Forum - View topicBest First Episode Tournament: Post-Mortem
|
Goto page Previous Next |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18584 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||||
|
Round 1 Group D (Part 1) is now closed.
Results can be seen here. We have some very interesting match-ups this time - some quite similar, while others are dramatic contrasts. Honestly, I think just about any of these could go either way; I know that this was the toughest part of the minigame bracket for me to predict. Group D-1 Angel Beats! vs. Tiger & Bunny Group D-2 R.O.D. the TV vs. Read or Die (the OVA) Group D-3 Death Note vs. Princess Tutu Group D-4 Gunslinger Girl vs. Revolutionary Girl Utena Last edited by Key on Mon May 14, 2012 11:10 pm; edited 2 times in total |
||||||
|
||||||
Ggultra2764
 Subscriber Posts: 3991 Location: New York state. |
|
|||||
|
Match D-1: Angel Beats
Not the biggest fan of either one of these titles, but they both at least supply reasonable substance along with their stylish presentations. Kotetsu's character in Tiger and Bunny reeked of the typical impulsive and clueless hero who acts more than he thinks and it took a few episodes before I could get used to his antics. Angel Beats stuck out enough for me right from its first episode because it didn't follow Key's typical storybook game spinoff setup of "introducing male lead and several helpless, cute gals with problems the male will likely have to help out with at a later point." The anime immediately threw you into the male lead's unique situation, introduces a formidable foe from the start that is challenging the group of students he later allies with and features a catchy J-pop song from the concert performed during the later battle with Angel. Definitely didn't feel like Key's typical setup for the opening episodes of their prior works thus I have to give Angel Beats the vote. Match D-2: Read or Die OAV Before I give my reasons, let me tell Key that with me being an avid Read or Die fan that you are very evil for setting up this match! 
That being out of the way, I have to admit that R.O.D. The TV's opening episode wasn't the most memorable episode of the series for me. Sure you get introduced to the characters of Nenene and the Paper Sisters along with having some decent action scenes with the Sisters when they protect Nenene from her killers. But the episode lacks much of the energy you would find from the OAV's opening episode as Yomiko and Nancy go through some pretty insane action scenes with their abilities against members of the I-Jin, especially in the aerial battle against Otto Lililenthal. Yomiko's character also stuck out as a more memorable one for me at first glance whereas it took me a few episodes to warm up to Nenene and the Paper Sisters. I have to go with the OAV take on Read or Die in this match. Match D-3: Death Note As a number of folks noted during the nominations phase of this tourney, Princess Tutu's first episode doesn't make too strong of an impression. It does its part to set up the premise for later episodes in the series, but the plot doesn't pick up steam until later episodes when elements to the true nature of Duck's quest and Drosselmeyer are slowly revealed. Death Note's opening episode, on the other hand, does enough to make an impression in introducing Light's character and setting up the start of his decaying morality when he discovers the powers of the Death Note and meets Ryuk, as well as having a slick visual presentation for a TV anime series. Definitely going for Death Note in this match. Match D-4: Revolutionary Girl Utena Oh how I love you, Kunihiko Ikuhara! Hate to vote against Gunslinger Girl as the series is decent in introducing Henrietta and Jose's characters, but Utena outclasses Gunslinger Girl by quite a bit in setting up its opening episode. The episode introduces Utena's strong-willed character, reveals her reasons for wanting to be a "prince" and sets up the start of the Rose Bride battles she will partake when put up against Saionji. The stylistic choices for the episode such as the Shadow Girls serving as narrators teasing of events yet to come and the memorable dueling song Absolute Destiny Apocalypse offer enough unique elements to make the episode stick out enough where you can tell this won't be your typical anime to get into. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6610 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
|
|||||
|
Group D-1
