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ShellBullet
Joined: 20 Mar 2003
Posts: 1051
Location: I hit things, with my fist.
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 3:00 am
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The story gets an A, as to be expected, but overall the DVD is given a B for both the sub and dub. The review praises pretty much every aspect of the series. The animation is said to be "stunning" and the audio is "mesmerizing." The only complaint is a few cutouts in the Japanese track, so why not a higher score? Or is the A reserved for the truly seminal, once-in-a-lifetime works of art?
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Toboe
Joined: 14 Apr 2004
Posts: 138
Location: Rakuen
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 8:16 am
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Yeah, what the hell? This has been happening more and more on this site. "WOW! Best anime ever! Grade: B-".
This review basically demands a final score of 'A'. The fact that it has a B makes zero sense; there's no justification for it in the review at all.
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Louie-kun
Joined: 29 Apr 2003
Posts: 420
Location: I'm back.
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 10:28 am
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I apologize for what I said. I wasn't in a good mood when I wrote it.
Last edited by Louie-kun on Thu Sep 30, 2004 2:54 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Tempest
I Run this place.
ANN Publisher
Joined: 29 Dec 2001
Posts: 10455
Location: Do not message me for support.
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 10:52 am
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Louie-kun wrote: | I got a crazy idea. If you don't like ANN's reviews and the way they are written, then don't read them. Simple as that. |
Now now... no one's saying they don't like our reviews, just offering their opinions and a question.
You'll notice that the Animation, Art and Music all received B or B- scores, these scores, combined with the quality of the dubs and translation work into the overall scores.
Bamboo specificly mentionned some problems with the audio, one thing that lowered the release's overall scores.
-t
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor
Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 3904
Location: CO
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 4:57 pm
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ShellBullet wrote: | The story gets an A, as to be expected, but overall the DVD is given a B for both the sub and dub. The review praises pretty much every aspect of the series. The animation is said to be "stunning" and the audio is "mesmerizing." The only complaint is a few cutouts in the Japanese track, so why not a higher score? Or is the A reserved for the truly seminal, once-in-a-lifetime works of art? |
I'll address this one point at a time:
Sub:
Quote: | Once or twice in all of the episodes, the sound dropped out a little in the Japanese track. |
To me, A is a perfect score. The sound dropped out. Not perfect. And it happened in every single episode, too.
Dub:
There wasn't anything wrong with it, but I didn't feel like it was an A dub. What's so insulting about a B?
Animation:
DOH. I meant to put A, but I guess my mind was on something else and I put a B. Might as well change it.
Art:
Ehh... the art was average. Just because I thought the visuals were really cool doesn't mean the art itself was "breathtaking" or anything. The backgrounds weren't anything that made my jaw drop to the ground, and the character designs weren't anything spectacular.
Audio:
Quote: | Hirasawa creates a soundtrack that would be torturous to listen to by itself, but breathes life into the scenes that it’s set to. |
It's mesmerizing in the way it matches the scenes. But when you just listen to the soundtrack, it's *not* music. It's just a bunch of everyday sounds thrown together. It works well in the context of the series because clanging bells makes scenes creepy. But clanging bells and whooshing air =/= music. So, audio = B-.
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dustopants
Joined: 13 Feb 2004
Posts: 38
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 5:03 pm
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well, this sounds awesome, I can't wait till it comes out, i'm a big fan of both this series and gantz. also, hearing about how the dub is going to be amazing is making me even more excited about this release.
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Kagemusha
Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 2783
Location: Boston
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 10:08 pm
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Great review. PA is one of my favorite shows. Just a quick question:
Quote: | the soundtrack varies between funk and industry for some of its tunes |
Do you mean industrial (like Nine Inch Nails)? I've never heard the term industry used. But Hirasawa's music does have a industrial vibe to it. I'm a HUGE fan of him ever since Berserk. Personally I feel Millenium Actress is his best work, but the new song for the Berserk game is awesome.
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ChrisBeveridge
Joined: 13 Apr 2002
Posts: 162
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 10:09 pm
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Grades suck. It's what you write that counts. If people just pay attention to the grades but not the why behind it, then it's not worth discussing. They're not looking for a show they'll like, they're looking for a show that everyone likes.
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jfrog
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 925
Location: Seattle
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 10:17 pm
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SakechanBD wrote: | Art:
Ehh... the art was average. Just because I thought the visuals were really cool doesn't mean the art itself was "breathtaking" or anything. The backgrounds weren't anything that made my jaw drop to the ground, and the character designs weren't anything spectacular. |
I'm not sure if I see that. Not everything needs to be Last Exile, and the scenes in the second episode where everything gets all distorted should more than make up for it. And if you're not convinced, just wait until the final episodes - there are some VERY innovative scenes that are unlike anything I've seen in anime.
And as an avid noise fan, I would like to get anal and point out that the tracks on the Paranoia Agent soundtrack that you have problems with would be considered Musique Concrète and not noise. There are no power saws! Or blasts of feedback!
*sighs and hopes Seiichi Yamamoto's soundtrack for Mind Game is noisier, but doubts it*
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GATSU
Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15542
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 10:21 pm
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Damn, I wasn't gonna get the dvd, cus Kon's been disappointing me since Tokyo Godfathers, but I can't resist Hirasawa...But ripping off David Lynch gets old, Japan!
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ShellBullet
Joined: 20 Mar 2003
Posts: 1051
Location: I hit things, with my fist.
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 10:28 pm
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Louie-kun wrote: | I got a crazy idea. If you don't like ANN's reviews and the way they are written, then don't read them. Simple as that. |
I didn't say anything about the way the review was written, I was just asking about the grading.
SakechanBD wrote: | Art:
Ehh... the art was average. Just because I thought the visuals were really cool doesn't mean the art itself was "breathtaking" or anything. The backgrounds weren't anything that made my jaw drop to the ground, and the character designs weren't anything spectacular. |
Thanks, Bamboo, for replying. You helped answer my questions, keep up the great work.
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor
Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 3904
Location: CO
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 11:22 pm
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Kagemusha wrote: | Great review. PA is one of my favorite shows. Just a quick question:
Quote: | the soundtrack varies between funk and industry for some of its tunes |
Do you mean industrial (like Nine Inch Nails)? I've never heard the term industry used. |
^^;; Yes. Sorry. Mental typo.
jfrog wrote: |
I'm not sure if I see that. Not everything needs to be Last Exile, and the scenes in the second episode where everything gets all distorted should more than make up for it. And if you're not convinced, just wait until the final episodes - there are some VERY innovative scenes that are unlike anything I've seen in anime.
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I never said the art was bad. I just said it wasn't mindblowingly fantastic. A B isn't a bad rating at all, and since I was only reviewing the first disc, the final episode aren't really involved in my opinion of the art. True, not everything needs to be Last Exile, but then again, I never said that it had to be. Like when you take a scribble drawn by a drunk college student on a napkin. You can give it a D or something. Not everything he draws has to be Monet, but that doesn't mean that that particular napkin scribble wasn't a D, IMO.
Last edited by ANN_Bamboo on Tue Sep 28, 2004 1:39 am; edited 1 time in total
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jfrog
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 925
Location: Seattle
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Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2004 11:30 pm
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Sorry I wasn't being clear. My reference to the final episodes was just meant to imply that it gets even better. And my main point was that while it isn't Last Exile caliber overall, I think that the fantasticness of the distorted scenes in Episode Two should more than make up for it.
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