Forum - View topicShelf Life - Teatrino for Two
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jenthehen
 Posts: 835 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio |
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I'm not sure if it's fair to criticize Gunslinger Girl for being "creepy" ... because it's supposed to be creepy. If that isn't your cup of tea, then fine, but the show isn't trying to hide the creepy factor and I don't think fans are blaming the viewer for "reading into" it too much - it's just SUPPOSED to be like that. The reason for the girls' love for their handlers is spoiler[from the conditioning. That is clearly explained. And it doesn't seem like an excuse - it makes sense. The girls are conditioned/brainwashed to be 100% devoted to their handlers. Their absolute loyalty is necessary, or else the girls would likely hesitate and wouldn't take the risks they do to protect the handlers ... and as an extension of the handlers, the social welfare agency. Of course, it makes sense, in adolescent girls (or really, anyone) that such loyalty conditioning would morph into confused feelings of love.] That's really the main thrust and purpose of Gunslinger Girl - a character/psychological study. And just as they deal with the girls' feelings, they also deal with the handlers' feelings. spoiler[I think that Il Teatrino does a great job of showing the complexity of Hillshire's feelings. He was obsessed with saving the victims of the snuff films ... and he therefore fell in love with the woman who was helping him. Since she died saving Triela, Hillshire has really confused feelings towards Triela. His inclination is to treat her like a daughter and to protect her, but his job requires otherwise. Since he was in love with the woman (whose name escapes me now), he feels like keeping Triela safe is even MORE important - since the woman asked him to protect her, etc.]
I just feel like blowing Gunslinger Girl off as fan-pandering or fetishy is a huge disservice to the franchise. Because it isn't. Yes, the girls are cute and you feel sorry for them, but that's just a natural response as opposed to "moe pandering" by the creators. What is more interesting and of more importance in the story is the realism - THIS IS HOW PEOPLE WOULD REALLY ACT in the given situation. The complexity of emotions and characters in GSG are what make it such a strong series for me. |
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Takeyo
 Posts: 736 |
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That is some sweet nerd-cave action going on, there. Clean and organized -- very nice aesthetic.
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Dan297na
Posts: 96 |
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Rico is freaking psycho, killing for the love of killing.
Really? This was your interpretation of her character? I am curious as to how you reached that analysis. |
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Julia-the-Great
 Posts: 328 |
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I'm drooling over the Invader Zim house box set in the Shelf Obsessed pictures... I only just recently got into the series, and looking at the price for it on eBay makes me sad.
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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The team dropped an entire league during his absence, indeed. But the team also recovered during his absence and is now playing on the main league. So, the ETU has already been turned around, what's left is to run straight ahead while crushing the Japanese football giants. I didn't notice much technical crap. They didn't even focus that much on the matches during the mentioned period. If things get technical, that would be on episodes 10, 11, and perhaps (speculation) 12, even though it's not as technical as it may seem (at least they're not talking that much about positioning, tactics, etc.) Did you not mention the Brazilian players thinking in both Japanese and Portuguese simultaneously? 
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Unholy_Nny
 Posts: 622 |
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Ugh, Erin. The Gunslinger Girl was the first time I've disagreed with you, and then you spent HALF of the second season review just to make the viewers sound like pedophiles?
Thanks. If it wasn't a long standing habit of reading Shelf Life, I'd stop reading it. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4640 |
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My beef with season two of GSG isn't really with the conent so much as the animation looks so much worse than the first season.
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The King of Harts
 Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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I LOVE THAT COLLECTION.
Seriously, when I see huge collections, I'm left in awe. When I see a huge collection in alphabetical order, I simply drool. That's dedication, my friends. |
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TatsuGero23
 Posts: 1277 Location: Sniper Island, USA (It's in your heart!) |
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Hmm... a Naruto, Bleach and One Piece Kai would be nice except that Naruto is fairly loyal to the manga pacing as is One Piece until like season 4 with some very short fillers spread in it. For Naruto, you'd probably want to keep most of them in since alot were fight extensions and done well. Naruto Kai would basically be Naruto minus the last 2 or 3 seasons of that 2 years of filler. Naruto Shippuden? Now that probably needs a Kai. And for One Piece, even if you cut out fillers, added exposition, etc, that's probably barely 25% of the anime. :O Granted that's about 100+ episodes worth of stuff but :O But yeah, Bleach needs a Kai. Even though season 1 was already a Kai seeing as they shrunk down 5 - 6 volumes into a few episodes... Oh. Yugioh could use a Kai too. And Ranma.