Angel Beats! vs. Tiger & Bunny Viewing history: I own Angel Beats! on DVD. Watched Tiger and Bunny via ANN streaming. Is the first episode good enough to entice me to watch the rest of the series? Angel Beats! absolutely; with Tiger and Bunny, not really – at the time for Australians it was one of the few free, legal streams. The constant surprises and incongruities give this to Angel Beats!. And that’s without taking into account the extraordinary battle scene between Angel and the Afterlife Battlefront as Girls Dead Monster entertains the students. Otonashi puts it nicely: “I had no idea buying time could be so intense”. Tiger and Bunny is pretty to look at and the opening action sequences are goofy fun but, if I were interested in super heroes I’d watch American TV, not Japanese. Kotetsu is Daikichi Kawachi lite – even down to the bandy legs; there isn’t one worthwhile female character; and the relentless in-show advertising is what I consider objectionable material in an anime Voting for: Angel Beats! (Yuri Nakamura in a tko against Blue Rose) Group D-2 R.O.D. the TV vs. Read or Die (the OVA) Viewing history: First exposure to both. Is the first episode good enough to entice me to watch the rest of the series? Because the OAV is only three episodes I’ll probably download the rest of it; given my completist nature I’ll then probably eventually watch the TV series. The OAV first episode is another over-the-top action entrant in this tournament, whereas its TV sequel cuts back on the action to suggest a more complex plot and possible character development. But that remains a promise while the OAV gets right into things. Besides, I find this sort of thing irresistible: 
Voting for: Read or Die OAV. Group D-3 Death Note vs. Princess Tutu Viewing history: I own Princess Tutu on DVD; I’ve watched Death Note right through. (I can’t remember if made it right to the end second time around.) Is the first episode good enough to entice me to watch the rest of the series? Definitely for both. Phew! This is a tough one. Princess Tutu is a beautifully executed “Magical Girl” episode that vaguely hints at the emotional depths and story telling twists to come. Despite the fun, I can understand some people thinking, “What’s the big deal?” Death Note is a riveting first episode that feels as if it has come straight out of the English Gothic novel tradition. It also has pointers as to what’s to come: puerile philosophising and a thoroughly unpleasant point of view. The rules that Light reads in the Notebook seem more for the convenience of the scriptwriters than the Shinigami Ryuk, while the depiction of said Shinigami and his world undermine the credibility of the premise. Despite all those criticisms the Death Note itself is such a stupendous idea and the surprises that the first episode dishes up manage to give it a slight edge. It’s a case of the weaker series having the more compelling first episode. Voting for: Death Note Group D-4 Gunslinger Girl vs. Revolutionary Girl Utena Viewing history: I own Gunslinger Girl on DVD; watched the first episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena a couple of years ago but never pursued it further. Is the first episode good enough to entice me to watch the rest of the series? Yes for Gunslinger Girl; not sure for Revolutionary Girl Utena. Re-watching Utena’s first episode (via a much better quality download) had me re-assessing its virtues. Perhaps I now have a better understanding of anime generally but it comes across as a very savvy show with its sly, unconventional humour and rampant sexual symbolism. Nevertheless I think it promises more than it delivers. Gunslinger Girl delivers from the opening frames. It’s absurd, alarming, creepy and menacing. Its moral ambivalence is far more interesting than Utena’s gender role ambiguities. Voting for: Gunslinger Girl |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Key
Moderator
Posts: 18584 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
|||||
|
I've seen all of these (and own a physical copy of all that are available in such form except RGU), so I'll vote early this time.
Group D-1 Angel Beats! vs. Tiger & Bunny I did seasonal previews for both of these and gave both 4.5/5 ratings, in both cases heavily on the strength of great visuals, strong action sequences, and excellent concepts. Angel Beats! has the distinct edge on the music front (the wonderfully-animated insert performance piece is a big factor, but it also has what I proclaimed as 2011's best opener and an "honorable mention" closer), but I'd probably give it a slight advantage anyway because I ultimately found its balance of humor, music, and action to be a little more entertaining and its premise to be a little more compelling. To put it another way, AB's first episode made it a priority view and led to me watching that series out when it first came out, while T&B's didn't. Group D-2 R.O.D. the TV vs. Read or Die (the OVA) Yeah, I set this one up deliberately because I was very curious to see how franchise fans would vote this one, especially given that the TV version had more nominations than the OVA version. (And to be clear for non-fans, the TV version is a sequel to, rather than remake of, the OVA version - and yes, the person who left all of the post-it notes in Yumiko's apartment in the OVA episode is the same person being protected in the TV episode.) I'm voting it the same way as Ggultra2764 - i.e., the OVA has the edge - and for the exact same reasons he gave. Group D-3 Death Note vs. Princess Tutu Although I'm a much bigger Tutu fan, I didn't give the first ten episodes of Death Note a Series of the Year nod in 2007 for nothing. DN gets off to a brilliant start on the strength of a well-crafted first episode loaded with moral ambiguity, an intriguing premise, and one of the most fiercely compelling conclusions of any anime first episode. (Light's declaration about becoming "the god of the new world" is a fantastic twist on its own, but watching the thoroughly jaded Ryuk's eyes open wide as he realizes that he may be witnessing something completely different is just as special.) I can certainly remember thinking that I was watching something special when I saw that scene. PT's greatest strengths, OTOH, lie later on, and its first episode just isn't distinctive enough to compete. