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Buried Treasure - The Laughing Target


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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6229
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 1:21 am Reply with quote
i remember renting this like 10 years ago, before i even knew who Rumiko Takahashi was. i still can't believe she made this, it's completely out of her element.

but then again, she did work under Kazuo Umezu...
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Tenchi Kaze



Joined: 24 Jun 2005
Posts: 28
Location: Alberta, Canada
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 2:18 am Reply with quote
I too remember renting this and the other Rumik World videos often during my early days as a fan (although, my local video store's Rumik World collection lacked Maris the Chojo and instead had the old Mermaid's Forest OVA). I always really liked the visual look of Laughing Target, but honestly, I found the storyline fairly laughable. I felt like it could have been strengthened if the show had been longer; the thing was so brief that it barely had time to develop much of anything.
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kazenoyume



Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 425
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 2:30 am Reply with quote
v1cious wrote:
i remember renting this like 10 years ago, before i even knew who Rumiko Takahashi was. i still can't believe she made this, it's completely out of her element.

but then again, she did work under Kazuo Umezu...


It isn't, really. Horror is something that's not an uncommon venture for her. There's Mermaid Saga of course, which is often extremely dark and horrific, as well as several other similarly dark short stories (Sleep and Forget, When My Eyes Got Wings, Hidden in the Pottery, etc). Even the early volumes of InuYasha are really dark and horror intense at times, although she toned that down a lot as the series went on and said darkness was toned down in the anime from the beginning.

That being said, you think Firetripper ages badly? I think it's really charming. Crying or Very sad

I'm thrilled to see Laughing Target here though. It's really fantastic and legitimately creepy.
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nargun



Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 930
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 2:52 am Reply with quote
kazenoyume wrote:
It isn't, really. Horror is something that's not an uncommon venture for her. There's Mermaid Saga of course, which is often extremely dark and horrific, as well as several other similarly dark short stories (Sleep and Forget, When My Eyes Got Wings, Hidden in the Pottery, etc). Even the early volumes of InuYasha are really dark and horror intense at times, although she toned that down a lot as the series went on and said darkness was toned down in the anime from the beginning.


There's a lot of horror in Urusei Yatsura too, actually; probably more than a third of the chapters would pass as horror, were they played straight. They aren't, of course, they're played for laughs, but "as well" rather than "instead of". Ranma's somewhat similar, too.
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DonQuigleone



Joined: 31 May 2007
Posts: 154
Location: Dublin, Ireland
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 3:52 am Reply with quote
Will Justin ever do something on Legend of the Galactic Heroes? It's a bit of a Buried Treasure, as many haven't watched it, and it still holds up really well. Same goes for the original Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, though less so.
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atlanime



Joined: 22 May 2008
Posts: 67
Location: Atlanta, GA.
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 4:59 am Reply with quote
This was one of Takahashi's few genuine horror titles, but it was still really good, and set America up for future J-horror stuff like Ringu.
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kawaiibunny3



Joined: 10 Aug 2008
Posts: 534
Location: Houston, Texas
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 7:17 am Reply with quote
oh golly, i just saw the dub VHS at half-price books for 50 cents last week D:
but I shrugged it off because I thought it would be bad

gotta go back there today and get it...
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BleuVII



Joined: 19 Sep 2006
Posts: 672
Location: Tokorozawa, Japan
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 7:49 am Reply with quote
DonQuigleone wrote:
Will Justin ever do something on Legend of the Galactic Heroes? It's a bit of a Buried Treasure, as many haven't watched it, and it still holds up really well. Same goes for the original Super Dimensional Fortress Macross, though less so.


But LotGH is over 100 episodes! That's gonna be a tough one to pull off if he hasn't already seen it. As he himself said,

Quote:
There are forgotten possible gems that I simply haven't seen yet, but enough of them are 50+ episode sci-fi epics that watching unfamiliar material presents a risky time investment.


Anyway, have you ever thought about doing a manga version of Buried Treasure? It could be interesting.
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cool3865



Joined: 31 Aug 2006
Posts: 770
Location: Austin, TX
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 8:28 am Reply with quote
im gonna get this, i might remember seeing this but i dunno
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15575
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:00 am Reply with quote
Quote:
The once-hilarious Maris the Chojo (The Supergal) is now quite boring and predictable,


Man, I hope not. That was my favorite of that Rumik series, and I always wanted a manga.

Quote:
and the time traveling romance Fire Tripper is flaccid and old fashioned.


Fire Tripper is only annoying now, because she chose to reboot it as Inu Yasha.

Quote:
Laughing Target has a few pacing problems (as one might expect from a 30-something page story stretched to this length),


I take it you also have that OOP manga from Viz, too? Wink

Quote:
US release out of print, not easy to find.


That's probably because Takahashi hates her ex-fans, and just wants idiots to buy her stuff, nowadays.
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Mevious



Joined: 03 Jul 2008
Posts: 78
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 9:31 am Reply with quote
Justin wrote:
Things are further complicated by Azusa's arrival in school the next day. Scared by the outside world (she was clearly very sheltered), Azusa notices Hitomi's puzzled glances. This clearly won't do. After dark, when Hitomi is in the locker room after archery practice, Azusa approaches her. She makes it very clear that she claims Yuzuru as her own. She also makes it clear that she's no longer even human. What follows is a fairly by-the-book supernatural thriller, a cat and mouse game that reminded me somewhat of Terminator. It's very well done.


You put "Hitomi" instead of "Satomi." I can't tell if this was a mistake or not as I've never seen the show.
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Swissman



Joined: 11 May 2006
Posts: 797
Location: Switzerland
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 10:02 am Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
Quote:
The once-hilarious Maris the Chojo (The Supergal) is now quite boring and predictable,


Man, I hope not. That was my favorite of that Rumik series, and I always wanted a manga.

Well, I've seen it recently again after more than thirteen years and I still think it's an enjoyable short comedy. The parodies of sf shows, of wrestling and cameos from other Takahashi shows are nicely placed and the Jackie-Chan-style "blooper reel" at the end is hilarious.
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DonQuigleone



Joined: 31 May 2007
Posts: 154
Location: Dublin, Ireland
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 10:36 am Reply with quote
BleuVII wrote:

But LotGH is over 100 episodes! That's gonna be a tough one to pull off if he hasn't already seen it.


Believe me, it's quite engrossing, also each 26 episode season can sort of stand on it's own (in that each season ends satisfyingly). Still they're both big classics, that don't get very much attention these days.
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TokyoGetter



Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 416
Location: CA. You can tell by the low moral standards.
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 12:47 pm Reply with quote
DonQuigleone wrote:
BleuVII wrote:

But LotGH is over 100 episodes! That's gonna be a tough one to pull off if he hasn't already seen it.


Believe me, it's quite engrossing, also each 26 episode season can sort of stand on it's own (in that each season ends satisfyingly). Still they're both big classics, that don't get very much attention these days.


Seconded. I adore LOTGH, because it KEEPS MOVING. People will talk about shonen shows that run 150 episodes and then entire long filter arcs, whereas LOTGH was all business.
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AirCooledMan_2006



Joined: 09 Jul 2006
Posts: 594
Location: Delaware, U.S.
PostPosted: Thu Sep 25, 2008 1:03 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
He's just been informed that his "fiancée" is coming to live with them (also his second cousin), and Satomi is incredulous that he has a fiancée.


WTF? They're COUSINS and they're arranged to be married?

Wouldn't their kids be freaks?
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