Forum - View topicWhat are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11532 |
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I would ask you to read Steve Jones' episode reviews because not only are they really thoughtful and well written, but because they exist I kinda feel redundant giving you my thoughts since he said everything I would say and much more. 
And no, the hilarous little vignette inside his mind with all his various personality aspects discussing what to do was a one off, so you didn't forget anything. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15546 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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That is too bad, because I think that it would have been great for characterisation.
I tried, but it creates weird dissonance where I somehow missed something amazing that was right in front of me. Like that apparently the concert was the best thing ever, and I can barely recall it before. Well, I have said that despite how I have been into Carol and Tuesday, I am not a really big music person, maybe also why above I said that I found the music part of Re:Stage to be its weakest part. I have reached a part where my brain starts to shut down, it tough to leave an imprint of a song I mostly have to read to understand anything. I will admit that I am probably mostly to blame. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11532 |
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Yeah, I'm not sure how you could forget the concert. 
But your saying that reminds me of Ritsuka's mental videotape rewinding to remember what happened from the time he got home backwards to the concert, and then freaking out about it. I guess you're both in the same boat.
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charlesnester
Posts: 13 |
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I love comedy so much and see Charley Chaplain videos right now.
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Spastic Minnow
 Bargain HunterExempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4629 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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Went to see Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl last night.
It really is a very good resolution to the series (although some of it doesn't seem to make sense) but I'm not sure it was really necessary to spend almost $15 to see it in a theater. I wonder though if it will be withheld as a free streaming option to force as many as possible to pay for it, |
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hidenime.com
Posts: 3 |
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i currently watch "Ahiru no Sora"
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15546 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Just watched Black Fox on Crunchyroll, I think that I had come across the name at some point, but thought that it was going to be a tv series or something, but good on Crunchyroll getting anime movies. As a general description, I do get the feeling that it may have meant to be a tv series at some point, like there were meant to be more interaction with different characters that just got filed down for a movie length. I still think it was actually pretty good though, there being ninja main character with robot sidekicks and psychic powers.
But I think there may have actually been another good reason for being a movie that I did not realize until the end credits were rolling. This was actually a modern super hero movie! First had me thinking it was odd that ninjas would play a part an anime, and yet the setting actually seems English, probably American. It felt like a really odd choice to do that, but when the end credits pop up it actually made me start laughing, because it was just like something you see in a Marvel movie, and I realized. This was actually a super hero origin movie, an anime that did what has been in the so successful marvel movies, and did it without having to overcompensate on the hero image or American setting, the sort of thing that was kind of in HeroMan, The Reflection, or even MHA. It kind of captured why I am into the genre. Checked out the review, and I have to agree it did kind of telegraph something too hard, the reveal of spoiler[Melissa being a robot]. I thought it was reasonably hinted at, and I figured it out, when spoiler[Mia said Melissa was cold, causing Melissa to stumble back and say she gets that way]. I automatically thought back to earlier in the movie where spoiler[Rikka went to the secret spot and you see a capsule saying 00, so I pieced together why the two of them were together], but then it went further making spoiler[her cut her finger] be a big deal than it should have otherwise. It should have had more confidence in not needing to be so heavy handed, which I think it thought that it would need some level of being more obvious for how the ending played out. Otherwise, I liked the movie, and were pleasantly surprised how it kept me feeling invested, even if it had me thinking a few times things would have more impact over a season's worth of episodes could afford. When I saw that this was pushed from being a tv series to a movie, I thought the animation or art might have some problem, but really I think all of that was actually pretty good, no complaints at all in that department. I give a rating of Very good (8/10), don't miss it, you should check it out. |
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phia_one
Posts: 1660 Location: Pennsylvania |
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I just binged Bem(2019) and what a disappointment. It had all the ingredients to make a great show, but the writing was so sloppy and inconsistent.