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that the advantage to DN is more clear-cut than in any of the other matches this week. Group D-4 Gunslinger Girl vs. Revolutionary Girl Utena This one is by far the hardest pick for me, in part because I hated the first few episodes of GG for reasons that have little to do with how good the content actually was. (In fact, my review of the first single still probably stands as the most controversial review I've yet done.) Looked at objectively, RGU's first episode marks a stylish and inventive perversion of gender roles, while GG marks a disturbing and violent perversion of nascent moe styling. Both have significant depth; GG has substantially better technical merits and I vastly prefer its character designs, but RGU has an edge on music and feels much less like a cheap gimmick (even though it is gimmicky through and through). For now I'm going to give Gunslinger Girl a hair-thin edge based mostly on better artistry and animation, but this vote is subject to change. |
||||||
|
||||||
marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
|
|||||
|
Group D-1
Voting for: Angel Beats! This is the only one in this group that I haven't already seen. But I was not super impressed by Tiger & Bunny and the early arguments have all been in Angel Beats!'s favour as well. There's a slim chance I could actually get this watched before the week is up but the odds are not in favour of that so for now, I'll go on this. Group D-2 Voting for: Read or Die (the OVA) I actually don't particular like either of these. Don't know why but ROD just isn't my thing. That said, I remember this one slightly more fondly so I'll go with it. Group D-3 Voting for: Death Note Death Note is one of those series that just has an exceptional beginning. I was drawn in from the moment it started and it wasn't until much later in the series that my interest began to waiver. It looked great, it sounded great, and it somehow made writing in a book EPIC. I love Princess Tutu dearly but its first episode really isn't anything special (in fact, I would say that it only really becomes that in the second half of the series, though it was very fun and charming before then). Group D-4 Voting for: Gunslinger Girl I tried to watch Utena once and couldn't get through the first episode. I intend to try again, going in knowing how dated things look, but what I saw cannot compete with Gunslinger Girl, which is one of the very few series I have ranked as "masterpiece" here. The first episode hits the ground running and it's just a remarkable anime (though it would do well in a worst second episode tournament  ).
|
||||||
|
||||||
Aylinn
 Posts: 1684 |
|
|||||
|
Group D-1
Angel Beats! vs. Tiger & Bunny Tiger & Bunny gets my vote. Angel Beats! is the sort of series that I've no interest in. And T&B's first episode does a good job at establishing a very entertaining series. It also sets itself apart from other anime by using a middle-aged man for the main character. Moreover, it made me interested in spite of the fact that I don't like superhero stories. Group D-2 R.O.D. the TV vs. Read or Die (the OVA) Read or Die (the OVA) I saw both a long time ago, but I remember I liked the OVA better. Group D-3 Death Note vs. Princess Tutu Princess Tutu I like the first episode. When I watched it, I felt the same vibes that I had felt when I had read Grimms' Fairy Tales, mainly because of Drosselmeyer's meddling with the story. Death Note is interesting and when Death Note came out, it was uncommon for anime to have such an a**hole with an inflated ego* for the main character. It was entertaining, but that's all. After watching the first episode, I knew that it is a series that I would watch only once. There was nothing special about it. *I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. Group D-4 Gunslinger Girl vs. Revolutionary Girl Utena Revolutionary Girl Utena gets my vote. I watched few episodes of Gunslinger Girl few years ago and it didn't interest me. I found it dull. Utena, by comparison, piqued my interest and I consider it to be one of the best series I have seen. |
||||||
|
||||||
Dorcas_Aurelia
 Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
|
|||||
|
Mini-game. Ggultra, NakedBeast, and Tris had strong rounds, the two former tied in first 2 points ahead of the third. There are still another three players just another 2 points back, so there's plenty of time for the leader board to shift.
