Forum - View topicBest First Episode Tournament: Nominations
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18191 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Aria and R.O.D. the TV are not acceptable nominations because they are not done in the correct format. Any votes for them will not be counted until they are done in the correct formats. Some other entries are borderline (especially the Bleach one), and please don't stick links in the middle of the text; they won't copy when I transfer things over into the html files.
Seriously, guys. Look at the format I used in the OP; that's exactly how these entries should look. It's not like I didn't warn you that I was going to get extremely picky. |
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dirkusbirkus
 Posts: 699 Location: Manchester, UK |
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That's my bad, apologies. Offending link removed. |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I have a list of shows to nominated, starting at the top and we'll see if I get to the others or if someone beats me too it. No seconding yet, because the only first episodes listed here so far are ones that really didn't do anything for me.
Nominating Magi Puella Madoka Magica, "I First Met Her in a Dream, or Something..." Type of Series: Magical Girl Synopsis: After having a strange dream, Madoka Kaname is surprised to find the girl from her dream, Homura Akemi, enroll into her school the next day. Seemingly knowing her already, Homura warns Madoka to stay the way she is, lest she risk losing everything. Later that day, when Madoka goes shopping with her friend, Sayaka Miki, Madoka hears a strange voice, leading her to a backroom area. There, she encounters a strange creature named Kyubey being attacked by Homura, who is revealed to be a magical girl. As Homura demands Madoka stay away from Kyubey, Sayaka arrives and escapes with Madoka, only for them to be caught in a mystical barrier and approached by strange monsters. They are rescued by another magical girl named Mami Tomoe, who dispels the attackers using her magic abilities. After Homura is forced to retreat, Kyubey explains that he wishes to form a contract with Madoka and Sayaka to make them magical girls. What Makes It Great: It's the few minutes of this episode which really make this episode. The sequence at the beginning just showcases everything that made this series unique and great. You have the amazing music by Kalafina as well as the trippy visuals that the witch world in this series is known for, mixed with the cuteness of the character design. It immediately establishes that this isn't going to be your typical magical girl show. After this sequence, the episode does admittedly dial things back a bit but it was probably necessary to do so and it does do a good job of introducing the main characters and start to establish an emotional connection between them and the audience. As an added plus, it is filled with moments that don't make sense on initial watching (in a good way) but make it very entertaining to re-watch, which is something that shows how much care was put into the writing and planning of the episode. Image: http://i44.tinypic.com/51zrb.jpg (yes, if someone cares, the synopsis is shamelessly lifted from Wikipedia but I read through it and it all looked good, plus it's been long enough since I watched the first episode that I didn't want to miss anything). |
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Nominating:
Elfen Lied, "A Chance Encounter ~ Begegnung (lit. Meeting)" Type of Series: Action, Drama, Psychological, Horror, Romance Synopsis: The Diclonius, a mutated homosapien that is said to be selected by God and will eventually become the destruction of mankind, possess two horns on their heads and have a "sixth sense" which gives them telekinetic abilities. Due to this dangerous power, they have been captured and isolated in laboratories by the government. Lucy, a young and psychotic Diclonius, manages to break free of her confines and brutally murders most of the guards in the laboratory where she is being held, only to be shot in the head as she makes her escape. She survives, falling off a cliff into the ocean and manages to drift along to a beach where two teenagers, Kouta and Yuka, discover her. Having lost her memories, she was named after the only thing that she can now say, "Nyuu," and the two allow her to stay at Kouta's home. However, it appears that the psychotic side of Lucy is not dead just yet... (MAL summary) What Makes It Great: Some fans calls it a masterpiece while others call it a perverted series focusing on attracting viewers with its gore, nudity, and fan service. Yet, I enjoyed watching this series and have re-watched it nearly 7 times. The first 10 mins of this series covers footage of perhaps the bloodiest graphics in the history of animation. If you can watch through it, you can watch through the rest of the series. The story goes on from there and despite being relatively short for a series (for 13 episodes + OVA), it is one of my favorites. The storyline is touching and beautiful that explores the human identity, jealously, prejudice, and tragedy. Despite sometimes being labeled as a harem, I find the series to expand far beyond the typical 3-5 girls, 1 guy type of situation. The soundtrack is also incredible and Lilium is one of my favorites (both Saint and Music Box) version. For a 2005 anime, it has jaw dropping animation that is detailed and stunning. The voice acting is also superior as I even watched it in dubbed, something that I rarely do as I tend to enjoy original subtitles. The only part of the series that I may have been disappointed is the ending (the manga continues from where it leaves off) as it seemed too ambiguous. Still, I consider this series a masterpiece hence this nomination. Image: 
