Forum - View topicWhat are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)
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MorwenLaicoriel
 Posts: 1617 Location: Colorado |
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Ahhh, that was the anime that got me interested in anime again, after a few years of just focusing on video games. Also the dub that made me a dub fan. Good choice! I have to admit, though, as much of a dubbie as I am, I think the first episodes are sort of weak, particularly when Ed and Al are younger (Vic was forced to play kid!Ed because they couldn't find anyone that could sound convincingly like him as a kid). Honestly, I tend to watch the first episodes in sub, too. |
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braves
 Posts: 2309 Location: Puerto Rico (but living in Texas) |
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I really like the dub, but the script is kinda wack at times. It leaves out important details that explain situations. Heck, the issues even come up on the first episode and especially the last few.... The only really bad thing I have to say about FUNimation's subtitles is that they are too small.
Wow, the lineup that your anime club has is pretty good. I have one at my university, but they are 1) subbie elitists 2) only have serious showings of new shows (they did show the TMNT anime just for laughs). 3) Hate on Naruto. And that is unacceptable. 
One Piece is in my top 5 Shonen series, but it does take a little while to get into. Everybody that's a fan series of the series seems to say that they really got hooked during the Arlong arc, but that wasn't the case for me. I did notice an improvement during that arc but the scene in the manga that really got me into it was one panel that takes 2 pages where spoiler[Luffy and his crew are in the Calm Belt and they meet up with a bunch of huge sea creatures (forgot their names  ) and they're just sitting on one of the sea creature's head. ]That part had me thinking "This is epic" even though in hindsight it was a simple enough scene. Whiskey Peak is my favorite arc so far though. 
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ryanjm
Posts: 11 |
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It is one of my favorite anime. Very good story. |
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JacobC
ANN Past Staff
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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It doesn't help that Cornello is such a goofy goober. On long-running shows, I find it normal for the VAs to take a few episodes to understand their roles, although this has been showing less and less in the more recent dubs I watch.
Um...really? I know they rephrased a lot of things to sound more conversational, but I don't remember info being lost early on, quite the contrary, several points were explained and phrased better in the FMA reversion. That is, until the last three episodes of the show.  I highly recommend watching those last three in sub at least once because there are a few details regarding Gluttony and the Gate that just aren't cleared up in the dub, while the sub goes for more expositional language that, while sounding less natural, does explain more discrepancies.
Either way, there's not a BIG difference between the tracks. The biggest discrepancy between the two versions to me is the character of Greed. He's played quite differently in tone between the Japanese and the English, and I still can't decide which take I like better, but it's an interesting thing to look at. |
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Ikari1
 Posts: 531 Location: London |
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Thanks alot TonyK That summary has answered alot of questions. I've just finished Macross frontier ( never seen anything quite like it ), as well as 3 other series I've been watching so I can finally concentrate on Kenshin, Darker than Black and Mushishi. All have been on my to -watch list for awhile but they are shows I think I will have to spend a bit of time with so I can finally get into them now. |
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JacobC
ANN Past Staff
Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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Sorry, I just KEEP coming back here, (I've been unusually active on the forums lately...I need to find some complex project to occupy my time soon!) ...but anyway, I just finished Vampire Knight, and again, like poor Zero, I just want more. I blitzed through episode 13 and now I'm kind of leaning, fangs bared, into season 2 even though it's not here yet whimpering, "WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?!"