Notably, the mini-game did quite well predicting how these rounds would turn out, as everyone picked Haibane over slayers, rounds C-5 and C-8 were split even, and C-7 slightly favored Kurau over Kaiba. |
||||||
|
||||||
Saffire
 Posts: 1256 Location: Iowa, USA |
|
|||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
infiltration.cru
 Posts: 321 |
|
|||||
|
Group D-1
Angel Beats! vs. Tiger & Bunny Hmm, not so sure where I stand on this one as I was pretty underwhelmed by both. They were both kind of entertaining, kind of funny and the action looked good. But for the praise both get I was disappointed. I mean, the "battle" in Angel Beats! basically consists of the angel walking towards someone who then proceeds to shoot at her and then she does some crazy stuff while walking and in the end everyone just stands there and fires. Still, Angel Beats! gets the advantage for its art style. Vote for: Angel Beats!. Group D-2 R.O.D. the TV vs. Read or Die (the OVA) Once again, a really nice side effect of this tourney since I got to know another franchise that managed to convince me to finish it someday. Don't know why, but I never had R.O.D. on my list, it just somehow passed under the radar for me. What both do really good is that they introduce some really sympathetic characters. The powers we get to see in both episodes look cool and especially the paper power is used in very creative ways. It's also good that both episodes do not shy away from showing off some massive battles right in the beginning. Normally, series start off a little more quiet and then- in the final episodes- everything blows up to 5 times its size and it just feels stupid. I don't really know which one I liked more so I'm gonna have to focus on details and give the TV series the vote simply for the absolutely awesome scene where the three "sisters" save the MC at the book signing. That is creative action! Vote for: TV series. Group D-3 Death Note vs. Princess Tutu Easy decision. I didn't even manage to finish Princess Tutu's opener. Literally nothing was compelling to me. I made it to the 10 minute mark and simply couldn't bear to look at the MC's goofy act any longer. Death Note on the other hand does about everything right. The animation is top notch, the "ominous Latin chanting"(don't remember where I read that one) soundtrack matches Light's unbelievable god complex perfectly. It's just so much over the top fun to watch him scribble names into a book as if he was starring in a musical. At the same time it's obvious that we will see plenty of moral dilemma and drama. Gotta love it! Vote for: Death Note. Group D-4 Gunslinger Girl vs. Revolutionary Girl Utena Gunslinger Girl really is hard for me. The action scenes looked awesome and the series manages to really transport the general emotional distress of the characters. But then there's the whiny Henrietta who sounds almost like little Miss Barton(or whatever) from Madlax who is my most hated anime character of all time and forever. I just can't get past that. Especially not if the competition is flat out amazing. It's a little psychedelic, absolutely over the top and Utena is the bee's knees. She's so cool, I'd accept any beating by her without question. Apart from that some of the soundtrack pieces really got me going. Vote for: Revolutionary Girl Utena. |
||||||
|
||||||
WhiteHairGirls
 Posts: 4713 Location: New York City |
|
|||||
What page does it show everyone's total score??? |
||||||
|
||||||
P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
|
|||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
Saffire
Posts: 1256 Location: Iowa, USA |
|
|||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
Tris8
 Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
|
|||||
|
Group D-1
Angel Beats! vs. Tiger & Bunny I haven't had the chance to see either of these, but the write up and arguments have led me to choose Angel Beats. Group D-2 R.O.D. the TV vs. Read or Die (the OVA) This week is hard, as again I haven't seen either of these. =( I am voting for R.O.D. OVA though because of arguments made. Question though, if the TV version is a sequel to the OVA, aren't both not allowed in the tournament? I thought in the nominations phase it was said that second seasons, specials and OVA's first episodes couldn't be counted if they were a sequel. Group D-3 Death Note vs. Princess Tutu I love Princess Tutu, but I remember the first episode confusing me quite a bit (and not in the good way either). I found it difficult to follow. Death Note on the other hand makes its intentions as clear as day. It is dripping in atmosphere. When, at the end of the episode, Light shows that he has already written what looks like hundreds of names, I was shocked and excited at the same time. Light's power and potential seemed boundless and his goal of God chillingly achievable. Group D-4 Gunslinger Girl vs. Revolutionary Girl Utena[/quote] I really like Revolutionary Girl Utena, and the first episode did pique my interest, but it didn't grab me the way Gunslinger Girl did. Utena slowly ramps up over the course of the series, showing you what all the characters are made of. I could see the beginnings of this in the first episode, but its real strength lies in its development over time. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
|
|||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
|
|||||
IIRC, the TV series is set in the same world but most of the main characters are completely original so it doesn't really continue the story of the OVA, though it sounds as though OVA characters do make appearances (I didn't get far enough in the series to see that though). |
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group