series is just kinda meh okay. The OVA was very likeable despite its simplicity but there was a noticeable drop in animation budget between the OVA and the TV series. There is some funny slapstick stuff and not nearly enough of the silver haired chick. Akane I think is her name. Shes my favorite of the bunch and just kind of shows up now and then. Cute series but not worth 50...so far... anyway.

 

[Tony-B]

Alanna, get Phoenix Wright. You will not regret it.

 

[TheLongshot]

As I posted in the Movies forum, a US trailer is up for "Paprika", Satoshi Kon's new movie.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/paprika/

It looks like it will get a real theatrical release by Sony Classics. Release date is May 25th.

Jason

 

[Max Leung]

Tony, thanks for the info. More cursing, violence, and sex? Oh yeah!

 

[AlannaE]

Tony:
Picked up the first Phoenix Wright at EB today (along with Castle Shikigami - some anime shooter game for the PS2 and Shadow of the Colossus). I havent played it yet but will let you know how it goes.

Got the last volume of Kaliedo Star New Wings and ordered a few things from the ADV sale, all of Digi Charat and Princess Tutu. And Divergence Eve thinpak and that really is IT for me for awhile. My credit card screamed and set itself on fire after that.

 

[Stacey_B]

Wow...I haven't been on here in awhile!!

Let's see.....I've been watching Rumbling Hearts, which I was exstatic about when I saw it was finally out!

Beyond that I picked up disk 1 of Ergo Proxy which I thought was awsome. I haven't gotten the 2nd volume yet though....

Hrm, I'm really interested in Le Chevalier d'Eon, has anyone seen it??

Not a lot of time with the baby running around....er, I suppose I should say toddler now. BTW: Preggo again! 3 months along, LAST Baby!!!

I've got my daughter watching Angelic Layer and Kaliedo Star....I never did finish either one so it's been pretty interesting watching them 1 episode at a time. A little slower than I'm accustomed to watching things but, it works....

Anything else good lately?
Dave talked me into quitting my stupid p/t job to focus on graduate school so, I'm now home 5 days a week which is great but we have no money! I've been re-watching a lot of series but am pretty anxious for some new ones. I find it difficult though when they thinpack everything. It's hard to be patient when I really want to see a show....

Stacey

 

[TheLongshot]

I saw three episodes at Katsucon. It is promising.

Congrats on the kid. I'm still dealing with the first one without even thinking about having a second.

Jason

 

[AlannaE]

Congrats Stacey! After this next one you probably will want to wait a while before popping out another one (makes it sound easy right? heh!). I have two little ones myself. My oldest daughter who is 2 really enjoyed both seasons of Kaliedo Star, Angelic Layer, Bottle Fairy and Magical Meow Meow Taruto. Her absolute favorite though is A Snow Fairy Sugar. Try that one. Its a good series and alot of fun.

I finished up Kaliedo Star: New Wings last night AND Magic Users Club TV.

I can see why Magic Users Club OVA gets so much love. Its a simple, slow story, you are just thrust into this world with no rhyme or reason to why magic works but character development is satisfying and the ending has a touch of easy magic to it. Very nicely done, something I can see me watching again.

The TV series on the other hand has its issues. I applaud the fact that they CONTINUE the story instead of just reimagining the OVA. But the story is just messy, some episodes dont make alot of sense or are filled with alot of filler. Some of the characters personalities come out a bit rougher than I would have liked and not alot is truly resolved. The ending is nice, but not entirely satisfying. I guess Im glad I watched it though and would recommend the OVAs easily with some reservations on the TV series.
Akane is simply gorgeous, especially in the OVA. The budget drop is noticeable, no matter what anyone says.

Kaliedo Star New Wings on the other hand ended pretty much like the first season but with Sora's dream coming true somewhat. The after episode featuring Fool was very interesting, a story with alot of promise but they didnt go very far with it. This could make a great start for a jump on a third season that has potential to be better than the 2nd one. Overall, very nice. Even the ep where everyone reflects back on their dreams with minimal animation and mostly flashbacks and static images is pretty moving as long as you dont have someone in the background pointing out how cheap it all looks. Blegh

 

[Tony-B]

Haven't played Castle Shikigami, but PW is awesome and Shadow Of The Colossus is one of my top 10 games of all-time. SOTC is a work of art in every sense of the word.

