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Super Robot Taisen OG: The Inspector (TV).


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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 11:16 am Reply with quote
Super Robot Taisen OG: The Inspector

Finally saw the first episode on Crunchyroll! and it is simply amazing. While it doesn't recap except about how some guy started a war, other than that the episode is fantastic, the voice actors from the game all return to give some excellent performances especially Nobutoshi Canna, who really went all out as Axel. The opening battle between Axel and Evil Kyosuke is just incredible, and is hopefully a sign of how well the rest of the series is written.

We also get some interesting setup for the rest of the series, with Lemon telling Axel not to just assume that the new world will be like the old one. I also love how the series does an homage to Endless Frontier, by having Axel tell E-Kyosuke that the rest of the Shadow Mirrors have gone on to a new frontier. That's how you do an homage, you don't make it important you do it as a treat for fans not to make your life easier.

This is easily going to be the series I will be watching the most. I simply can't wait to see more, and for the rest of the Shadow Mirrors to show up

Oh and for those who don't understand what is going on do to not having seen the first series, here's a massive recap by Fencedude on the site formerly known as Anime On Dvd, with this understanding the show should be easy. I would also recommend checking out the GBA games which are really good.
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liubei013



Joined: 10 Oct 2010
Posts: 8
PostPosted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 12:04 pm Reply with quote
The show seem to start off quite well, though a little confusing especially since I'm one of those with next-to-no familiarity with the games and only having watched half of OG Divine Wars (yeah, the one with the odd, clashing CG mechs). Then again, I have yet to see most of the original character from that series. (Thanks for the link to the recap, btw, CKnight Wink )

I don't have much in the way of expectations except to get the usual giant mech fix (even with Unicorn ep 2 and the 00 movie coming later this year), though the fanservice was a little offputting with the ED and in the episode. (maybe not in and of itself, but more due to the increasing excess in some shows these past few seasons ...)

It reminded me of this quote from Mass Effect 2:
Quote:
Gabby: [.....] Forward tanks are buoyant.
Ken: Are you talking about the Normandy? Or Miranda?
Gabby: I'm talking about the one protected and covered, not bouncing in the breeze.
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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 12:24 pm Reply with quote
liubei013 wrote:
The show seem to start off quite well, though a little confusing especially since I'm one of those with next-to-no familiarity with the games and only having watched half of OG Divine Wars (yeah, the one with the odd, clashing CG mechs). Then again, I have yet to see most of the original character from that series. (Thanks for the link to the recap, btw, CKnight Wink )

I don't have much in the way of expectations except to get the usual giant mech fix (even with Unicorn ep 2 and the 00 movie coming later this year), though the fanservice was a little offputting with the ED and in the episode. (maybe not in and of itself, but more due to the increasing excess in some shows these past few seasons ...)

It reminded me of this quote from Mass Effect 2:
Quote:
Gabby: [.....] Forward tanks are buoyant.
Ken: Are you talking about the Normandy? Or Miranda?
Gabby: I'm talking about the one protected and covered, not bouncing in the breeze.


The fanservice shouldn't be too bad, just mostly breast bouncing around in some scenes. They go to the beach within the game but due to the fact that they have to get this entire series in around 26 episodes I can't see even Masami Obari trying to stuff that scene in. If you watch half of Divine Wars then I think the only thing that would be really confusing is when a character from the second half who was believed dead turns out to be alive.

If your looking for mech action than this is definitely the series for you as Original Generation combines both Super Robot and Real Robots in one series and with greater amount of variety than Gurren Lagann while putting together a pretty good story.
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nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 1473
PostPosted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 4:55 pm Reply with quote
Just seen the first couple of episodes and liked them well enough.

Still...perhaps that wouldn't be the case if I hadn't at least played through most of the first game (in retrospect, trying out both routes at the same time wasn't a terribly good idea) and generally messed around with other Super Robot Wars properties from time to time.

It's hard to think that anyone not invested in the material or at least the mecha genre will stay focused though.

Can't really judge it as an actual adaptation myself, but the pacing isn't very forgiving at all and the animation takes a number of shortcuts, albeit mostly in episode two. I don't mind, but I imagine newcomers will be confused more often than not. The same thing goes for having mysterious unnamed mecha show up and leave minutes later (and no, I'm not referring to the spoiler[Chokijin] since that's to be expected).

Shin Mazinger had a similar problem, admittedly, but it went right back to basics after the first episode and that made it easier to digest. This show? No such luck so far, although there was a bit of necessary exposition anyway and I assume there might be more coming up (which would make sense, with a cast of characters as large as this one needing to be even partially fleshed out).

That said, the music includes a couple of good arrangements and the introductory fight was definitely as dynamic as it needed to be. I imagine the staff is juggling with the budget a bit in order to save up for future encounters and I'm willing to see how things turn out.

The fact I always liked the ATX guys over the SRX team doesn't hurt either. Wink
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TatsuGero23



Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 1277
Location: Sniper Island, USA (It's in your heart!)
PostPosted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 7:51 pm Reply with quote
Well the second game had a deeper story with the ATX team so it's not a suprise they seem to be the focus. The first episode did a okay job with the back story albeit a bit boring. But nice action overall. But it's been a while since I played the games so I kinda get where newcomers are coming from with the series. But I think I'll stick with it. Kinda looking forward to hearing the music. Although I'm not sure if its a series I can enjoy week to week. Might stockpile episodes after a couple.

Also for episode 2, I totally hope that Engrish mistake was intentional. Rock On Alteisen. Rock On.
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garfield15



Joined: 06 Apr 2009
Posts: 1541
PostPosted: Sun Oct 10, 2010 8:10 pm Reply with quote
I lol'ed so hard at "Rock On" that I hope that it's never fixed. In fact, I just want to believe Kyousuke specifically told the staff to make it like that cause it's awesome.