First problem is the writers really didn't know what to do with Sonia (the audience surrogate) after the first episode. They tried to make her remain relevant by having her know people that appeared later in the show. The show tells us she's a by the book cop yet she spoiler[shows up to court without any sort of evidence and proceeds to go on a humans are the real bastards type spiel]. The biggest thing going against the show are the villains. I know that the original Bem aired in the 60s so maybe they were trying to keep some of the cheese? To name a few we have: a bowling guy, a guy that gets turned into a giant robotic vacuum cleaner (I'm being 100% serious about this), a ninja, and a mad scientist that looks like he either escaped from a David Bowie video or an early Tim Burton film. The last episode airs tomorrow so I'll probably have more things to face palm at. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15546 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I on the other end have been watching BEM (2019) as it was being released, and just finished it with its 12th episode. Yeah, it is pretty bad. It is not like it is all bad, it does have some elements that feel competent that I think some people would be into it, but in general it just kind of feels like an unfocused mess that could not decide on one tone, with a setting they maybe put thought into but never properly explored.
It had like one dumb episode towards the end, focused on a politician that would be important going into the final arc, and looked like the sort of thing that would be getting set up over a long period of time. I don't think the guy had shown up before this episode, and when you watch the interactions it kind of feels like something that would happen in other episodes, but was all squeezed into a single episode, with lapses of time that just felt really awkward for keeping track on what was supposed to be happening and what the relationship should be. Kind of like what phia_one said about police girl Sonia, how the show had no idea what to do with her. It just really feels unfinished in how to use its pieces, after thinking the pieces it had were cool. It especially made for a sloppy ending, which had things like little girl drawing true form of one of the monster girls as a sweet moment, but makes no sense if they had only just met. Along with the super heavy handed symbolism it did with the bridge, which felt both over explained and undercooked. Its themes of an upper and lower cast in their society, which it tried to set up as a core theme, but never felt properly done. Such as that I would assume the high school for much of the setting was in the upper parts, but nothing is ever brought up in that regards, when the other main settings are the things with street kids that was obviously lower, and police working in the lower. More work should have been made to connect these settings, not only by the characters in them, but how these characters think about the other parts. The cops on the street children who have abusive parents, the school kids on law enforcement and lower class people, and what causes these different halves. It had pieces in places that were decent, but as a whole it just falls super short. I give BEM 2019 a rating of Not really good (4/10), but not a total waste of time because of individual parts and some kind of nice design. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11532 |
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Gave up on BEM after the bowling guy. It wasn't that that put me off, that's just my marker. I just couldn't get interested enough in it to watch it out of more than boredom and I wasn't that bored I guess.
Nevertheless, I did finish Try Knights. Oof, what a sorry mess that was. Low effort, off-model animation, clumsy and repetitive dialog, generic music, no sense at all of the rules of rugby even though they had a segment at the end of each ep going over terms. Not one conversion kick after a try. The team that scored was often as not the team who still had possession of the ball next. In the final game, spoiler[the last score we saw was 58-37, but apparently after only two 5 pt. tries, our guys won?] Not sure! Credits roll, then we see spoiler[some of the main players from both teams in the final game, now apparently on the Japan team together against UK in Rugby World Cup, I guess?] Not sure! The End. Oi. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15546 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Good thing I avoided Try knights then, although in general getting me to watch a rugby show would probably have been a really hard sell. Rugby is treated quite the thing in Australia in terms of competition, and I have had negative interest. I remember a particular time in High School I was asked who I supported, as in accepted that everyone in the school should have been able to answer, and I could only respond in confusion. There is maybe a difference Aussie Rules, and perhaps I am mistaken over which one, but I really cannot tell you.
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Cam0
 Posts: 4920 |
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I've been watching March Comes in Like a Lion. I remember liking Honey and Clover years ago which is by the same mangaka so the show had been on my mind since it started airing. I really like the characters and the relationships in the show. The character writing is phenomenal and this is one of those stories that I feel like just get better over time as the characters develop and you learn more about them.
