Anime

[greg]

Oh...I understood this perfectly. From what I gathered, though, he didn't at the time have a crush on his cousin, and he could have told Nyu his cousin was a girl and assured her it was platonic. Honesty, I say! It minimalizes blood shed!

Probably would've been a better move.

[henry]

I'm watching this anime called Soten Koro.  It is very remotely based on the Romance of Three Kingdoms of China, which probably is the only reason I'm watching it.  The animation is gory.  People die horrible deaths.  Characters are crazy and do stupid things.  I'm on Episode 3 right now.  So far the main character appears to be Cao Cao (So So), I'm sure there will be more as the story goes.  In Episode 2 Cao Cao has a girlfriend who I think is from the Mediterraneans (perhaps the Roman Empire, the Western counterpart to the Chinese Han Dynasty at the time).  She teaches Cao Cao some Italian word like "amore" and talks about Alexander and Cleopatra etc.  Later she is forced to become a comcubine to a high official serving in the imperial palace.  When Cao Cao finds out, he goes to see the guy and asks for the girl to be returned.  Naturally, the guy refuses, so Cao Cao goes on a killing spree but he ultimately fails to rescue the girl.  She is killed by imperial guards amid all this mess.  Cao Cao is seized and put in jail.  The whole thing is very anti-history, almost equivalent to bullsh!t.  But then this is typical of many Japanese anime out there.  The only historical anime I've truly enjoyed is the Juni Kokuki (Record of 12 Kingdoms), but unfortunately it wasn't complete.

[greg]

I would be surprised to see a historically accurate anime...

[henry]

In fact, many years ago (more than 15) the Japanese made a three-part animation film on the Romance of Three Kingdoms, each an hour and a half long.  It followed historical events fairly accurately.  The style and everything was quite admirable.

[greg]

mmm kay...
You can see I'm done with Death Note by tonight or tomorrow morning...
I like it so much that I just have to establish this- my top 5 favorite anime.

1- Elfen Lied
2- Welcome to the NHK
3- Death Note
4- The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
5- Hunter X Hunter

I have to make a list of these things and tell everyone about it... just like the grand "composers" list...

[greg]

I finished watching Death Note today.
Most intense ending of any show I've ever seen. Even slightly more so than Welcome to the NHK, which is saying A LOT.
While watching this show, you end up having to pick a side. Despite all that happened, I'm surprised which side I picked. I wish enough people watched this show, so we could get into a serious discussion about it. Now I wonder what kind of person I am? 

[greg]

So, I've tried a few new anime- watched a couple episodes each but could not really get into them.
Claymore is pretty decent- so is Clannad.
Just now, I finished watching the first episode of Gantz. I've found it- the series I know I want to watch until the end- the one I have a strong possibility of developing an obsession with.  0:)

[Joe_Campbell]

I wish you the best of luck with Gantz. I made my way (barely) through that series a while back, and while the premise is really interesting, everything takes FOREVER to unfold! I swear there could have been half as many episodes, and things would have made just as much (read: not much at all) sense!

Either way, lots of fanservice...if you're into it. 

[greg]

I wish you the best of luck with Gantz. I made my way (barely) through that series a while back, and while the premise is really interesting, everything takes FOREVER to unfold! I swear there could have been half as many episodes, and things would have made just as much (read: not much at all) sense!

Either way, lots of fanservice...if you're into it. 

It's 26 episodes, so that's not too bad to me (especially if you've ever tried to follow Naruto).
I have noticed the fanservice...
i'm not complaining... just means i can't watch the show in the living room.

I have to say... there is a VERY obvious influence on this show: Yuyu Hakusho. The art style is the same, the show ends starts with the main character dying at the beginning, and there tends to be alien-like creatures and supernatural stuff- but more oriented towards adults given the constant language, nudity and gore.

Seems like it'll be fun! 

[Joe_Campbell]

Just you wait until you're pulling your hair out in frustration...I warned you!

[greg]

I just finished watching Gantz today.

Ummm..... what can I say? Other than the ending, which is awful and should never done for a series which isn't continued, there's no words for this series. It had the same impact on me as Elfen Lied, Death Note, and Welcome to the NHK.

Well, ok... first, the bad things about the show. Like I said, the ending. Wtf?
Also, characters are so hesitant to shoot, that, because of that, tons of people end up dying. They just stand there, pointing a gun at the enemy for several minutes and talk while the enemy stands there and shoots them or someone else.
And... I hear the manga is much longer and actually explains stuff. In this case, it seems to be in the exact same situation as Elfen Lied. Both have very unsatisfying endings only because they are for some reason unable to make keep on making episodes and have to come to an ending very abruptly. I've actually read the manga Elfen Lied after watching this, so I understand what this is about. It might have to do with the fact that anime with constant adult content like this one tend to be short because they might not have enough money to do a show that's a million seasons long and 200 episodes...

So... what do I like about this anime? Everything else, I guess. Maybe what I like most about it is the similarity to Elfen Lied- I'd call it expressionistic. If you could describe it in music, the best example I could think of would be the part in Mahler's 10th Symphony where he pulls out that huge screaming dischord, and then follows it with a quiet, tender string passage. In other words- a more concrete explanation is how there are constant intense scenes of people who are valued dying and being ripped apart, and constant screaming. The show "takes you places," or, should I say, gets to you at a level that hardly anything can.

