Forum - View topicREVIEW: UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie DVD 1
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2305 Location: Online Terminal |
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I'm such a masochist. I knew this series was going to be thrashed six ways to Sunday and yet I really don't care.
To be honest, the first episode has nothing to do with anything. I think it was more of a pilot episode to pitch to networks than anything else. Some plot elements from the initial are brought back in the OVA special (because god forbid we have a special that completely deviates from the series. No one's ever done that before  )
I think the series does get better as it continues. The second season is definitely an improvement focus-wise than the first (albeit a little heavy-handed). |
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rabble
 Posts: 46 |
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Jesus, Theron, come out of the closet already and just admit that boobies and panties scare the crap out of you.
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ric8252
Posts: 5 |
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I agree with Rabbie.
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Joe Mello
Posts: 2305 Location: Online Terminal |
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Um, I don't know Theron personally, but I'm willing to bet he's seen his share of T&A both in life and on screen. The reason the grades are flat is the same reason a lot of other fanservice shows get poor marks: NO SUBSTANCE!
Even though I love this show to death, I'm able to understand why some (ie most) people won't like it. There's no reason you shouldn't, either. And although she shouldn't really need it, I give Bamboo-san full permission to thrash Valkyrie in her next Shelf Life. (I told you I'm a masochist.  )
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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If this series really does get (a lot) better later on, perhaps I will give it a try someday. I was mildly interested in this series, but watching the first episode on the Newtype DVD killed that.
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Joe Mello
Posts: 2305 Location: Online Terminal |
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Well, I could argue (and probably succeed in doing so) that the last 11 episodes are better than the first. I'm still not sure why it was there other than to fill space taken by what could have been a perfectly good episode of development.
As per episode per episode progression goes, I'd say it's not like it becomes like EVA, but I think there's a moving away from the pedo joke(s) and fanservice as the season goes on (and Season 2 would have you believe there's no fanservice at all). This is a good thing because even though the pedo joke(s) were actually funny, they get old in a hurry. But yeah, if you buy/rent/borrow/eat/etc this DVD, SKIP THE FIRST EPISODE. The other three actually have some synergy and are light years more coherent. |
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Case
Posts: 1016 |
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A D- for story? Come on!
I know this is ANN, and it's a cute bishojo-containing anime being reviewed, but seriously, come on! ANN needs to review some true tripe like Genma Wars or some of CPM's old catalog titles to get a better grip on what D- anime REALLY is. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18433 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Remember, this is based only on the first volume. If the series does get better later on, that is not taken into consideration.
Given the brainless stupidity of the content in this volume and the clumsy genre-mixing, I thought the Story grade was well-deserved. I was wincing at it far more often than I was amused. The blame can't be placed just on the first episode, either. Episodes 3 and especially 4 were even worse. And yes, I've seen many of the old CPM titles, and this volume isn't any better. |
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SnowfairyX
 Posts: 438 |
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I actually thought the 1st episode was interesting enough that I may want to purchase the series later on in the future if I find enough good recommendations for it. It was a bit weird, especially with the lolicon stuff but I'm a real sucker for magical girl series so I may want to pick it up eventually if enough people tell me that it doesn't suck.
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Kouji
 Posts: 978 |
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So, ANN gives UFO Princess Valkyrie a negative rating for being a combination of ecchiness and cuteness but they give Magic User's Club a positive rating even though it's also a combination of ecchiness and cuteness? Personally, I think Magic User's Club has way more fanservice than this show, what with the way that Takeo fantasizes about Sae every time she does or says something suggestive. Compared to Magic User's Club, UFO Princess Valkyrie is pretty tame in the fanservice department. It's not the greatest anime ever, but UFO Princess Valkyrie is definetly one of the better fanservice shows I've seen (though, admittedly I haven't seen much in the way of fanservice shows, so what do I know?). It doesn't really have substance, but I seriously doubt that was the creators' intent. It's the kind of show you want to watch on a rainy afternoon and you just want to turn your brain off for a few hours of some brainless fanservice fun.
