Forum - View topicSand Land (movie + ONA).
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11440 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Movie: Sand Land (movie) ONA: Sand Land: The Series (ONA) Source: Manga (completed @ 1 volume, by Akira Toriyama) Demographic: Shounen Animation Studio: Sunrise, Kamikaze Douga, Anima Genres: action, adventure, fantasy, supernatural Themes: aristocracy, demi-humans, demons, desertpunk, post-apocalyptic, rebellion Plot Summary: In the far future, war has destroyed the entire Earth, leaving only a barren wasteland where the supply of water is controlled by the greedy king. In search of a long-lost lake, Sheriff Rao asked the king of the demons for help...and got the king's son, Beelzebub, and his assistant, Thief. Together the unlikely trio sets off across the desert, facing dragons, bandits and the deadliest foe of all... the King's army itself! Air Date & Platform: Movie: August 18, 2023 (Friday) Available on: Pending ONA: March 20, 2024 (Wednesday) Available on: Hulu Episode Count / Runtime: Movie: 108 minutes ONA: 13 episodes Total: 13 episodes ---------------------------------- Sorry I missed this before the ONA started airing. Not too late to chime in, I suppose. Rest in peace, Toriyama-sensei! 
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Gina Szanboti
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Why is no one watching this? It's wonderful!! I'm not a DB fan, though I don't necessarily dislike it, but the characters in this are just brimming with personality in myriad ways that make them all quite different from each other (as opposed to pretty much everyone in DB just wanting to get stronger and going about it differently).
I love Belz insistence on how evil he is for heinous things like not washing his hands one out of ~thirty times after peeing, or returning a videogame later than promised, when he's clearly one of the most moral characters in the series. And his expressions and JoJo poses are hilarious. His seiyuu is knocking it out of the park. Likewise, Rao, who is suitably cranky in a get-off-my-lawn sort of way, except he would never say that. He'd just give you his patented don't-test-me-punk frown and you'd probably move on in fear of his epic moustache, unless you're an idiot like Muniel. Even as a villain, I'd normally say the angel Muniel is so over-the-top evil he lacks only a moustache to twirl, but somehow he doesn't seem overdone, but rather like a really dangerous and narcissistic brat. He's a perfect counter to Beelzebub. The first 6 episodes were originally all there was supposed to be, and that arc really is a must-see even if you don't continue. But the current arc is gradually closing in on that stellar first one. If you're not watching this, I need you to rectify that! And then join me here and in the Review thread Talkback. It's like a Kingdom desert over there. I'm lonely. 
Btw, the comment sections for this are not contiguous yet for some reason. So the review and comments for eps 1-6 are here. From 7 on they're here. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24141 |
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It's in the queue - honest!
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smurky turkey
Posts: 2635 |
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Same here, it is just a struggle to not get buried in the seasonal anime, even more so when shows like this just pop up.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11588 |
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But it popped up at the beginning of March! Yet there was amazingly little fanfare over it, which I thought was odd since Toriyama had just passed. I figured people would want to see it just due to that. Of course being on Hulu doesn't help either.
I'm also surprised at how meh the comments on the first arc are by the few who bothered to say anything. I seem to be the only one besides the reviewer who likes it. Ok, community ratings after the first couple episodes have been 4 or better, but that could be five people voting. Dunno what people didn't like about those two episodes, since nobody has explained their misgivings. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ |
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Edjwald
 Posts: 1567 |
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I thought this was one of the anime that didn't have a platform. Hulu isn't as bad as Amazon Prime when it comes to burying their anime, but you think they would have put this one on my "TV For You" list since I only signed up to catch up to Bleach and Undead Unluck and Heavenly Delusion. I just checked and scrolled through and found the other three new Spring 24 anime and tons of reality shows and anime like Cop Craft and Phantasy Online 2, but nary a whisper of Sand Land,
Anyway, I'll check it out today. |
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Edjwald
Posts: 1567 |
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Okay, so I just watched episode 1 and loved it. What a weird #$%@ing anime. When I first saw that BeyBlade anime for 11 year olds style on the promo art, I didn't think I'd like it. And the animation was...I have no idea if it was terrible or kind of awesome. The first time I saw a car moving, it looked like one of those old 60's movies where the car is blatantly on a film set with a movie screen behind it, and I thought Wha...why? This is a cartoon. It doesn't have to do that.... but the characters lips moved when they should, and when the action scenes came around, the animation seemed spot on The character art isn't realistic, or even realistic-ish, but it every character has a lot of personality, from the Abbott and Costello pair of soldiers at the beginning to the gruff old veteran sheriff to Beelzebrat.
The desert wasteland in need of water is always a solid apocalyptic background too. Mostly I just loved the energy of the show. It wasn't predictable, but it wasn't trying so hard to be bizarre that it was hard to follow or annoying either. In fact, I kind of have a feeling that the author/artist likes old movies. Very different from the usual anime tropes. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11588 |
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Glad you liked it! And it gets better even! I know what you mean about being put off by the kids' show art style, and frankly, as much as I've warmed up to it over the years, Toriyama's art never grabbed me from the start. Still not sure how I feel about Dragon Ball's designs overall, but at least they're creative as hell.
Anyway, enjoy the rest. I guess if we get more, it won't be Toriyama's work.  But then, the second arc is pretty great too, and I don't think that's from his one-shot manga (could be wrong), so it seems to be in good hands if that's the case.
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Edjwald
Posts: 1567 |
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I'm sort of a strange case as far as anime fans go, because I got into the medium as a full grown adult (in theory anyway) and have never once watched an entire episode of Dragonball Z, Ditto for Naruto, Nor did I know this anime had anything to do with the creator of that milestone that so many anime fans talk about.
But I can say that I'm loving it. It doesn't feel like a typical anime so much as one of those old action films before everything became special effect driven. Great world building, and the sheriff might just officially be my favorite old geezer character in anime. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 24141 |
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Just watched the first episode and like Gina and Edjwald loved it. Actually, I really liked the visual style, too. Seems like well-animated action scenes and yes the characters are fun.
Sexy Terrier - anime nomenclature strikes again! |
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RupanSansei
 Posts: 125 |
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i plan to re-watch it properly soon because when i first watched it i was skimming through trying to find any hidden Tori-bot (Toriyama's depiction of himself he used in some of his series)
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