Forum - View topicShelf Life - The Perfect Insider
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Usagi-kun
 Posts: 877 Location: Nashville, TN |
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Thank-you for the review of Perfect Insider, Paul. I actually would of been less kind to the show than you were. The ending did frustrate me and I did not like that the build up to the big reveal became less and less interactive for me as a viewer. At the end, the whole thing felt like a love letter to Sohei's character, stretching to illustrate just how smart he was supposed to be. Clues became just further examples to support this. I did like Moe more and more as the episodes rolled by and thought she could have found someone who appreciated her for more than just the end realization.
@Michael, I am super jealous of all of your MST3K box sets. Did you back the Kickstarter for the new season? |
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Spoofer
 Posts: 356 Location: NY |
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Ehhh... It's been well over 15 years since I last watched Escaflowne, but if I remember correctly the series and film are significantly different, and that synopsis doesn't apply to the series at all. Hitomi isn't depressed or disillusioned in the series; she's actually rather upbeat and optimistic. Director Akane recently talked about why he changed her personality in the film in the interviews that are going to be included with the new Blu-ray set. Regarding the whole Winged Goddess thing, IIRC that's only a plot point in the film as well. In the series, she's special simply because she's from Earth, as well as it becoming apparent that she and her pendant are able to do some light prognostication and such. She was never worshiped in the series, nor believed to be some sort of goddess. IIRC. |
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WingKing
Posts: 617 |
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No, you are remembering correctly. The movie changed quite a few things. Hitomi's TV version was a cheerful romantic, and nobody ever thought she was a goddess. In fact, nobody outside her small circle of friends paid much attention to her at all until the villains belatedly caught on to her prophetic abilities late in the series. Similarly, Van's TV version was more sociable and much less aggressive, and Folken's TV version was more of a misguided anti-hero than an outright villain, while the role and purpose of the Escaflowne itself was entirely different and had nothing directly to do with Hitomi at all. |
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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The Escaflowne movie is an unrelated fantasy-adventure movie using some revamped character designs from the TV series, and even then a few characters got totally new designs |
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meiam
Posts: 3468 |
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Yes the synopsis for escaflowne TC series is actually from the movie and doesn't really cover it (at al actually).
The perfect insider to me was only interesting due to its visual, scene are frame in a very interesting way, there's minimal animation since most of the time its just character talking and so framing, transition and background art have to do the heavy lifting and they actually manage to do so very well. The mystery is pretty meh imo, and doesn't really give a satisfying conclusion. The characters are also fairly uninteresting and I wouldn't call them super smart people so much as what normal people might think super smart people are like. From my work experience in academic circle Moe is actually the closest representation and Sohei and Magata are actually very far from what smart people are like. |
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WingKing
Posts: 617 |
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Shoji Kawamori is one of those people who has a very...open...approach to what's "canon" within the franchises he creates. He's on record with Macross as saying that every movie and TV installment is an "in-universe" work of fiction within the Macross universe, so when we watch a Macross TV series, we're seeing a TV series that was also produced and broadcast in the Macross universe itself, with the characters being played by in-universe actors. Kawamori's never commented on the canonicity of Escaflowne's various versions, but I'd imagine he probably treats it in a similar way. With Escaflowne you have the shojo manga story, the shonen manga story, the TV series, and the movie, and about the only things all four versions have in common are the same core group of characters, a mech named Escaflowne, and Hitomi getting transported from Earth to Gaia. Beyond those most basic elements the stories are all totally different, and the nature of the characters and their personalities and motivations also change from one version to the next. Trying to tease out a single canon continuity that reconciles all four of them into one "true" version of events would be an exercise in futility. |
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Merxamers
 Posts: 720 |
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Thanks! To be honest, I probably have more of those than i should have, considering i was living off of plasma donations when i got most of them... The MST3K kickstarter is the only kickstarter i've ever supported. I can't wait for the new episodes; the new guy seemed really good during the live reunion show. |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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What a steal! Considering what one would pay for each of those exemplary films, this is a most economical means for newer fans to cover lost ground when it comes to feature-length showcases. |
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relyat08
 Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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Totally. I'd absolutely get it on Blu-ray, but not going to jump for a DVD, since I already have two of the 4 on Blu-ray and Steamboy wasn't good enough to revisit on DVD alone. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4173 |
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Agreed wholeheartedly as I've got some wonderful memories... of Memories at least as Paprika struck me as the most uninvolving Satoshi Kon films- Perfect Blue was Dario Argento as anime, Millennium Actress was such a trip that I felt like applauding at its end and Tokyo Godfathers his unquestionable masterwork; Paprika is just good in comparison- and Steamboy just basically bored me. It looked good but every story path took the easy way out. Tekkonkinkreet... I think I saw it. Yes, yes, I did, my rental records even confirm it but it doesn't say much for the film when I have to look to see if I did or not. I did give it 2/5 stars apparently... Steamboy got three so, huh; Guess I didn't like it but not enough to remember why... or even watching it at all. My own rating system is amusing though as I always subtract 1 star for sub only DVDs so dubbed Paprika gets the same rating from me as the much better, yet sub only Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers. It's how much I enjoy the DVD and if I can only enjoy it one way then my rating has to reflect that. It's not "purist" sure but I came to anime through my love of animation; If I can only watch it cluttered or distractedly, I'm not going to enjoy it as much. Memories, 5/5. I mean, just look at it... No, 4/5 as its sub only; I am consistent when it comes to this... |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7360 |
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Man, not sure if I should be more jealous of the MST3K collection or the "getting a job and apartment out of college" thing, lol (I'm 5 years out, still don't have a job with my degree, I'm starting to give up, honestly). When the movie store I worked at closed down this past June, there was a figure of Gypsy in the back that had just sort of always been there, and I really wanted to keep it. Given that I was the only one who knew where it was from, no one else protested. I think it was a bonus with a set (the set appears to be gone, it was set 19, as seen on amazon) so I got a Gypsy at least! And a ton of bubble mailers for shipping, which is nice.