While most people find it disturbing, I personally thought the idea of chibi-Valkryie's transformation into adult-Valkyrie was a unique concept and Kazuto considers chibi-Valkyrie to be different than adult-Valkyrie much in the same way Chibi-usa from Sailor Moon considers Usagi to be different than Neo-Queen Serenity, so it's not really lolicon in the end. And really, is chibi-Valkyrie any worse than Chibi-usa? I wonder if people who hate chibi-Valkyrie also hate Chibi-usa....Also, if the opening theme song is so forgettable, why does it get stuck in my head for days? I guess we just have different tastes in music. And does anyone have any idea why it took ADV so long to release this? Well, if UFO Princess Valkyrie doesn't do that well in the U.S., at least that'll hopefully mean ADV will release a thinpack boxset for it and have it priced dirt cheap in the future. UFO Princess Valkyrie gets no love. 
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SnowfairyX
Posts: 438 |
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The opening theme is kinda stuck in my head as well  . Later, I'm going to have to go back to watching it again. Anyway, Key also said the opening for Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok was forgettable but I think it's one of the best sounding openings ever on par, if not better than the opening for Elfen Lied. I listened to them over and over again because of how good they sounded. So it really is just a matter of taste. Also, Key despises most "magical girl" anime so the negative review really isn't unexpected.
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PantsGoblin
 SubscriberEncyclopedia Editor  Posts: 2969 Location: L.A. |
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I haven't seen any of the series but I'm still going to buy the first DVD despite this review. If the fanservice in this series really is more tame then Magic User's Club then I really have nothing to worry about since I found the fanservice in MUC to be pretty mild. I don't really think of fanservice as a bad thing unless it's done to the extreme like Eiken or Mouse, that's when fanservice ruins a show. Even then I still kind of liked Eiken (can't really say much for Mouse though).
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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You do realize that ANN isn't some kind of hive mind, right? We have several different critics who write for us and they aren't required to have a certain opinion on anything. What "we" said about Magic User's Club has absolutely nothing at all to do with what "we" said about UFO Princess Valkyrie; if you're trying to call us hypocrites because we publish reviews from a wide array of writers and don't tell them what to say... well, I have no idea what you're on about. ANN's reviews come from a wide variety of writers and the opinions in those reviews are not necessarily the opinions of the organization as a whole. People "don't like chibi-Valkyrie" because the concept is extremely suggestive and is pretty obviously aimed at the lolicom crowd. Yeah, you can sit here and argue all day long that "hay guyz it's not really for pedophiles!" but at the end of the day the show is very obviously being suggestive in that matter, if not overtly so. Nearly every review of this thing that I've read has brought this up and has mentioned that it's creepy. Comparing it to Sailor Moon is completely disingenuous; Chibi-usa was in no way sexualized in the least and was not ever portrayed as a sexual target. Apples and oranges. |
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Case
Posts: 1016 |
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Hive mind? Of course not. Much too dramatic. I'm sure you intentionally used the term as hyperbole, anyway. Group think? Probably. Community bias? Definitely. I think that quote captures it perfectly. One of the biases is that anything cute is virtually not entertaining except to lolicom fetishists, shame-on-us for liking a show like that. The word comes up more on this site than any anime portal I frequent. Hive mind or not, this site clearly favors shows that look something like Blood+, and disfavors (perhaps unfairly) shows that look remotely similar to UFO Princess Valkyrie. That can tout ANN's "wide variety of writers and [...] opinions" until your face turns blue. You have clear trends in your reviews that set you apart from other anime review sites, not necessarily for the better. |
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PantsGoblin
Subscriber Encyclopedia Editor Posts: 2969 Location: L.A. |
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Which is wierd since this is one of my regular hang outs. Maybe I just like being different. I have tried to get people here more into the "cute" side of anime with the Moe Tournament and all. Key has been participating in it so I definately wouldn't say he automatically dislikes things that are cute. I don't know about ecchi though since unlike cuteness, it's not a requirement for being moe and seems to be frowned upon on this website. I often see ecchiness and moe go together on other websites though. I kind of have a neutral position on it. |
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