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Shelf Life - The Boy and the Beast




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partially



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 702
Location: Oz
PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 10:24 am Reply with quote
Quote:
feels rough and unfocused


To be honest this should be the criticism of ALL of Mamoru's works. I still hope each time that his next film he we carefully sit down and work through what he wants to focus on. Instead every time the films tend towards rough and unfocused. With his latest two works being even worse in this regard than his earlier films. They are still good films, but it holds them back from being great films.

The other side is of course Shinkai whose films generally remain laser focussed. (Ignoring the meandering mess that was CWCLV Rolling Eyes). Which also has its problems.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4161
PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 11:20 am Reply with quote
partially wrote:
Quote:
feels rough and unfocused


To be honest this should be the criticism of ALL of Mamoru's works.


So I'm not the only one to notice this? I haven't seen The Boy and The Beast but there have been too many times in the other movies where I thought "And this is part of the movie why exactly?" Things don't get developed or explained but seem to be there only because they're in other works. Wolf Children is particularly bad at this from the father... he supplied the "wolf" part of the story and that's all we need to know- err, that's all we need to know? Call him "The Wolf With No Backstory"... on down to Yuki's friend Souhei who was there to cement her connection to the human world... that would be her mother so... wait, to set up a possible romantic connection... no, he just disappears...maybe to give Yuki something to do that's neither wolf or mother related?

Wow, that's it?
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st_owly



Joined: 20 May 2008
Posts: 5234
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 2:21 pm Reply with quote
Best friend and I went to see it at the cinema a few weeks ago and basically came to this same conclusion. Could've been a much better movie if it was /just/ a father/son tale between Kyuta and Kumatetsu. The bits where Kyuta started going back to the human world towards the end seemed especially superfluous.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 2:57 pm Reply with quote
It's nice to see a review that mentions The Boy and the Beast's high points for a change (and praises the English dub). Admittedly, I do agree the movie really needed to keep the focus on the father/son bonding more than anything as I still found Ren obnoxious even after spoiler[he got older (growing older didn't necessarily mean he got more mature)] and the fact spoiler[everyone in the movie states that Kumatetsu needs Ren around to be better, as if he was a blank slate without him].

That Hosoda Collection is seriously making me want to double dip and get it though.
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BodaciousSpacePirate
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Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3019
PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 6:12 pm Reply with quote
Considering that certain Danganronpa 3 plot points get ruined unless you alternate one episode at a time back and forth between the two shows, I find it baffling that they choose to release the two shows separately.
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harminia



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 2064
Location: australia
PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 7:16 pm Reply with quote
I didn't mind Boy & The Beast but it got kind of boring when Kyuta got older. Kaede was such a useless character, she was only there for plot purposes and would keep saying deep meaningful things and saying she ~understood~ Kyuta when she knew nothing about him. Like, when she's basically like "I understand what you're going through I can relate", made me roll my eyes because uh I don't think you can relate to someone being raised in a monster world.

Also the ending with Kumatetsu was so sappy and lame, but that's just a personal issue.
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NeoStrayCat



Joined: 14 Sep 2011
Posts: 634
PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2017 10:21 pm Reply with quote
Eh, I never really saw any problems with Boy and the Beast, it was an alright film, also more or less in the same vain as Wolf Children.

Also, really happy to see the issues getting fixed and "Shelf Obsessed" making a comeback soon.
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Shaterri



Joined: 03 Jan 2008
Posts: 173
PostPosted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 12:58 am Reply with quote
If Hinako is the thing I think it is from the box art, then it's basically just a series of unabashed excuses for fanservice - think something along the lines of One Room or even moreso Anime de Training from a season or two ago, except much, much egregious. It might be okay if that's your thing, but I feel a little guilty having even dipped into it a bit.
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Vibrant Wolf



Joined: 07 Feb 2016
Posts: 109
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Oct 03, 2017 2:15 am Reply with quote
Shaterri wrote:
If Hinako is the thing I think it is from the box art, then it's basically just a series of unabashed excuses for fanservice - think something along the lines of One Room or even moreso Anime de Training from a season or two ago, except much, much egregious. It might be okay if that's your thing, but I feel a little guilty having even dipped into it a bit.


either that, or it's going to be impressively boring.
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