I have been way too addicted to Lupin the 3rd lately. I'm gonna try and get all of the US released DVDs of the show and all the movies.

 

[TheLongshot]

Just finished off Samurai 7. Overall, a solid adaptation of Kurosawa's film. I don't think the added elements added all that much to the story, tho, and it didn't feel all that organic. But, for the purposes of introducing Seven Samurai to a younger generation, it does a good job.

Jason

 

[AlannaE]

Ive heard that SoTC is pure awesomeness, but have kept balking at it. I had to wait in line at EB and by the time I got there I was just like "yeh and give me SoTC too". So yeah... Castle Shikigami 2 was featured in Hardcore Gamer (magazine, you can download it for free online too) this month in their cheapie but goodie section. Got it for 6.99 which is truly cheap. Have not played it yet since Im going through God of War again. Still sewing up people on Trauma Center so havent touched any other DS game yet either. I have such a backlog of everything... Ill die before all this stuff is completed.

I have Saber Marionette J picked out to start on tonight. Hope it lives up to the rave reviews that I have read online. It seems that everyone LOVES it, so eh we'll see.

 

[Tony-B]

Alanna, if you like Shadow of the Colossus, then you should get Ico. It's made by the same team that did SotC, and the game is similar in style. Also, the team is also working on a game for PS3. That, combined with Ratchet and Clank future pretty much guarantees me getting a PS3.

Jason, I've seen a little bit of Samurai 7 on Independent Film Channel (IFC). Haven't seen much of it, but it seemed pretty good from what I've seen on there.

 

[AlannaE]

Hey Tony, I have Ico. Got it when it first came out. A very artistic and pretty original game. I can't wait to see what they are doing for the PS3, did not know they had something in the works. The PS3 Ratchet and Clank looks *amazing* as does the game Lair. Ratchet on the PSP is supposed to be good too. Its in my backlog.

Samurai 7 seems interesting, will look into that one too. Twelve Kingdoms is getting a cheaper release this summer, or so Ive read, which is something to looko forward to. I love the previews with the giant tigers and stuff. That looks so cool. Im just worried the story is going to be too complicated to follow (hard to follow complicated stories with two small kids around).

 

[JohnAD]

I haven't really been watching any anime lately. Having the little one around means really having to decide on one bit of entertainment (if I'm lucky) per day. I did do a couple of orders just yesterday, so that should change for a while. I got in my ADV TRSI order. The selection wasn't as good as when they did the Geneon disks, although I did manage to find 25 that I liked. I ended up ordering more live action disks than I wanted to, because there were too many series that had volumes missing from the middle. I got the following anime disks from them:

Aquarian Age vols. 1-3
Divergence Eve vols. 1-3
Elfen Lied vols. 1-3
Full Metal Panic FUMOFFU vols. 1-4
Gilgamesh vols. 1-4
Sakura Wars OVA 2 vols. 1-2

I also ordered some anime from DDD:

Ergo Proxy vols. 1-2
Inu Yasha vols. 20-21 (I'm way behind)
Tenchi Muyo! OVA 3 vol. 2

John.

 

[Tony-B]

Alanna, Electronic Gaming Monthly has some new screenshots of Ratchet and Clank on PS3...

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/7...0jg7lv1ol8.jpg
http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/3...0vg9st7yw5.jpg

I can't belive how incredible that game looks. I thought the first 4 games had top-notch graphics, but this is just a whole new level.

Alanna, have you tried out Okami? I think you would really like that game if you like Zelda, because they are very similiar in concept. Plus, the celestial brush element of Okami is one of the greatest ideas ever in a game. My only problem is that the game's intro is near 20 minutes long, and it's all reading subtitles. Not that it's a problem, but it just gets old after a while.

This week: I'm going to beat God of War again in preparation for God of War II next week.

Also: Lupin the 3rd: Volume 1 arrived today. 1 down, 24 to go. At least 10 of them are movies and are in 2 box sets. I think I'm going to trade in all my old anime dvds that I don't want any more to animenation.com and get the 2 Lupin movie sets instead. I'd get 10 dvds for 12, which isn't very bad at all, especially considering how much I love Lupin.

Hey Alanna, if you like Lupin the 3rd, look for the Lupin PS2 game. It's pretty fun, even if it is a rip off of Metal Gear Solid. It's got all of the voice actors from the dub version of the show, and it's got plenty of Lupiny action.