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Outstanding Mono/Dialogues




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Iceghoul



Joined: 13 Sep 2004
Posts: 28
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 1:35 am Reply with quote
So...what (short) mono / dialogues stand out in your mind? For me, the ones that are most haunting are from two of my faves... figured it'd be interested to hear others as well.

From the end of the Samurai X OVA Trust & Betrayel.

"Tell me your name."
"Shinta."
"A Child's name. Too soft for a swordsman. As of today, you are Kenshin."
"Ken-shin..."

and from the end of Noir... (this one is sorta a spoiler so its blacked)

spoiler["In the end the world we live in will be enveloped in darkness"
"Yes...and that is why we will continue to seek the light."]


Who else has lines from an anime that stand out in your mind?
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jfrog



Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 925
Location: Seattle
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 2:03 am Reply with quote
Anime generally doesn't have a whole lot of great dialogue. For me, most of the truly memorable lines out there are because of their unintentional hilarity. The "Hello. My name is Mark Twain" line (what the hell?) from Dagger of Kamui and the "My genius can overcome anything!" line from the last episode of the Bubblegum Crisis OVA come to mind. Although looking back on my anime viewing, I was able to come up with two gems:

"Peace is more than just the absence of war" from Patlabor II
and
"You can never go back. You're a filthy whore now!" from Perfect Blue
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ShellBullet



Joined: 20 Mar 2003
Posts: 1051
Location: I hit things, with my fist.
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 2:28 am Reply with quote
It seems to me that Crest of the Stars has some great dialogues. The conversation in Lafiel's room takes IIRC three episodes to get through. It's amazing that something so simple as two people talking can be so mezmerizing. Also spoiler[The climax has one of the most moving and intriging lines I've ever heard: "God will praise us, but He will not give us a sacrifice." It's a window into the mind of one seriously obsessed dude.]
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abunai
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Joined: 05 Mar 2004
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 7:17 am Reply with quote
Well, it seems as if everyone is thinking in terms of one-liners, not actual dialogue or monologue. There's a difference, really there is.

A one-liner is often pithy and humorous. Dialogue/monologue can have these characteristics, too - but to really work, they must carry more.

Sure, I could mention a number of good one-liners:
    - Vash the Stampede with goofy smile, zanily repeating "Love and Peace" (from Trigun)
    - Mihama Chiyo-chan charmingly stumbling over a simple tongue twister like バスガス爆発 (from Azumanga Daioh)
    - Asahina Arumi and her repeated assertion that, "being human, what really matters is to have one's health" (from Mahou Shoutengai Abenobashi)
    - The repeated remark "We might be strangers; on the other hand, we might be family" that constitutes the verbal leitmotif of Onegai Twins
All of these are fine one-liners, and every good anime contains at least a handful of good ones. However, they're not dialogue or monologue. Good dialogue/monologue is harder to find - but I don't agree with jfrog when he says that anime "generally doesn't have a whole lot of great dialogue". It's there, but it tends to be buried in a mass of one-liners.

Good dialogue/monologue is found (for example) in scenes in Saishuu Heiki Kanojo, when spoiler[Tetsu elaborates on his thoughts about the war, or when Akemi confesses her love for Shuuji in a dying speech that brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it now.]

I don't know why there are more one-liners... perhaps they are easier to write. Perhaps it's an artifact of the language - Japanese lends itself well to a telegram-like style of writing.

- abunai
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jfrog



Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 925
Location: Seattle
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 10:59 am Reply with quote
I don't watch anime for the dialogue. The only real exception I can think of is Legend of the Galactic Heroes (which is driven by dialogue, none of which I currently remember). Maybe it is just a quirk of the Japanese language, or maybe it's because the really talented screenwriters don't get involved with anime. With the exception of the aforementioned LoGH (and maybe some episodes of Paranoia Agent), I can't think of any anime that takes joy in its script the way, for example, Unforgiven does.
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kainzero



Joined: 08 Jun 2004
Posts: 309
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 1:46 pm Reply with quote
i think excel from excel saga talks too much. she delivers some monologues... but that doesn't mean they're necessarily good. =P i remember she was talking about herself or something for like... 2 minutes, nonstop... hyper mode.

i don't think anyone will notice dialogue/monologue from anime because if you watch subs, reading text eliminates the soul of dialogue ... talking.
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Iceghoul



Joined: 13 Sep 2004
Posts: 28
Location: Winston-Salem, NC
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 3:34 pm Reply with quote
Sidetrack: never particularly cared for subs myself. Sure, voice acting isn't always great, but I can't particularly stand to 'read' a movie / show. I got my manga collection for that. Wink

For some reason though, watching "dubbed" anime seems to be a taboo in some(a lot of?) places. Never figured it out. To each their own, I say.
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Patachu
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Joined: 08 Jul 2004
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 3:41 pm Reply with quote
The entire manga sequence from Episode 1 of FLCL.