Also I found Erin's review of this gunslinger girls to be more favorable; that while she still isn't a fan of the series, she likes it better then season 1. Although the reviews added with the free episode 1 got from PSN a while back STILL doesn't make me want to watch the series so I guess that's a fault despite the review highlighting parts and changes she liked. But meh. And how can't you criticize something for being what it is? If it's the right level of creepy, so in effect its not creepy, it is okay and too much creepy is what makes a series creepy? Is that how it works? It has a creepy premises so I say "creepy" is a appropriate criticism. It doesn't mean it isn't interesting or doesn't makes for a interesting story mechanic. It's just creepy. Interesting to some, creepy to others, and good story development depending on how its handled to everyone else. Honestly the "intensive brainwashing, parasitic organism body snatcher, doctor cut up my brain" premises always makes my skin crawl. Bad guy who can control minds? That's okay. Mind control that has the longer repercussions or not so happy "we can fix it!" solution? Creepy. But still fascinating. |
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Mimi The Freak
Posts: 16 Location: USA |
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That is one awesome collection. I am most impressed.
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erinfinnegan
ANN Columnist
 Posts: 598 |
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She seemed way too happy to be killing people. I didn't notice it in season one (if that was the case) but Rico was smiling all the time, even when covered in blood in season two.
Yes, in my season one review I said:
In the forum response, some people said "I don't know why you found this show creepy" or mentioned that they didn't find it creepy. I mean, that response was a minority.
Woops, somehow I missed that.
Whaaaaat? Did that happen?
I haven't forgotten that the first 30 episodes of Naruto are filled with unnecessary flashbacks to stuff that happened in the last episode, or sometimes even within the same episode. It was so bad Noah and I just fast forwarded through the flashbacks. |
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neocloud9
 Posts: 1178 Location: Atlanta, GA |
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I'm really enjoying Dragonball Kai. It's nice that Erin isn't too burned out on DBZ to appreciate it!
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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Ugh, dear heavens, Freudian psychoanalysis, count me out on reading it. I don't want to get off topic, but I have a laundry list of complaints about Freud and his school of thought, how it's caused more harm than good. :blech:
Also, sad to hear if Giant Killing actually starts slowing down. I just watched episode 6, and I haven't found anything slow in it that would make me think "filler," everything seems perfectly fitting together. I never thought I'd get into a sports series, and certainly not a soccer series, so it's impressed me thus far. It certainly doesn't remind me of Ristorante Paradiso, which bored me out of my skull after one episode. And I think I need to watch Dragonball Kai. I started watching the original Dragonball Z, and while I found the storyline intriguing (though definitely "for younguns"), in the first 7 episodes about 3 episodes of plot actually happened. A streamlined version would undoubtedly appeal to me a lot more. |
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jenthehen
Posts: 835 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio |
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spoiler[Rico is happy all the time, because she is the only cyborg who remembers her past - being bedridden in a hospital with a "useless" body for the first 11 years of her life - and always overhearing her parents arguing about the expense / trouble it caused. Therefore, she is THRILLED to have a functional body and will literally do ANYTHING to keep it. She has also been conditioned (like the other girls) to not think anything of killing the enemies of the social welfare agency / government - so of course, it doesn't bother her the way it would a "normal" person. Further, because of her conditioning, like the other girls, she wants nothing more than to please her handler - and since he praises her when she does a good job killing people, that encourages her to do so and to enjoy doing so.]
Yes, in my season one review I said:
I think that maybe we are giving "creepy" different meanings. I am referring to the creepy factor that arises from the awful things that have happened to these girls in the past and the sadness of their current situation. I don't really think that the girls being in love with their handlers is "creepy" or that the show is "creepy" in a lolicon way. I mean, there is 0 fan service at all. And no matter what you say, modest swimsuits and cute dresses don't count as fan service ... I mean, compare to Strike Witches / Queen's Blade / etc. etc. etc. I mean ... I had crushes on adult males in their 20's (camp counselors, for example) when I was 11/12 years old and would blush when they would talk to me, etc. ... it's not some weird, unrealistic thing that the creators of GSG are making up to please pedophiles - the conditioning just adds an extra intensity to the feelings. So yes ... the show is creepy in the way it intends to be - for the story/tragedy/characterization and not in a sexual / loli / fan pandering way, IMO. I mean, for example - my explanation of Rico's character above - it is CREEPY how she behaves when killing ... but that's intentional for the purpose of characterization. Last edited by jenthehen on Mon Jun 14, 2010 3:16 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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I don't think ya should pay much mind to Erin on that particular aspect of Giant Killing. I mean, if she feels that a pace of 4 volumes in 10 episodes is "slow" (a rate of 2.5 episodes per volume), then I heartily disagree. That's quite a good pace for a sports series I would say. It's about the same pace that Cross Game managed (except for the first episode which was one whole volume minus a few things.)
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