URL: http://www.youtube.com/show?p=Jm-aVTP2Wug&tracker=show_av Last edited by Stark700 on Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:35 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Splitter
 Posts: 1276 Location: Knockin' on Heaven's Door |
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Nomination
Haibane Renmei: "Cocoon / Dream of Falling From the Sky / Old Home" Type of Series: Supernatural slice-of-life drama Synopsis: After a dream of falling from the sky, a young girl wakes to find herself in a cocoon. Breaking the shell, she is born nito a strange world where she has no recollection of who she is, where she is surrounded by other girls like herself with halos and charcoal-grey wings. The girls explain that she is a Haibane, and her name will be Rakka, named for the word "falling", what happened in her dream. Soon after, she gets her own halo and wings, and begins her new life in what has become her new home, Old Home. What Makes it Great: Few series use atmosphere as well as Haibane Renmei and it shows right off the bat. From the first moments of the series, viewers are already plunged into a gentle sense of mystery regarding what is happening to Rakka. Why is she dreaming of falling? Is she really dreaming? Why is there a crow trying to stop her from falling? The mysteries continue to pile lightly on top of one another, not only as a means of intriguing the viewer but building the mysterious world that Rakka and the other Haibane occupy, and this only serves to pull us in deeper, wanting to know more. The series also has a very light touch to it for the most part, usually with gentle humor and some genuinely warm characters. This is juxtaposed fiercely with how Rakka gets her wings, which is downright visceral and horrific compared to what comes beforehand, and it serves as a further warning (perhaps enticement) that the series will not be sweetness and light and will surely delve into the darker elements of the world with no mercy to the chaacters that will have to bear the load. Image: Haibane Renmei |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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I am planning to nominate the following:
Death Note Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion Initial D Bakemonogatari Tiger & Bunny World God Only Knows Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai. Hikaru no Go s-CRY-ed Rainbow - Nisha Rokubō no Shichinin Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 Trigun Macross Frontier NANA Samurai Champloo Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Episode Zero) And of course, Ga-Rei Zero (And possibly others if I have any time left after plodding through all of those.) If anyone wants to do the writeups for any of these then go ahead and I'll second them. It would help me out a lot if you did, so don't feel shy. Otherwise, I'll do the writeups on Saturday NZ time. Also, if anyone can point me to official streaming options for the above series so that when I do the writeups I can add in the links, that would be fantastic. Last edited by dtm42 on Tue Feb 28, 2012 2:08 am; edited 1 time in total |
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dirkusbirkus
Posts: 699 Location: Manchester, UK |
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I was gonna nominate Ga-Rei Zero but wasn't sure how to do so without spoiling the... surprise. I'll definitely vote for it though.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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The fact that you just mentioned that there is a surprise actually spoils the surprise, at least partially. But it's not your fault, since there's no way to talk about the episode without at least alluding to the reason why the episode is so famous. |
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Generic #757858
 Posts: 1354 |
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Voting For:
Kurau: Phantom Memory R.O.D. The TV Haibane Renmei Also, I'd be grateful if someone nominated Shin Mazinger since I can't be bothered to do it myself. |
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dirkusbirkus
Posts: 699 Location: Manchester, UK |
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S'what I mean, you just can't win when describing the first episode. I even got as far as typing out a summary and synopsis before wimpimg out and settling for another nomination instead. Meh. |
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naninanino
 Posts: 680 |
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Just in case someone is going to go with Macross F: doesn't it have 3 different versions of the first episode? The pre-air, TV-broadcast and a disc version. As I've understood, the TV version leaves out some five minutes of cut-out footage, but still has unique scenes to it. The pre-air has extra footage, but no opening. The disc version has all the scenes plus the opening and runs for 32 minutes or so. I think it went something like that.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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I'm going to do the broadcast version, since that's what most people will have. Hardly anyone will have imported it so need to use the home video release version. And the pre-air version doesn't have an opening. I don't actually think it makes much of a difference, the episode is pretty darn good no matter what version you watch. And it won't affect the writeup a whole deal either. |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6525 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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Nominating:
