Author Topic: Anime Review!  (Read 5612 times)

sortitus

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Anime Review!
« on: March 20, 2009, 05:06:28 AM »
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.)
« Last Edit: March 22, 2009, 10:03:57 AM by sortitus »
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CthulhuKefka

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Re: Anime Review!
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2009, 06:09:02 AM »
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

Miyabi

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Re: Anime Review!
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2009, 02:45:52 AM »
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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sortitus

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Re: Anime Review!
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2009, 05:58:42 AM »
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.
Hero of Ages: Impressive Regality Over Niceness, Y'all
좋아! This time with more ecstatic! 좋네!!! I'll say it again in french! Trois fois voiture!!! Ça va. C'est vrai. C'est bien.
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Miyabi

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Re: Anime Review!
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2009, 08:50:14 AM »
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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CthulhuKefka

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Re: Anime Review!
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2009, 04:39:15 PM »
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.  :)

Miyabi

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Re: Anime Review!
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2009, 06:53:46 PM »
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?
オレは長超猿庁じゃ〜。

Madjius

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Re: Anime Review!
« Reply #7 on: March 26, 2009, 03:59:29 AM »
Bleach has gotten their act together. But you never know when the fillers will come, again!

Naruto is starting to get interesting, again.
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CthulhuKefka

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Re: Anime Review!
« Reply #8 on: March 26, 2009, 03:00:53 PM »
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.

Miyabi

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Re: Anime Review!
« Reply #9 on: March 26, 2009, 06:19:57 PM »
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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Patriotic Kaz

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Re: Anime Review!
« Reply #10 on: March 26, 2009, 09:07:05 PM »
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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Re: Anime Review!
« Reply #11 on: March 26, 2009, 11:11:17 PM »
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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Miyabi

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Re: Anime Review!
« Reply #12 on: March 26, 2009, 11:14:57 PM »
Which Naru/Sasu fight are they on in the anime?
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Re: Anime Review!
« Reply #13 on: March 26, 2009, 11:22:40 PM »
The last two before the filler seasons start.  Episode 100 and something.
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Miyabi

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Re: Anime Review!
« Reply #14 on: March 26, 2009, 11:27:54 PM »
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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