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Shelf Life - Deadman Walking


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nargun



Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 930
PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:02 pm Reply with quote
The only thing I can think of that can explain King of Thorn's odd pacing is that it's a rescue job on a failed TV project; note how the lethargic introduction ends when the girl goes into the capsule at -- from memory -- exactly the twenty-two minute point you'd expect for the end of the first episode.
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Sakurazuka_Reika



Joined: 19 May 2009
Posts: 527
PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:10 pm Reply with quote
I felt that the Deadman Wonderland anime did not quite live up to the manga. They left out quite a lot of characters, but I guess that is to be expected of a 12 episode series.

I still keep praying someone will rescue that manga series and bring it back to the English market. I really want to see how it continues, but I don't feel like being all pirate-y about it.

Side note regarding the photos at the end: Wow, dude, you really need some shelves. I feel your pain Anime hyper That aside, it looks like an awesome collection, I wish I could see the titles you own Laughing
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Shenl742



Joined: 11 Feb 2010
Posts: 1525
PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:13 pm Reply with quote
Having just read the King of Thorn manga I do think that yeah, it does make a lot more sense than the film (which I've read about afterwards but not yet actually seen)...

...but at the same time it felt like it was trying to be a few too many things at once, and not really succeeding too much at any of them. At the beginning it kind of reminded me of the movie Pandorum, but in the end it tried to become a heavily actionized version of
spoiler[Sphere].

Some REALLY haphazard artwork didn't really help either.
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superdry



Joined: 07 Jan 2012
Posts: 1309
PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:22 pm Reply with quote
This week's shelf obsessed - Wow...and I thought I was running out of shelf space to properly store all my anime related stuff....
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Shaterri



Joined: 03 Jan 2008
Posts: 173
PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:24 pm Reply with quote
My real problem with Deadman Wonderland was how mean-spirited it felt towards its characters. I don't mind well-crafted horror, but for me what I saw of the series came off much closer to torture porn, both physical and emotional; I just didn't see anything in the series that felt like it would be worth slogging through all the ugly for.
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:27 pm Reply with quote
Shaterri wrote:
My real problem with Deadman Wonderland was how mean-spirited it felt towards its characters. I don't mind well-crafted horror, but for me what I saw of the series came off much closer to torture porn, both physical and emotional; I just didn't see anything in the series that felt like it would be worth slogging through all the ugly for.


I'd only continue watching it if I were guaranteed Ganta, Shiro, and everyone else would die. I have no sympathy for them, and I possess no desire to see them make it through safely. I'm not even sure if this story is supposed to carry a message about courts and the legal system being a joke, or if it misses that train entirely for the sake of lolblood.
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tuxedocat



Joined: 14 Dec 2009
Posts: 2183
PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:34 pm Reply with quote
Bamboo@Shelf Life wrote:
I've seen my fair share of People With Crazy Powers shows, but never before have I seen characters whose secret weapons are physical manifestations of their blood.


Actually, this seems to be a fairly popular thing:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BloodyMurder

I agree with your placement of Deadman Wonderland, BTW. The series was fun to watch the first time through, but I noticed that I kept wandering into another room while it was running on adult swim. Rental Shelf material.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
Posts: 14084
Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:36 pm Reply with quote
Deadman Wonderland is one of the absolute worst Anime series I have ever watched. It's so bad that when it came time to comment on it for my Anime list this was all I could think of:

"There is one word in the English language that perfectly encapsulates and describes this series; clusterfuck. That is all."

We start with a horrible prison where the inmates have to risk their lives in front of crowds who think it's all an act, move onto a battle tournament where those with blood powers have to fight one another, and then the third arc is a revolution. Not only is there too many ideas crammed into this show, but too many characters as well. On top of that, each arc and almost every character is atrociously written. Sure, the visuals may be pretty nice, and the action may be kind of cool. But that's like saying eating arsenic is perfectly fine because it's coated with chocolate.
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dragon695



Joined: 28 Nov 2008
Posts: 1377
Location: Clemson, SC
PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 5:50 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Strike Witches, anyone?


