Forum - View topic"This Ugly and beautiful world" - impressions?
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CorneredAngel
 Posts: 854 Location: New York, NY |
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So, Gainax' last title (Puchi Puri Yucie) somehow managed to make no splash in American fandom whatsoever - for reasons that'll be completely beyond me; the only thing I can think of offhand is that people were turned off by the connection between PPY and the Princess Maker games.
Now, KonoMini comes along, e1 is now making its way around the usual distribution channels. My impressions/thoughts are as follows (reposted from my LJ) --- First, let's get the bad things out of the way. Looks like the "revolutionary" phase of Gainax anime (Eva, KareKano, FLCL) is conclusively over. Abenobashi was basically Yamaga's expensive personal project - Gainax being one of the few outfits in the industry that can actually *afford* expensive personal projects - and the titles since: Puchi Puri Yucie and the two Mahoromatic series, while still better than ninety-five percent of the shows out there, were not *unique*, in terms of either (use of) animation or story and storytelling technique. So, equally conclusively, the *evolutionary* phase is going strong: each of the new Gainax shows since FLCL has basically taken the same ingredients as everyone else has, and worked them over with extremely high production values and a belief in doing whatever feels right and tells the story that needs to be told, first and foremost. Having said this, wherever Konomini is heading, the first episode does not disappoint. There are definite echoes of Eva and FLCL both here, but also a progression: whereas in Eva, the "mode of violence" is externalized in the Evangelions themselves, and in FLCL, it is metaphorical (in Canti, and more so, Atomsk), here, it is fully embraced: destructive potential unleashed is more attractive than impotence and boredom, especially as in the end of things, "life is defined by death." Interesting, too, is Takeru's transformation. Mahou shoujo and mahou shounen both are nothing new at this point; even in DNAngel, when Daisuke transforms into Dark, it is into a figure that is merely more powerful. When Takeru goes overkill, though, it is...well, for overkill: he clearly enjoys killing as much as Unit 01 does - or rather, well, killing is the natural instinct, the only thing that stops it, for now, is the fact that (at this point?), he is still but a human boy transformed. So, again, violence to escape impotence (and suppress having to deal with adolescence)...also, I'm *clearly* spending way too much time on this? Incidentally, the title, "This Ugly and Beautiful World"...*so* sounds like somebody is seriously channeling Mishima the short-story writer... --- What, if anything, did other people think. Or am I *really* the Last Gainax Fanboy? |
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Godaistudios
Posts: 2075 Location: Albuquerque, NM (the land of entrapment) |
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You aren't alone. It seemed a little like recycled product to me at first, and with the whole extinction talk at the beginning somehow reminded me of Arjuna for a fleeting moment.
I do like the designs, although after having seen Abenobashi and Mahoromatic, it would have been obvious to me that it was Gainax even without their name showing up. While I found Takeru's transformation sequence to be impressive of sorts, it didn't really grab me until the creature crawled away and Hikari had a couple of things to say to it. The whole change in personality that happened there really threw me a curve. The mystery behind her and that flickering change of personality was definetly a hook in bringing me in more into the series than the style of violence was. I think Gainax will have a hit on their hands again. You are right when you indicate that the first episode does not fail to deliver. With the strong tone of violence used in full with the mystery behind the girl who has suddenly come down from the sky, I can't help but want to see more. |
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king_micah
 Posts: 994 Location: OSU |
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I personally haven't seen it yet, but Gainax is not creatively dead. Abeno works as a great little series, one that conveys Gainax's history of being the company run by the people who watch it. They have just started to explore mediums and methods beyond anime, with live-action Eva as a start. There is hope in everything they create. I think Gainax will deliver. Either that or the talent will leave and create a new studio.
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Godaistudios
Posts: 2075 Location: Albuquerque, NM (the land of entrapment) |
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Nah... Gainax isn't going away easily. And once you've seen this, you will understand why. In fact, given the kick start this series has had already, I think it will easily start generating a buzz. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to hear a license for this series coming about quickly.