On the negative side of things, it was incredibly predictable, but at least it was also easy to understand, right? All our stock characters are remaining, well, stock characters, so time spent with them is annoying time wasted. I was able to predict all the plot events about two episodes in advance, down to that last dungeon scene. spoiler[Kaname loves Yuuki, but he can't have her if Zero dies. Zero has to drink pureblood to keep from devolving into Level E and being killed. Kaname's the only pureblood around. Hmmm. I wonder what Kaname's going to doooo? ]
BUT, on the overwhelmingly positive side of things, this is one of those rare anime like Berserk, Escaflowne, FMA, etc. whose plot was fluid, held in place by likable characters, and kept me barreling into episodes one after the other with no desire to take a little break whatsoever. The characters, by the way, have proven themselves far less cliche than I previously assumed. Yuuki, who I hadn't talked about before because, well, she doesn't have much of a unique personality, is getting more sympathetic. Unlike a lot of anime heroines stuck in love triangles, spoiler[she's proactive. She hasn't spent a lot of time waffling around in her feelings and wondering if devotion to one guy would betray the other. She has had opportunities like that, when she needed to know how to save Zero at the cost of killing Kaname. (Which she didn't even dwell on, of course, actually she removed herself from a situation where she could consider it, the dance.) So, what makes her so stalwart? She doesn't act on impulsive feelings like every other heroine of her ilk, but puts the right thing to do first and foremost. I honestly think Zero's love for her is still unrequited, but she doesn't abandon him to pursue Kaname or consider him a burden either, because she loves him as a friend, and since he's suffering, her duty is to him first and foremost. (This is especially hard for her because she knows Kaname loves her back and it hurts him that Zero is permitted to do what he can't.)] So, she's unique in that she takes action based on what she knows is important, not how she feels, and her feelings aren't all that waffly anyway. They're pretty straightforward, with the exception of her trying to hide that she's also terrified of the vamp she loves. Now, on to Zero. He's gone from whiny vengeful emo kid to strong-willed hero very quickly. Honestly, I've never seen such an honorable human vampire in this kind of fiction before. He spoiler[doesn't whine about his predicament once the secret's out at ALL, but stays stalwart to his duties as a hunter and a prefect and, here's the kicker: also stays true to his vampire nature. Admittedly, this shift didn't occur until Yuuki put her faith in him AND his old master told him to live as well, but at least he did change. I'm really sick of seeing "reluctant vampire" stories where they refuse to drink blood no matter what the circumstances and drive themselves crazy until they become full-on regular bloodsuckers. Zero thinks it's awful that he has to use Yuuki, but he doesn't hesitate to drink blood and keep himself alive and sane. At the same time, he only indulges the basics of his vampire nature and tries to control it while living as a human, (what he'd clearly rather be.) It's a hard tightrope to walk, but it's interesting to see him walk it, and it must take some willpower. He doesn't give up by committing suicide, either, but he does do the bold thing and entrust his life to Yuuki so that he won't hurt anyone else, just himself.] spoiler[One of my favorite little scenes is where he's drinking Yuuki's blood before the dance and she's, you know, just bearing with it. She tries to engage him in conversation and asks, "So, Zero, what does my blood taste like anyway?" and he looks at her with this great cold expression, not mean, not ashamed, just...scolding, really. He says, "What does this have to do with you?" ...and then looks away and just keeps gorging. He's trying so hard not to associate her with the task at hand. If he admitted he was all lustful over her blood, it wouldn't be a survival necessity anymore, and he'd be shifting more to the vampiric nature in him. So he's trying to live as a human who just has to suck blood.] Then Kaname, while still a mystery, has really changed as a character.  spoiler[Never trust a vampire! Kaname is plotting something, and he has been this whole time! Not that he's evil, but, as is the nature of every vampire, he's self-serving and lives to tempt others to ease his own soul. The difference with him is that he only has one person in mind to be his lover: Yuuki. Whatever the means may be, he's trying to keep his reputation intact while seducing Yuuki. Now, if he wants Yuuki, he has to get her to a place where she'd accept becoming a vampire, and only for his sake. She loves him, but not THAT much yet. Some more tweaking is needed, and besides, I think he has some other upheaval up his sleeve. Blood gift or no, he clearly hates Zero, so future developments can't bode well for the poor kid. (But when did they ever?)]
I do finally get the tagline for this show about "misplaced trust." At first, I thought it would be a typical "vampires aren't all bad and can be trusted, and the hunters are the wicked ones" kind of thing, but I'm seeing another side. Yuuki spoiler[trusts Kaname with her life, even if she's afraid of him. Meanwhile, Zero is a ticking time bomb that she's having to mediate. But by the end of the series, given their actions, well, who would you trust your life to? The selfless starving bloodsucker, or the self-serving, plotting benefactor that has curiously bent all these tragedies in his favor? Hmmm. I wonder.] Whew! In brief, I can't call this a guilty pleasure anymore. In its gothic, sophomoric way, I think it's brilliant. It's definitely a lot less stomach-turningly teeny than the Twilight Saga. (I finally tried those books recently. Edward's just okay, but I hate the heroine with a passion, so I gave up.) |
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braves
Posts: 2309 Location: Puerto Rico (but living in Texas) |
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I was just going off of a few episodes that I've tried out, I still haven't rewatched the whole thing in Japanese, but there were some details that were left out: spoiler[like the fact that Lust had told Cornello that the Elrics were in town, thus Cornello orders them to be killed. Sure one could say that her being there implies that she told him, because she had meet them before, but that's too vague for me. ]The "important details" that I was talking about were the ones you mentioned from the last 3 episodes. Sure the dub flows better, but those bits of additional info makes the whole thing have more sense (of course, I'm not saying that the original didn't have continuity errors ). Maybe I'll change my mind once I've seen both of them completely, but that's how I view it for now.