No, no thank you. Toss it on the rubbish heap with extreme prejudice, Bamboo. It is not worth your time, especially when you could be better spending it on the Stream.


Last edited by dragon695 on Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Keichitsu0305





PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:25 pm Reply with quote
Never seen Hellsing so I can't comment.

Deadman Wonderland: I actually forgot I saw this on Crunchyroll so it left little to no impression on me. What kept me going was the possibility that everybody was going to die. Shiro, for like two episodes, was the only entertaining character but only because of demented of a yandere she was. After a while, I didn't care about anyone esp. not Ganta who was unlikable from beginning to end. The violence was fun for awhile but by the end I was kinda bored.

King of Thorns: I really don't like this film but Bamboo hit every single reason on why this movie failed for me. Too many ideas (Apocalypse from deadly virus? Stuck inside a monster film? Survival Sci-Fi Surrealism???) and no focus. None of the "characters" are memorable and the "twist" at the end left me rolling my eyes for a few minutes.
Quote:
In one scene [...] (there's a) giant thorn vine dragon. Perhaps that dragon is the King of Thorn. But mostly, there's a dragon because the entire movie is also supposed to be an homage to Sleeping Beauty, which we know because the characters never stop talking about it.

This film severely lacks subtlety and treats the audience like we are too stupid to figure out what's going on. But how can we when this movie is all over the place?!?
Remember that scene in the beginning with the woman on the bus reading the fairy tale aloud while the kid plays video games? It's practically shouting at the audience:
This film with be using fairy tale/mythology symbolism. I hope we made that clear for you all.
And the CGI monsters are so ugly.
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StormSky92





PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:37 pm Reply with quote
King of Thorn is an awesome manga. The movie pales in comparison.
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unready



Joined: 07 Jun 2009
Posts: 409
Location: Illinois, USA
PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:24 pm Reply with quote
Bamboo Dong wrote:
never before have I seen characters whose secret weapons are physical manifestations of their blood

Speed Grapher, to add another one (the bad guy at the end)
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PipingHotTea



Joined: 30 Aug 2011
Posts: 150
PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:47 pm Reply with quote
Had a feeling the King of Thorn would be in the perishable section and I agree that the movie was all over the place. If they made it into a 12-13 ep, then it would have been solid series and not a hot mess. Not to mention, such a shame that they skimped out on a lot of things from the manga spoiler[ examples like a woman turning into a hybrid harpy thing because of the virus and the beast soldiers]
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One-Eye



Joined: 08 Mar 2011
Posts: 2267
PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:50 pm Reply with quote
Wow, I think I agree with just about everything Bamboo said on all 3 reviews.

Hellsing, love it and now I got it. My only wish was that Funimation had done a little extra with the packaging. BD with just a slip cover was a bit disappointing.

I think the only thing I enjoyed about Deadman Wonderland was the OP, ED and Shiro. I didn't care for Ganta as a character. I also thought his railroading was contrived and dumb. I wasn't sold on the whole amusement park thing, it felt forced to me. I think it had the potential to be more entertaining than it was, but yea I think 12 episodes was not enough to get there.

King of Thorn left me feeling a bit angry, maybe because there was some potential in that convoluted mess. Unfortunately, it too often destroyed any attempts of suspending my disbelief with illogical ideas and explanations.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4807
PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:55 pm Reply with quote
Maybe I'm alone in this, but I enjoyed the hell out of Deadman Wonderland. Sure, the plot was fairly cliche, and there were a whole bunch of characters who really could have used a hell of a lot more development, and the ending was one of those infuriating "Welp, guess you'll have to read the manga!" moments...but all of that aside, it was a roller-coaster ride of brutal, gory fun. There were some ridiculous combat moments, especially in the arena combat. And the dialogue...my God, it was hilarious. That whole spiel by spoiler[Yo's sister when Ganta is fighting her?] I was dying. Seriously, I think this is easily one of FUNi's greatest dubs ever. I also thought it was fascinating watching Ganta be thrown into this insane environment and cope with the realities of basic survival in it.

I mean, I'm definitely not a fan of torture porn in general, but this show? I ate it up.
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