Sasameki Koto: "Sasameki Koto" / "Whispered Words" Type of Series: yuri, romance, unrequited love Synopsis: Sumika Murasame is sports champion, dux of her year, class president and admired by everyone. Tall and be-spectacled there is one thing she isn't: "kawaii". That's a problem because Sumika loves her best friend, Ushio Kazama, a self-proclaimed lesbian who won't even look sideways at another girl unless she rates highly on the cuteness scale. Afraid that a confession of her love will end their friendship, Sumika watches on in agonised silence as Kazama hunts for the perfect cute girl. Of course, for her part the clueless Kazama is blissfully unaware that her best friend is also her true heart's desire. What Makes It Great: This is an example of a first episode that not so much sets the tone for the rest of the series but rather sets a lofty standard that it never manages to reach again. The plot is a perfect gem of construction while the main character, Sumika, is appealing yet flawed. Best of all there is a senstivity in the writing and the direction such that every moment of the episode is telling us something about the characters and their plights. It's full of little moments of observation - just watch the language of handholding between Sumika and Kazama towards the end of the episode. In the best Japanese tradition of poignantly combining sentiment and irony, "Whispered Words" is an exquisitely wrought distillation of the agonies experienced by the two main characters. It encapsulates the themes of the series so well, and subsequent episodes are such a come down, there really is hardly any need to continue with the series beyond this first episode. This is what Carl Kimlinger wrote in his review of the first six episodes: "Its first episode is a hard-polished gem of doomed romance, an autonomous study of interwoven affections that describes, in less than thirty minutes and with perfect conviction, a complex and achingly sad relationship. It's an amazingly tight and accomplished little work, as much a short film as a pilot episode. With economical strokes it paints a lonely yet lovely picture of a girl whose need to hide her feelings has placed her in an untenable emotional position. The characters are gracefully sketched, their emotions convoluted yet painfully comprehensible, and their romantic entanglements all too real. And it's all—plot, cast, and emotions; pointedly unresolved though they may be—beautifully, seamlessly self-contained." Image: Sumika and Kazama discover they are not alone Link: Crunchyroll (Note: there's a short sequence after the end credits.) Voting for: Elfen Lied: "A Chance Encounter ~ Begegnung" Haibane Renmei: "Cocoon / Dream of Falling From the Sky / Old Home" Last edited by Errinundra on Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:21 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15462 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I will Nominate:
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: "The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00" Type of Series: Slice of Life/Supernatural Synopsis: We are treated to an aweful student made film, with a plot that is only made sense by the very sarcastic narrator who continuosly takes jabs at the film. Mikuru Asahina is a "battle waitress" from the future, who's apparent job is dressing up as a sexy bunny girl to attract customers to a small market, and lives above a stationary store. She tries to protect Itsuki Koizumi who unkown to himself is an Esper from the witch Yuki who is also an alien, who despite seeming to overpower Mikuru in fights decides to retreat instead of taking Itsuki. It then changes to Mikuru living with Itsuki and romantic comedy, then the witch, Yuki, attends the school to swoon Itsuki turning into a love triangle. A few inconsistent shots later we are given final showdown, the director runs in front of the camera, teachers barge in, then we are given lackluster ending with Itsuki saving the day and cheesy end. As the credits roll we are treated to the mind behind the "schitzophrenic story". What Makes It Great: It has to be one of the most unique first episodes I have ever seen. If this was live action it could easily be thrown away as awefull, but a professional animation company, with proffessional coice actors have a product that has shakey camera work, shadows obscure faces realisticly, terrible acting and distracting background events. We get open almost parody level aware jabs useing things like fanservice, switching style of action and slice of life, and poor story makeing. But the amazing part are the red herrings, many things we see are very ironic for later on, the clashing of characters here, to the rest of the series. And there are few hints of strange things hapening that we glimpse on camera, and if anything we get the expectation that the actual plot could not possibly be as crazy as the film. And the first episode is also very fun to rewatch after the rest of the series that you catch subtle jokes and references. Image: The SOS Brigade Link: I apologise I can't vouch for it, but many of you might be able to look on Crunchyroll but my region is not allowed. I can't find any other legal streams that I can check out myself. |
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Mesonoxian Eve
Posts: 1858 |
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Corrected. Sorry about that. |
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