Though, if I go through with watching FMA in Japanese, it'll be the first time that I've watched a series in both languages in its entirety.
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Flaed
 Posts: 54 |
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Hm, I wasn't planning to write anything here until I'd finished the show, but I just wrapped up disc five of BECK and feel the need to comment on it. Most (all?) of the spoilers are for episode 22.
First things first: I hope somebody sets Yoshito on fire. We can spare his innocent guitar (if he even has one).  spoiler[Koyuki should have known better than to trust his "translation," I guess, but then again I would have assumed most people are mature enough not to engage in petty acts of sabotage over a girl neither of the people involved have any actual claim on. Why does Maho continue to hang around Yoshito, anyway? It's not like his terrific arrogance and willingness to kick other people around is exactly a secret.]
I was pretty sure that spoiler[Yoshito would take advantage of Koyuki's ignorance like that], but that's partly because that's. . .how the show rolls. There aren't really any big "triumphant" moments, nothing ever works out the way you want it to, and even moments like spoiler[singing with your favorite band in concert] don't exactly happen the way you dreamed they would. That is what makes it a good show, but it also makes for bittersweet viewing. Especially because Koyuki is probably close to my second favorite anime lead, and I want him to succeed, but I don't feel very confident of his chances.  If I did feel confident of his chances, though, I wouldn't like the show much.
One thing that has surprised me about BECK is that I could honestly care less about rock music, or the success of rock bands; I can't tell if the music Beck/Mongolian Chop Squad plays is good or bad or just okay. But the characters are so well done that it doesn't actually matter. I care because they care. I started the show being very skeptical about this "hit in America" business and now I really want them to succeed. I still don't care about rock music ( ) but even I can tell that Belle Ame is pretty soulless and manufactured, and anyway, I want to see passion win out here.
Onw other thing. . .the mad bicycle ride to Ryuusuke's house after spoiler[Koyuki had given him the wrong set of lyrics] was priceless. spoiler[Particularly when the policeman crashes into the window. . .smart thinking, there. Now apply that critical thinking to seedy romantic rivals, Koyuki, and nothing can stand in your way.]
Really looking forward to the ending, but sad because there will be no more Beck to look forward to in just four short episodes. |
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Animegal999
 Posts: 14 |
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Currently I'm finishing Busou Renkin and Fushigi Yugi. I stopped watching them a while ago. I guess i forgot about them. Fushigi Yugi is so heart-warming. Such an adorable story. And Busou Renkin has awesome fight scenes! And of course, the romance always adds to the excitement!
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ChronoBall X
 Posts: 389 |
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I recently finished the first dub Boxset of Busou Renkin 2 months ago,it's a pretty cool series which is short with only 26 episodes and it's done by the same author as rurouni kenshin for fushigi yuugi,it's a nice heart warming Shoujo anime,Miaka yuuki is funny at times but very caring for Tomahome,I never did get far into the series because I constantly kept taking a break from it. |
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JacobC
ANN Past Staff
Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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Okay, got through Utawarerumono in English this time, I think it helped my comprehension. Maybe. Still...
