Timewaster's Guide Archive
Departments => Movies and TV => Topic started by: sortitus on March 20, 2009, 05:06:28 AM
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For those who don't know:
Shōnen anime is anime for boys under 18.
Shōjo anime is anime for girls under 18.
Either genre has a huge target range, and some titles classified as one of these are R-rated content. Shōjo not so much, but it's possible for either. I'll give equivalent ratings for Americans for each show as I go along. These ratings are my own and just an estimation of where I think the MPAA would likely rate these shows.
Over the last week (Starting and ending on Monday) I have watched well over 48 hours of anime. Apart from revealing my stupidity, I'm unsure as to what this says about me. Blood type: O+. Astrological sign: Taurus. Zodiac sign: Dragon. Height: 5'10". All of these are important things, OK? Also, this post is resembling a bad personals ad more and more. Moving on... the shows I (will admit to having) watched are BLEACH, Welcome to the NHK!, and uhh... Skip Beat!.
BLEACH (PG-13 for violence, blood, partial nudity, and some sexual themes) (Season 1 is borderline PG) was pretty awesome. For the first season. Then they took Rukia the Awesome away from me and I watched the next 2 1/2 seasons waiting for her to come back and make the show cool again. That never happened, and the show descended into a Naruto or Dragonball-like power escalation thing (There's probably a term for it, but I don't know what it is because it's dumb.) which I am told never stopped. Basically, the producers said after season 1, "Oh, we've gotten all of that useless 'character' 'development'. Now we can get to the stupid typical shōnen fare." The series is ongoing, and they haven't stopped that stupid powerup crap. Apparently.
Verdict for BLEACH: Watch the first season because it is awesome, then never ever even think about looking at the rest of the series. (Then again, if they do stop doing the idiotic flexing-mah-muscles stuff, it may be worth it to start watching again.)
Welcome to the NHK! (R for nudity, drug content, and thematic elements), also classified as shōnen (though thankfully devoid of fighting for the sake of fighting), was an incredible show. Excellent soundtrack, realistic take on life including very human characters, and a talking appliance every now and then. The female lead was the highlight of the show for me, as she's always so nice and patient with the jerk of a main character. I'll admit to crying several times during the show.
Verdict for Welcome to the NHK!: It's worth watching. You may not like it much, but it's certainly different from most shōnen. I liked it quite a bit. (The animation is bad at times, but nothing anyone who sat through The Hobbit can't handle.)
Skip Beat! (PG for because it's really tame, but there may be something I can't remember so I'm being safe and not giving it a G) is shōjo. It is hilarious, though I'm unsure of how funny it's really supposed to be. Character development is pretty good, as it's for girls (most girls care about that more than boys). The plot is different from what I'm used to, the main character is a girl, and some moments feel a little strange for me. The acting-based action is weird. It's treated the same as a fight would be in a shōnen. But all of this is beside the point. For reasons I find hard to express, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this anime. (My brother admitted to liking it as well, so it is possible that other dudes will like this. My other brother and sister are kinda meh about the series, so apparently YMMV.)
Verdict for Skip Beat!: Basically the best show ever. Seriously. (Easily my favorite anime of all time. Perhaps because I am an idiot. Discuss.)
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and the show descended into a Naruto or Dragonball-like power escalation thing (There's probably a term for it, but I don't know what it is because it's dumb.) which I am told never stopped.
In Naruto's defense, there were very few actual instances where there was long-termed "power escalation" thing. and those few times it actually lent to the story. The Lee opening of the Gates during the Chuunin Exam is one of the only few instances I can think of where it was almost as silly as DBZ.
Whereas in DBZ it took the dude 20 episodes to power up to "uber power level blast attack mode" and after all that he misses so he has to spend another 10 episodes powering up another attack. :P
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Cthulhu, I think he meant that the characters continue to get stronger and stronger and stronger.
It is hard for that not to happen in your typical shounen manga/anime. Although Hikaru No Go is an example that didn't have this issue, but you also weren't fighting bad guys either. ha ha. xD Sadly, it just happens.
I personally believe that Naruto (the manga I have no idea about the anime, I never watch it) does a VERY good job of keeping that low-key and not making it an extravagant thing that is talked about every two second and is the main focus of the plot, whereas in DBZ and Bleach they degenerated to that point.
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I really just don't like shows that exist for the fighting. Which is kinda most shōnen. At least as far as I've seen.
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Hikaru No Go was one that wasn't about fighting. I can't think of any others off the top of my head that aren't shounen ai. . . ha ha. xD
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I really just don't like shows that exist for the fighting. Which is kinda most shōnen. At least as far as I've seen.
I like manga that can successfully balance fighting with actual storyline, all the while juggling comedy with emotion. That's why I passionately defend Naruto, I believe it does an outstanding job at portraying these situations. Yes, there is fighting, but it really is a show about growing up, maturing and finding acceptance. :)
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I really just don't like shows that exist for the fighting. Which is kinda most shōnen. At least as far as I've seen.
I like manga that can successfully balance fighting with actual storyline, all the while juggling comedy with emotion. That's why I passionately defend Naruto, I believe it does an outstanding job at portraying these situations. Yes, there is fighting, but it really is a show about growing up, maturing and finding acceptance. :)
I felt the same way. I heard the Anime kinda killed that though. >>' I never watched it. Is it true?
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Bleach has gotten their act together. But you never know when the fillers will come, again!
Naruto is starting to get interesting, again.