I saw Escaflowne ages and ages ago, back when I was in high school and ate up pretty much all anime in existence (and my standards were lower). But I still really did not care for the TV show, so I don't think this re-release is going to really change anything and make me jump at it now. I don't remember a whole lot about the show, except the cat girl was the most annoying thing on the planet (and as a fan of actual cats, which can be annoying and awesome, a cat girl being a least favorite character is very unusual for me) and the ending and just the entire back half was disappointing. And I didn't really care for either Hitomi or Van, so that's bad too. I think the dude with long blond hair was cool though, and the music was obviously epic. The mecha itself was pretty cool (since it fell more onto the "organic" end I guess?), but even if I did see it probably 10 years ago, I don't think the odds of me viewing it more favorably is very high (even if the cat girl has a slightly less annoying dub voice now). Which is a shame because I have enjoyed Kazuki Akane in general. In fact, I think I had seen his Noein before this and greatly enjoyed that. And I also like Nobuteru Yuuki designs since I had been into Chrono Cross at that time too (which reminds me, I still need to watch Heat Guy J, I had seen a few eps at Otakon a couple years ago and enjoyed them) Also, I would definitely recommend Memories, if only for Magnetic Rose (though the second OVA is stupid fun and the third one is interesting in that it's all shown as one shot, so you'll still get some entertainment from the other two). I do agree with others that Paprika is his most so-so film, but the imagery, imagination, and music still make it worth at least a view. Steamboy you can skip pretty safety though imo, it was more impressive at its release (its CGI was praised, oh boy, CGI, hooray), but these days, there's really nothing there, certainly not in story, and "meh" in visuals now. I haven't seen Tekkonkinkreet yet (though I'm not really a Taiyo Matsumoto fan, based on his manga that I've rented from the library, which include Sunny and GoGo Monster). |
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belvadeer
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With so much Escaflowne goodness coming, I'm looking forward to the new dub. And in anticipation, I have only one thing to say: spoiler[Never forget Nukushi. T__T]
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fuuma_monou
 Posts: 1867 Location: Quezon City, Philippines |
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Re: Michael's shelves. I also have that massive He-Man mini-comics hardcover collection. Still haven't taken off the shrink-wrap, though.
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Merxamers
Posts: 720 |
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It took me a few years to get a job out of college, and i have a pretty marketable degree; i can sympathize. Something will open up for you, i'm sure; you just have to get your foot in the door somewhere. I have seen that Gypsy figure on amazon before; nice work on picking that up  I ended up putting my resume on some of those job-search sites, like Monster; that helped me a lot.
I haven't read it either, lol; the owner of my local comic shop was raving about it, so i picked it up on a whim. Sadly, i have a massive backlog of manga i haven't gotten around to reading yet. I'll do my best to get to it all, i swear! Regarding Paprika; this is the only Satoshi Kon film i've actually seen, as i saw it in a special local theatrical screening. I thought the plot was a bit messy, but I loved the visuals and themes. If that's supposedly his weakest film, sounds like i better check out the others. I've been interested in Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers for some time, but they aren't as easy to find. |
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relyat08
Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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For what it's worth, I'm a huge Kon fanboy, having seen everything he's done, and Paprika is my second favorite after Perfect Blue. And it only earned that spot after my 3rd rewatch about a year ago. I think giving it another pass helped clear up anything that was confusing the first time around. Visually and thematically, it really is a masterpiece, and I think that plot is really tight as well. |
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