Me after watching the show: 
Geez, why can't I just come to terms with the fact that the creators PROBABLY didn't think through their story's universe and admit that the "revelations" are bollocks? WHY am I SO compelled to try and figure it out? Gah. I mean, it's really difficult to wrap your brain around, which sucks, because if something's going to be that mentally screwed up, it should at least be sort of profound to boot. Utawa's just overcomplicated, but about puddle-deep. To the best of my understanding: Okay, so Hakuro's spoiler[a god, or perhaps "the god" of our fantasy world, a malevolent and chaotic beast who enjoys granting people's wishes in the way they don't expect and reveals their foolishness. Actually, he's not so much the "creator of the world" as he is the "creator of humanity," because he is its ancestor and prevolution, albeit a superior one. He was somehow frozen to incarnation through a mask that was bound to a mortal form named Iceman. (Judging by the voice similarities between "unfortunate scholar A" and Hakuro/Iceman, I'm going to assume that he possesses the lad who gets shot in that scene. I mean, there's no other reason for that scene at all.) There he was studied, I guess so the scientists could harness the god's power and make the deadly territories above ground livable. Iceman, being unaware of the presence inside him, doesn't know this. (I wouldn't be thinking much if I were fatally bam-bammed, either.) He just kinda goes with it. (Why was this advanced civilization underground when primal peasants can survive on the surface years later? Silly.) It makes sense, though, that if a god suddenly possessed one scientist out of many, the rest would want to know how to get their mitts on that kind of power. However, since Iceman is quite human, he falls in love with one of the many test subjects driftin' around the lab (that were all made from his god-genes...so is it incest?) and names her Mikoto. This questionable dissection of the god-man eventually gets to one of the scientists and he lets Iceman and Mikoto go, to the surface. They survive quite nicely (again, what's with the fear of the outside world, poindexters?) and Iceman has a child with Mikoto, but it doesn't last. The other scientists eventually find him and bring him back, dissecting Mikoto and the child to see what effects living with a god may have had on her own development. Needless to say, this PISSES ICEMAN OFF. The dormant god within him, the malevolent side, awakens and grants the wishes of the scientists for immortality...as primordial ooze. (Well, it never really goes away, heh...) Unfortunately, human Iceman is still in there (and he's naked, like most anime "inner selves") and he's not crazy about this. Here's where it gets "WTF" confusing: Random test subject by the name of Mutsumi? Yeah, apparently she inherited those godlike wish fulfillment powers of the god's/Iceman's/Hakuro's and she (conveniently) awakens to give him his wish, which is, of course, to be shut down. So, everybody's goo, but at least the god has stopped raging. Over time, I can only assume, all the test subjects escape (the jell-o humans couldn't stop them) and started civilization topside. Under the bowels of the earth, the god slept. But then something weird happened. By weird, I mean contrived and silly, because every fantasy anime has to have a yin yang metaphor in it somewhere...anyhoo. Through conflict of will (oh noes, it's that free will message again!) the malevolent god-force and the god-man who retained license over such powers SPLIT! They formed two gods: Onvitaekayan and Witsuarunemitea, respectively. The split takes a long time and many earthquakes, one of which claims Aruruu's life, which Eluluu gets back only in a pact with, what do you know, the Hakuro/Iceman side of the god. (There's totally no point to that scene except so Eluluu can do the whole "preach on free will" thing.) Dii, a scholar of the Onkamiyamukai tribe who possess the godlike powers of Mutsumi, taps into the dormant malevolent god's powers during the seismic craziness when they split, and is chosen as the second vessel. During this time, the god known as Witsuarunemitea has to make like a tree and leaf for some reason, and, because he is the human side of the god, he incarnates again as the Iceman and doesn't remember a bloody thing. Begin story. There's a lot more details in there about people who have made pacts with either side of the gods and who haven't, but that's confusing, and I honestly don't give a big hang. You make a pact with the god, you get what you want until it turns around to bite you in the butt, basically. So...if the god has two names, is there one name for him? I guess it's just Utawarerumono, isn't it? "The one being glorified," or whatever.] What an unseemly mess. I mean, I know they're trying to make some cornball statement about free will and divisive devotion, but there are EASIER ways to do it that don't involve spoiler[random mechs and sci-fi. And Mutsumi. I mean, that has to be the most contrived device...they just made her up so they could have someone to seal up the god and do more free will cornballin' with Camyu. Oh yeah, that vampire thing she does to Aruruu is never explained either. The story would make WAY more sense without Mutsumi. Find some way for the ghost of Mikoto to cover things on the "sealing of the god" plot device. We already know she can reincarnate, anyway. (Eluluu)] Again, why do I try? I get the feeling the writers didn't pour themselves into making this story very unified, as evidenced by the "villain of the week" pattern full of extraneous baddies, Nuwangi's sudden irrelevance, and the whole unresolved Rak Shine thing, not to mention all the junk I just sifted through in my mega-spoiler. NOTE: Went back and looked at the spoiler[scientists' capture of the threesome...they're all wearing heavy-duty protection gear. So they can't breathe up top! Ooooooh. Okay. Only people with god-genes can breathe on the surface. Makes...sense?  ]
NOTE #2: Wait-wait-wait, that whole Rak Shine thing? spoiler[Let's see, if he was a farce created by the emperor of Shikeripatchim to rally Touka's country against Hakuro...and the emperor of Shikeripatchim's strings were being pulled by Dii/Onvitaekayan, who was awakened by the rage of having his wife and child killed, then...Rak Shine's great crime was murdering his own wife and child! It WAS orchestrated by Dii and he chose a crime that would resonate with the spirit of Witsuarunemitea inside Hakuro, bringing the beast out in the next few episodes!] IT DOES MAKE SENSE! Well, even if it is just a coincidence.
