Forum - View topicShelf Life - The Other 1/2
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AnimeMaine
Posts: 123 |
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As soon as I saw Ranma 1/2 and Psycho-Pass on this review list, I knew they had to be shelf-worthy. Both are great shows, for completely different reasons.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Just wait till the next set. Akane is as awesome, strong-willed and ultracompetent in the second half as she was boring, uncertain and naive in the first half.
Too bad Pupipo! never got legal streaming. It's the best four-minute-episode show that I've seen in a very long time, perhaps since Fireball. Pupipo! was one of the best shows (of any episode length) in the Winter season. The finale was emotionally touching to say the least. You'll have to resort to fansubs to check it out but don't let that stop you.
Had it had full-length episodes, then it could have been great. From the moment it was decided that the show would only have short episodes, it wasn't worth watching. The producer nixed Pupa's chances before it even started airing. |
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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Also, the first season nearly tanked in the Japanese ratings, until they stopped following the panel-by-panel rhythm of the manga and gave it a little more slapstick silliness to live up to its UY and Maison roots. They delayed the Golden Pair skating arc just to bring in Shampoo and Kodachi, and yes, that shook up the mix considerably. 
Set 1 spills over into the beginnings of Season 2, where they delayed the Golden Pair arc, and you can see the pace of the jokes pick up a bit more silly velocity. In the first season, it literally takes them an entire episode or half an episode to establish ONE character joke over and over and over, which means it takes them four episodes to make sure we get all the introductory jokes about Ryouga. (O-kay, he gets lost, we freakin' get it already!!) Last edited by EricJ2 on Mon Mar 31, 2014 5:02 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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belvadeer
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I've unfortunately never seen Ranma ½, not one single episode. Coincidentally, when I was at the comic book shop the other day, I did see one of the employees watching subbed episodes on his laptop and realized that I really need to see this series now. I think I just found my excuse to watch it. Thanks for the encouragement, Bamboo! =)
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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@EricJ2:
Why did you reply to me? |
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EricJ2
Posts: 4016 |
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What, did I PM you by mistake? 
It's a forum, we tack our comments on the wall, especially when we agree. (And if not you, then I couldn't find Bamboo's post to agree with.) Last edited by EricJ2 on Mon Mar 31, 2014 5:05 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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^
But we don't agree. We're not even talking about the same series. |
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EricJ2
Posts: 4016 |
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...Ohhh, THAT Akane. 
Still, Ranma's Akane gets better in the second season, too, once she gets the short hair and they drop the Dr. Tofu plot, and things do get better after Ep. 11. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11612 |
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It wasn't until I got to the "slapstick silliness" that I realized you weren't talking about Psycho-Pass.
I have tried three times to watch Ranma 1/2 but I don't think I've ever managed to last through even 10 episodes. I'm delighted for its fans that it's been resurrected in a satisfying way (that's so rare it deserves a cheer), but alas, I'm never going to be one of them. |
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RestLessone
 Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
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I pushed through Pupa because it was short and I had already watched a handful of episodes. Probably not worth it; the series was sloppy and never closed off its (several) introduced plot points. I can only assume it would have been better if it followed the manga and was allowed full length episodes. Did anyone else find that one scene spoiler[where Yume hears a chainsaw about to tear into her brother a bit...funny? In the over the top sort of way. It's like one of those comedic off-screen torture scenes, where you can hear the person being hurt and then is escalates to absurdity.] Maybe I would've cared more had I felt invested in the characters or story.
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PurpleWarrior13
 Posts: 2035 |
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I adore Ranma, and I just finished digging in my Blu-ray set today. It's just so hilarious, it's hard not to watch 7 or 8 episodes at a time. I don't care how old the show is. Actually I prefer older anime like Ranma over the stuff from today.
I didn't think the Chinese accents were too bad. Yeah they're really stereotypical, but the characters as a whole are very stereotypical perceptions of Chinese people as opposed to accurate or realistic representations. The show's an exaggerated wacky comedy not meant to be taken seriously.
Season 1 was up against a really popular show in the TV schedule and had a hard time building an audience. I'm pretty sure Season 2 corrected this. The Golden Pair mini-arc was delayed because of kidnappings in the news, and the first episode had the word "abduction" in the title (and Ryoga/P-Chan was taken, but I don't think that had to do with anything). The Blu-ray set restores them to episodes 14-16 because that's where they were produced and where they make the most sense. |
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EricJ2
Posts: 4016 |
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It's the UY First-Season factor: "(sigh)...It gets BETTER.  "
The first Ranma season, while charming in a laid-back way, is a major slog that goes more for manga jokes and relationship-serial (they were trying to follow Maison's lead) than the loony romp it became, and if you'd made it through twelve episodes, the curiosity to go farther might actually be there. Where, as noted, such curiosity would be rewarded.
Yes, it is rather odd in the Shampoo episodes that Akane is flashing back to Ranma defending her on the skating rink, especially when he hasn't done it yet. 
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Levitz9
 Posts: 1022 Location: Puerto Rico |
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Bamboo touches on an interesting point with Ranma 1/2. Sure, Ranma changes into a girl, but it's not treated as this big deal OH GOD, SHE GREW BOOBS kind of thing. It's like Kahm from Outlanders: she's in a chain-mail bikini. That is all. Continue to this day.
The stuff sounds exploitative and explicit... but it's handled really tamely. These days, cooking can be turned into a pseudo-erotic gimmick for selling body pillows.
It used to be, Athena was wearing a bikini on the cover for her own NES game, and it didn't feel particularly weird. Now, you've got Risty on the cover of Queen's Blade, and you feel like you want to take it home in a paper bag, even though you're in your living room. |
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sainta
 Posts: 989 |
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I know Akane in the early series is not a badass or anything but scenes where she clashes with Ginoza kind of make her a bit interesting before her actual development. Still, the early episodes also explore Kogami so it's not like the episodes are boring
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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To me, everything great about Akane's character development (and thus the series as a whole, because man it's great to have anime with well-developed, awesome female leads) can be seen in the promotional pictures for both seasons. In the first one from season 1, she's holding her gun timidly and looking all moe. Season 2? Look at that BAMF. Second half of Psycho-Pass is sooooo great, really looking forward to the next season. |
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