Ok, favorite parts... (next post)

[greg]

Death scenes are the best, especially when they involve characters you like and very much sympathize with.

Favorite scenes-
When Katou dies.
The guy is the most likeable character in the show, other than hesitating to defend himself and others. He and his little brother have to stay with his aunt? legal guardian? (forgot), who is a horrible lady that abuses them- whenever his little brother asks if he could have breakfast, she beats him because he isn't allowed to ask. That keeps on going on and one day he just loses it and shoves her into a cabinet, and they have to go away. They finally get to live by themselves in a new apartment, and that night, as they are sleeping in sleeping bags, he is transported back to the game of Gantz.
There, while he's being killed by an Buddha statue which is supposed to be an alien, they show his little brother waking up in the middle of the night in their apartment, and noticing Katou is gone. He runs out into rain, desperately trying to find him. Katou is thinking about him "i've gotta get back" and "it must be awful being all alone" and then he dies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/1nc4kyGTaSY&feature=related

When Kei Kishimoto dies.
It's dumb that she didn't push Katou out of the way, but, ignoring that...
she jumps into Katou's arms to block the Buddha statue's acid that it shoots out from hitting Katou. Then, she finally confesses to him, "I like you" as the acid tears her in half from the waist down. You see them kiss with her only having half of a body.

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/WoRo0zgovcg&feature=related



The special thing I see in this part of the show is the context- going back to the Gantz game, they keep on fighting and the more they do, the more hopeless everything seems- and the part of the show seems trancelike, with the rain and all. Then they start dying and realize there is no hope, no matter how much they struggle, and have to accept it.

Just like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/V52C_OBBQrE&feature=related

[greg]

This morning, I watched the first episodes of:
Neon Genesis Evangelion
and
Now and Then, Here and There

Didn't care for the first, but the second seems intriguing. It's only 13 episodes, so I'll definitely watch the whole series.

[DavidW]

Neon Genesis Evangelion was boring to me, don't get what the hype is about.  The only recent anime for me is a few months back I watched Hellsing Ultimate, I liked the first so was expected to not like ultimate... but totally hooked, it's fantastic!  Only wish they would release faster.

[Joe_Campbell]

This morning, I watched the first episodes of:
Neon Genesis Evangelion
and
Now and Then, Here and There

Didn't care for the first, but the second seems intriguing. It's only 13 episodes, so I'll definitely watch the whole series.

Now and then, here and there is really good, and very mature. It's unfortunate the animation style isn't as realistic as some of the thematic elements, but it IS 1__________0 years in the future, so who knows what people will look like?

[greg]

Neon Genesis Evangelion was boring to me, don't get what the hype is about.  The only recent anime for me is a few months back I watched Hellsing Ultimate, I liked the first so was expected to not like ultimate... but totally hooked, it's fantastic!  Only wish they would release faster.

I've heard good things about that series...

[greg]

I just finished watching Now and Then, Here and There...

a relentlessly depressing series that turns out sorta good at the end.
The plot is actually pretty simple. This cheerful, optimistic boy gets teleported to a place called Hellywood, way in the future.
Hellywood is a place where children who were taken from villages are forced to serve in the army until the war is over (with the obviously false promise that they can go free later), all because of the mad King Hamdo's plan to conquer the world.

What's weird is when these children are forced to go into villages and shoot up other children. And also the scene where one of the girls who was imprisoned in Hellywood, raped, and later escaped tried to drown herself since she realized how she had no future (especially discovering that she was pregnant). So then she takes a stone and tries to beat on her stomach so she can kill her kid, but the boy kept on putting his hand in the way and wouldn't let her. He always kept on saying that everything will get better and there will be great things in the future.

In the end, he does somehow manage to completely destroy Hellywood...


anyways, I plan on watching the first episodes of a few more anime...
X
Ef
Scrapped Princess
Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Serial Experiments Lain

(and i have watched the first episode of Kino's Journey, which I plan to continue eventually)

[Joe_Campbell]

I think after Now and Then, Here and There, Scrapped Princess would be a nice "lighter" fantasy series for you! Lain is a trip!

[greg]

Just finished Lain. 

This is a series that does require reviewing, since it's very abstract and philosophical, and hard to wrap your mind around with just one viewing.

It grew on me the more I watched, and the last episode is possibly my favorite, since it explains a lot. What's "difficult" about this show is that half the time, it's unclear whether what is on-screen is a hallucination, reality, or what's in the Wired. Assuming not all of it is abstract, you have to really pay attention what's going on if you want to make sense of stuff (though it's just as fine if you leave it as something abstract).

So, next, I'll take a preview of Noir and Higurashi, then continue either one of those or Scrapped Princess or Baccano!...

[greg]

I have watched the first 8 or so episodes of Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni (lit. 'when the crickets cry'). I don't care much for how the girls are drawn, but the contrast between the simple, pleasant storyline and what ends up happening is interesting...

This one is another really gory show. The last 30 seconds of this clip is insane. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/rnMDWHvD2gU&feature=related

Though I might be taking a break from it to watch Elfen Lied again. While Higurashi is enjoyable, it still doesn't compare to the masterpiece of a show that Elfen Lied is- it's like one of those few things that is as close to perfection as things can get. But also, the most violent, traumatic and depressing 4 1/2 hours of anything I've watched... (maybe that's why I like it?)