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Dorcas_Aurelia
 Posts: 5344 Location: Philly |
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The game explains a little more some of the parts you found confusing, but for the most part it seems like you've got it all sorted out.
spoiler[Mutsumi is presented a bit more gradually in the Iceman flashback sequence. She first is introduced by psychic communications with Iceman, and is shown to be jealous of the attention Mikoto receives from him. Eventually, when Iceman mentions her to the scientist, the scientist comments that that shouldn't be possible, since they've already dissected her. It's not a lot, but it's more than suddenly throwing in a Camyu look-alike to tie the plot together. Camyu's vampire subplot isn't explained any better really, although it does spend more time foreshadowing her later importance. Most of that subplot, though, is spent visiting Hakuoro. At night. In bed. It's a little funny, but they never bother really attaching it properly to the main story.] |
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murph76
 Posts: 3291 Location: Akron, OH |
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I just finished X TV. A very good series. I enjoyed spoiler[how it had a huge cast but everyone had his or her own backstory and role to play in the plot. But at the same time, that made me wish the series was longer and had time to draw those stories out a little more. Some of those characters had their backstory, conflict and conclusion in the same episode, and then were sidelined the rest of the series. To me, it thought it seemed too fast. ]
I also enjoyed spoiler[how the series seemed to be more about the characters dealing with their (often tragic) destinies and living with the role fate had given them in the conflict. To me, it was more interesting to watch how that played out than the fighting.] |
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living_puppet
 Posts: 13 |
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JesuOtaku, I agree with your comments about Vampire Knight. I just finished it as well, and it's great. It was a guilty pleasure at first. I figured it was going to be an angsty teen drama with vampires - and it is. You have some familiar character archetypes, gothic imagery, and a love triangle - but it all works...and it works well. I agree with you about Yuuki being a bit of a more proactive heroine, and that's refreshing. I like how spoiler[quick she is to understand Zero's behavior once she realizes he's a Vampire...so often I see clueless heroines dwelling over misunderstandings for half a century in order to drag out the tension. But this is well paced, and Yuuki doesn't come off as stupid, even though she is clearly taking some pretty big risks.] As for Zero, I agree. It's interesting how spoiler[utterly stuck he is - he can't die without hurting and abandoning Yuuki. He's becoming more dangerous but he can't give in and allow himself to fall to a level E without becoming something he hates, nor can he continue to hang on to his humanity. And now he's had to resort to drinking Kaname's blood. What ever will he do?
] I'm looking forward to season 2 absolutely.
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JacobC
ANN Past Staff
Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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Okay. That really helps, actually. It further cements Mutsumi's role as spoiler[the companion to the wicked god-half of Onvitaekayan, one who would echo and escalate his power. The Witsuarunemitea half chose a different companion, because he's a kind and beneficent human. Since he's the one in control most of the time, it makes sense that Mutsumi would become jealous of Mikoto for being able to live with the god, and why she wanted to be "chosen by the other father" and happily sealed him away from his problems. ...It is a little creepy that Camyu visits Hakuoro in bed, though. That's Karula's job, and she brings beer. ]
You know, it just now hit me that that would gross Zero out about 10 times more than it does Kaname...and Kaname's still pretty grossed out. MAN, I can't wait for season 2. It's gonna be really awkward in that room when he gets done.
Oh yeah...I have nothing in the queue to watch. Heh. I guess I should spend time on schoolwork for a while until someone at Western throws another series at me.
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