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eva05
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spoiler[File under DevilMan plus Arms]
Well this is not exactly what I was expecting... I guess this has the potential for getting better but I'm not keeping my fingers crossed. spoiler[Though I definitely did find the suggestion that Hikari is actually going to be a sinister element later in the series.] j |
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Steventheeunuch
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Lies. |
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littlegreenwolf
 Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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I just watched episode 1, and I personally did not like it. I'm not one for the Mahoromatic style character designs, I think they're ugly at this point.
My real peeve about this so far is Hikari. As soon as the girl started talking, I knew right away I'd hate her guts. The fanservice didn't bug me at all. Heck, they can though all the fanservice they want in there. It's the girl's personality. You can say I'm wrong, but I'm not liking the "ideal girl" trend Gainax is doing. Sweet, docile, fragile, ect. Ugh. Whatever happened to strong female characters like Yukino Miyazawa, Misato, Asuka, and Haruko? Heck, I'd be happier if she had a Rei Ayanami personality. Sure she seems to have some kind of spoiler[split personality, and that might improve my view on her, but I get the feeling that the "darker, stronger side" is going to be the one Takeru isn't going to be going for. Mouthy, aggressive girls aren't anything the guy wants.] As to Takeru's transformations and all that, I can live with that. I'll try a few more eps, but this anime just doesn't seem like my kind of thing, but hey, it does look a heck of a lot better then the new Ragnarok anime. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Let me say this: FLCL and Evangelion are highly creative works of genius. I love them both dearly.
Since FLCL, though, there has been a tremendous amount of mind-boggling goodwill towards a studio that hasn't put out anything challenging (or good) in a long while. This latest show is simply proof of that. Mahoromatic was dreck; Gen up there said it best, although I know arguing the merits of Mahoro with Mikhail is a fool's errand. Puchi Puri Yuushi was ignored, by the way, because it was totally unremarkable. The same goes for this. Here we have a show whose entire premise is cobbled together from other successful series with one OMG TWIST at the end, where the girl says some fightin' words to the centipede monster instead of just being naked and acting docile. That isn't enough, Gainax. Where's the inventiveness? The creativity? When did tits and ass become replacements for story and plot and interesting characters and challenging themes that have made Gainax's productions so unique in the past? This show isn't totally bad and has potentially interesting themes, although CorneredAngel's breakdown of the whole 'impotence' thing could be applied to, oh, every single show where some milquetoast guy becomes a hero or has a million girls after him, which as we know makes up a large chunk of the available anime out there. I'll give this another episode or two but I lost faith in Gainax after Mahoromatic and so far they haven't done anything to prove me wrong. -Z |
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eva05
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[quote="littlegreenwolf"]spoiler[Mouthy, aggressive girls aren't anything the guy wants.]
hehehe I assume you mean the character in the show because I love the aforementioned personality type in the ladies 
j |
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littlegreenwolf
Posts: 4796 Location: Seattle, WA |
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[quote="eva05"]
Yep. He said it himeself in the ep. |
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Xanas
Posts: 2058 |
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This thread is ancient, but I suppose resurrecting one is as good as creating one.
I watched this recently and was somewhat satisfied with it as a whole. I didn't think it was too killer on fanservice, aside from the one annoying blonde they could have eliminated entirely (which I would have preferred). Aside from that, I thought it was overall very good. The character designs were pleasing, and I liked most of the voices in the dub, though the acting was particularly weak in the opening episodes. The ending was a bit on the lackluster side, and since I like happy endings I'd like if they had spelled some things out instead of leaving them hanging as they did. There was also a lot of under explored territory they could have gone into. I think the core series concepts deserved a significantly longer run than 12 episodes. Rather than feeling that things "droned on" I felt pretty rushed. Perhaps if they had cut some of the fanservice to delve more it would have been a way around lengthening it, but I think this could have gone up to 24 without being too slow. I am posting feeling the "need" to see a bit more without having anything to fill that gap for me at the moment. And at the same time, having done things the way they did I don't think there is much they could add to it. I know some hate "rehash" of old ideas, but I personally would like to see more like this one. |
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