Dattebayo.
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I really just don't like shows that exist for the fighting. Which is kinda most shōnen. At least as far as I've seen.
I like manga that can successfully balance fighting with actual storyline, all the while juggling comedy with emotion. That's why I passionately defend Naruto, I believe it does an outstanding job at portraying these situations. Yes, there is fighting, but it really is a show about growing up, maturing and finding acceptance. :)
I felt the same way. I heard the Anime kinda killed that though. >>' I never watched it. Is it true?
Well the anime has the same killer that all other really great shows unfortunately have: Filler episodes. There is just way too many filler episodes to watch them all. I've only watched the storyline episodes, but they've been fairly close to their manga origins.
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I see. One of the only ones that I saw where the manga and the anime were really close to the same was Loveless. It was very good. One of my favorites.
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With the exception of the Bount arch Bleach is awesome!!! I don't care for Naruto at all though... Code Geass is another good anime. And i personally like seinen its a much darker form targeted towards older teens and early twenties Shin Angyo Onishi pwns!!!!
Outside of Code Geass and Bleach i don't think popular anime/manga interest me i like the ones not so well known...
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Use to be a big anime fan but 99% of the stuff now days sucks (did years ago too but most of that didn't come to the US). I did like the non-filler Naruto after the story picked up after the first arc or two and whether you like it or not it's hard to disagree that the last two episodes (naruto and sasuke fight) has some of the best animation for an anime TV series (those two probably cost as much to make as 4-5 episodes do) and was a very cool fight (not much lame fight, talk, fight talk, mostly just fighting).
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Which Naru/Sasu fight are they on in the anime?
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The last two before the filler seasons start. Episode 100 and something.
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Wow, I actually had to go find a clip to realize where in the story that was. That's so far back. ha ha. It was a good fight though. "]
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That fight ended the Manga Series, there was one more chapter which didn't fully get animated everythign else that's not Shipuden (Sp?) is non-cannon filler and has horrible writing.
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Yeah, I've just been reading Shippuden for a really long time and a lot has happened. I think there will be a third section of the story. It's currently at a place where there is still just too much going on for Shippuden to end it all with the amount of chapters allotted to it.
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I will say that the latest Shippuden Manga arc is insane. I seriously think they're probably going to do another time-jump soon, especially when this arc is finished. It just seems like the perfect time.
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Let's go here (http://www.timewastersguide.com/forum/index.php?topic=6583.new#new) Cthulhu. That way we won't spoil it for these guys. ;)
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This is to you, SPOLERS
I rather you be DEAD!
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That was rather inappropriate to say even if the rest of everyone lacks curtosity by putting spoilers in a thread with no warning wishing death on someone or speaking it without meaning it is highly vulgar so in other words be more polite or stop posting...
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Kaz, his account's obviously been deleted, most likely banned as well.
Also I don't REALLY see a spoiler here . . . naru/sasu fight . . . yeah . . maybe a time-jump. All of that is pretty much understood, not a spoiler.
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I thought that was a wish of death for spoilers, not the people who were spoiling (as evidenced by the "This is to you..."). Then again, perhaps "spoilers" are people who spoil. I do not know, but I do know that Madjius had her share of crazy posts on this here forum in the short time she was with us. :P
The spoiler thread was created before any spoilers happened, which tells me that we have responsible, considerate people here. Oh, how I wish the rest of the internet was so pleasant. Thank you to The Staff and The Memebers (sic) for making such a great corner of the internet for those of us who don't enjoy... those other sites. *shifty eyes*
Anyone see any anime they would recommend lately? I'll definitely have to give Naruto another chance. It's been over 5 years since I last watched any of it. Fortunately for me, my distance from Dragonball is either coming up on or just past 10 years, though I do have to give it the nod as my first anime. Kinda. I'd watched anime on Saturday mornings, but I never knew that it was different than the other cartoons that aired. Funny how dumb that sounds, innit? :-\
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Gravitation is pretty funny if you like cutesy humor.
Shaman King (manga) was good. I hear the anime sucked though.
Death Note was petty good.
Loveless is good but has some material not suiting everyone's tastes.
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I never understood the alure of Death Note i mean you kill someone buy writing his name in a book...how is this entertainment its simply a teenager whos extremely demented and needs serious psychological help...
Worst anime ever would have to be the contiuation of DBZ i mean how hard do you need to try to kill my fond memories of a show that was good but went on and on for many years after it should have been killed off....
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Bleach the anime is pretty bad, but the manga on the other hand is really good. There are some similarities between Bleach and DBZ, but there is one defining difference: Tite Kubo is a better writer. Everything that has happened in the manga has been foreshadowed (something often forgone in manga and anime), and maintains the over arching themes. The story is character driven, yet Kubo manages to keep a tight plot while developing new characters at the same time, and pulling well thought out twists along the way. If you haven’t read the manga, you should really give it a try, the anime is a poor substitute.
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I never understood the alure of Death Note i mean you kill someone buy writing his name in a book...how is this entertainment its simply a teenager whos extremely demented and needs serious psychological help...
It's a cultural thing. The whole thing about Shinigami is. That and his struggle with doing wrong in order to do what is right. You'd have to understand Japanese people to get it.
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Miyabi, are you Japanese?
I'm going to the Cherry Blossom Festival in SanFran next week. There's going to be a Manga exhibit there.
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No, but I've studied Japanese for like six years and I spent part of a summer living in Japan with a host family. "]