I love the complex relationship between Rei and his stepsister Kyoko. Nikaido came off as a bit annoying at first, but he has turned into one of my favourite characters because his sincerity and positivity make him a great friend for Rei. The 3 sisters act as great support pillars for Rei and I always love the moments when he just goes to eat dinner with them. The characters are so well written and I find myself feeling symphetic towards characters that first seemed like awful people. One of my main problems would be that I don't find myself being as entertained when the show focuses too much on shogi. Particularly when it focuses too much on characters other than Rei playing shogi. Now my actual main problem with the show isn't actually with the writing, it's with the direction. Unfortunately, I hate Shaft's style (or maybe it's the style of one specific director). I cannot, for the life me, get past my dislike for the weird Shaft style. I dunno what it is exactly but I feel like every Shaft show I've seen, I've felt like there's something weird and alien about the direction and I don't like it. ef, Bakemonogatari, Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl, Madoka, Nisekoi... I had issues with all of 'em. I definitely feel like that if March Comes in Like a Lion didn't get Shafted, I'd be enjoying it a lot more. I'm sorry all of you fans of the head tilt, I wish I didn't have this weird Shaft hate infliction. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15546 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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What about the parts that express aspects of Rei's depression? The images that look like he is drowning, that he feels like he is drowning or sinking, with the world bleak and dark, even when things might seem a bit bright it can be under the surface as he feels completely alone. But then there are bits of warm light, that are the most comforting thing in the world to him, things that give him hope, which at times will have him run away from it because he is afraid of having himself able to feel that, or that he feels like he is not worthy of. Sometimes the directing can get in the way, but I think there are other times it works super well to explore Rei's internal self. And it evolves as the show goes on, and Rei doesn't like just stop feeling depressed, but finds ways of coping, and even help others who are also having a tough time. It is why Nikaido goes from a silly annoyance, to a huge pillar of someone Rei has the largest respect for. The character writing is strong, but I think it is foolish to just discount the entirety of its style, even if we have to yet again go through things like the Shaft head tilt. It is like you might never realize what the visual direction did at times to sell you on how any particular event should feel. Maybe I am just fanboying off too much, as a total introvert who had large social problems and not always been the most happy, March Comes in Like a Lion touched me in a very deep way. It is why I have tried to say to people who might have experienced some depression, that the show is kind of great despite how depressing it can feel at times, because the show knows how to treat its topic with respect and nuance, that there is no magic solution, but there is hope. The Hina arcs feel like simultaneously the hardest to sit through, but the most impactful. And there is the pairing of music, such as the music video BUMP OF CHICKEN made before it became an anime, with their song Fighter, which ended up being used as the ED when it became an anime. I just kind of started crying writing this. It is parts like seeing images of Hina reaching out to child Rei that always breaks me, as does her crying on the bench. |
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Cam0
Posts: 4920 |
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Eh, those aren't the parts that I really dislike about the direction but they don't work for me all that well either. The parts that work are moments like when in the second season, which I'm watching right now, spoiler[there's scene where Hina comes home, but she doesn't enter the room. Akari gets worried and opens the door to see Hina just standing there. The camera focuses on her legs showing her mismatched shoes. And then Hina starts crying and the episode ends. It's a little thing that immediately tells the viewer that Hina is being bullied.] Or a scene also from the second season spoiler[where Goto visits his comatose wife. The slight hesitation from Goto before entering the room. The dark room with his wife being illuminated by moonlight. The typically intimidating Goto greeting his wife with a gentle and sad voice and expression. The cut to an overhead shot just showing Goto holding his wife's hand.] That's the kind of stuff that I really like. The weird imagery and such not so much. Like when spoiler[Goto ties Kyoko to a bed], there's a cut to this weird image of bow ties. Like I get it, tying a knot and bow ties, there's a relation there. But just an image of bow ties that gives me an image of... curtain fabric or something feels so random. That's the kind of Shaft weirdness that I don't like. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15546 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I agree that there has been little touches that felt a step too unnecessary in Shaft weirdness, which I recall being especially bad in something like Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase, where it just got way too intrusive. But at the same time you are admitting that there are some good subtle direction like the first two you spoiler tabbed.
And you got me re-watching a YouTube video that explained one of the great things about the show is how it can kind of make you feel empathy for all of its characters, even the ones you were entirely sure before you hated, even if you still would not forgive said character. Like I thought that I disliked Nikaidou at first, but later I think he is actually an inspiring person that there should be more like in the world. Also, there is the coolest teacher ever. |
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