(I even wrote it down in my notebook for future reference ... )
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Tony K.
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Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 11441
Location: Frisco, TX
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 4:47 pm Reply with quote
abunai wrote:
Well, it seems as if everyone is thinking in terms of one-liners, not actual dialogue or monologue. There's a difference, really there is.

A one-liner is often pithy and humorous. Dialogue/monologue can have these characteristics, too - but to really work, they must carry more.

If that's the case:

animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3693
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DragonofHeaven



Joined: 08 Aug 2004
Posts: 115
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 5:54 pm Reply with quote
Outstanding monolgues and dialogues? I really like how .hack//SIGN was scripted; every line actually has at least some significance!
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MasterFuu



Joined: 27 May 2003
Posts: 434
Location: Phoenix, AZ
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 6:34 pm Reply with quote
If I remember in GITS correctly " I'm an entity created by sea of information" was pretty nice. Going to see GITS 2 on Sat Smile

The whole speech in Trigun by Wolfwood at the end of episode 24 is emotionaly very powerfull.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18451
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Thu Sep 16, 2004 8:42 pm Reply with quote
No discussion of top anime quotes/dialogues would be complete without mentioning the brilliant English dub for Hellsing, which has some of the snappiest dialogue you'll see anywhere in anime. There are one-liners like Alucard's declaration:

"You're not worthy of the lowest pits of Hell!"

or the admonition by two different characters which goes:

"I highly recommend pissing yourself, followed by a course of praying to your impotent God."

The best, though, is the exchange in the first episode when Seras is being used as a human shield by a vampire (that she gets "turned" is one of the basic premises of the series, so I don't think this qualifies as a spoiler):

Alucard: "Police Girl."
Seras: "Yes?"
Alucard: "I'm going to fire my gun now, and the bullet will rip through your lungs before piercing the maggots vampire's heart."
Bad Vampire: "I. . But. . . Wait a minute. . ."
Alucard: "I know you don't want to die tonight." (smiles) "Do you want to come with me?"

Then there's also Millenium Actress. The line by the old woman/wraith:

"I hate you! More than I can bear. And I love you. More than I can bear."

Or the closing line of the movie, which so neatly sums up the whole: spoiler["After all, it's the chasing after him that I really love."]

For more light-hearted moments, there's Bastard!! One of my favorite lines from that one goes something like:

"God? You call yourself a god? If anyone around here's going to be called a god, it's going to be me!"

Or another that goes something like:

"Rule Number One of fights like these: the dumpy, ugly villain will never defeat a smart, handsome hero like me!"

One of the more poignant lines I've seen comes from Scrapped Princess, at a point when the warrior Shannon is being asked why he defends his sister, who is prophesized to destroy the world: "What is the worth of this world if my sister can't live in it?"

From Jin-Roh you get a great line like "Only in the tales that humans tell do the hunters kill the wolves in the end."

From the otherwise-awful Apocalypse Zero you get "brilliant" lines like: "Without his dick there’s no way Eikichi can hope to beat Kakugo."

Ai Yori Aoshi brings us a wonderful pivotal monologue by lead character Aoi:
"Like you, I will part ways with my family. I wish to be with you even if it means throwing everything away. So therefore. . . I ask you. . . please accept me, vows and all, and make me your wife."

And you can't mention great anime mono/dialogue without mentioning something from Saikano, arguably one of the best-written of recent series. It has numerous memorable pieces which can elicit tears or horror. You get great monologues like one by Shuji from the first episode:

"When I think about it, I should have noticed back then. . . On that day, when I held Chise in my arms, I didn't feel her heart beat." (Even more powerful in context.)

or a chilling one by Chise from a later episode:
spoiler["You fool. If you shoot me, there won't be a city here anymore. You'd better not pull the trigger. In an instant I won't be myself anymore, and when I come to, I'll be all alone."]
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