Well, I figured I would have warmed up to her, but the Excellion girl is annoyyyyying.
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raithnor



Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 23
PostPosted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 10:05 pm Reply with quote
Anyone here think the Angelg design was too over the top? I mean I like the basic idea of the mecha, but did the design need to be altered so we could see that the robot has distended nipples?

If they did a fan service episode, I'm hoping they do what they did with the first series and have it happen after they beat the big bad. Although you could probably get the same result watching the ED on a continuous loop for 20 minutes.
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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Sun Oct 17, 2010 4:33 pm Reply with quote
So far after two episodes Super Robot Wars OG: The Inspector continues to be a large surprise, Masami Obari combines two levels the attack over the mountains, and the first battle for the Choujikin and improves the story. In the original game Bullet simply blurts out that they should stop fighting when they first meet Yuuki setting him up as a rival. In the anime this is combined with the civilian attack by Archibald Grims gives the scene more power as Bullet wants to stop the attack on the civilians, and gives the scene a lot more weight. The Chojikin vs uknowns battle shows the difference between adaptations, Divine Wars really couldn't do war scenes at all while we get the Zerg Rush of the Uknowns being repelled by the Choujikin in a really flashy battle sequence.

As for the rest of the episode we meet Lamia Loveless who seems to be related to the business from the first part of the series, and is obviously up to something. We also get hints that the Divine Crusader remnants are getting help from another source with technology never seen before. We also get the introduction of the ***** known currently as the unknown. Excellen has ties to both Lamia (who recognizes her last name), and the uknowns as her eyes glow red when she meets them. Carla, Yuuki and Bullet have a different reaction experiencing a draft of cool air.

The highlight of the episode? hohohohoho

While the show continues to explore it's mysteries, we continually get new ones, and I can certainly see why people new to the series would want to quit, it's not for the people who are not willing to connect the dots.

Next episode for those watching the free release contain the boosted children, Ryusei, and Kai's mustache.

For those who have a membership at Crunchyroll it is epsiode 4 which will have Wildrauptier from the first game.
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TatsuGero23



Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 1277
Location: Sniper Island, USA (It's in your heart!)
PostPosted: Sun Oct 17, 2010 11:23 pm Reply with quote
Actually Angelg design is pretty faithful to the original games design. Even the faux nipples. It's just that its more noticeable with Team Masami Obari behind the series. Plus if you've seen Godannar, Angelg shouldn't bother you as much. (Yes, not the same team but I was going with the whole robot nipple thing.)

I have to agree with Charred Knight. From what I can remember from the video games pacing, Obari is doing a very nice job of keeping general story intact but making it very entertaining at the same time. His moving around of stuff is working very well as of episode 3. Hopefully he can wrap up the exposition and build up by the 5th or 6th episode so we can finally see the plot move along. Seems like they plan to stick closer to the PS2 storyline if the Wildraubtier is back in the series. Wonder if that means we'll get that new Super Robot guy too?
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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Mon Oct 18, 2010 2:39 pm Reply with quote
Considering that Masami Obari's recent work has included a ton of hentai, the fact it's fairly well directed is a welcome surprise to the return of the hit or miss Obari of the 90's.
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nightjuan



Joined: 22 Jan 2008
Posts: 1473
PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 5:58 pm Reply with quote
TatsuGero23 wrote:
It's just that its more noticeable with Team Masami Obari behind the series. Plus if you've seen Godannar, Angelg shouldn't bother you as much.


And, by extension, if you've seen Godannar the obvious fanservice scenes shouldn't be a concern either. Wink

Charred Knight wrote:
Considering that Masami Obari's recent work has included a ton of hentai, the fact it's fairly well directed is a welcome surprise to the return of the hit or miss Obari of the 90's.


Obari is relatively respected, to a greater or lesser degree, as an animator and designer but doesn't get much credit as a director. Generally speaking, he is good at flashy action scenes but I would say the problem usually lies with the underlying stories.

Fighting game adaptations, which are a prominent part of Obari's record, don't have much of a plot in the first place.

In this case, Obari and the writing staff working under him are dealing with a different kind of material. At least by gaming standards, Super Robot Wars has a more elaborate storyline than Fatal Fury and its ilk.

Yes, it's true that people mainly play those games for the sake of seeing different robots beat the crap out of each other, which doesn't sound too dissimilar on the surface, but there's at least some sort of overarching narrative justification and a little more room for character development than what "mysterious villain organizes fighting tournament" usually allows.

Case in point: in Divine Wars and the original game you didn't just have the threat of an alien invasion but also an internal source of conflict represented by Bian Zoldark and the Divine Crusaders. Arguably, its constituent elements weren't anything that Gundam or the other mecha series hadn't done before, but there was still a larger and far more flexible framework. Not much of it is brilliant, to be sure, but enough of it is serviceable.

I'm expecting that The Inspector, which has been better than its predecessor so far, will represent the good side of Obari rather than the opposite. If there's one potential positive about rushing through these early episodes, it's the fact later events should have more time.
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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Sun Oct 24, 2010 4:54 pm Reply with quote
Ok we got a ton of re-introductions as the ATX only show up in the beginning and end. I heard this episode had a lower budget in the first half, and it really is bad. The second half is a major improvement with some really good fights. Their clearly using all their limited budget in the battle scenes, and it's working really well. My only other complaint is that they didn't try to take the R-Blade, I can see that their foreshadowing, but the DC would probably still like to have it as spoiler[the Shadow Mirrors probably wouldn't have shown the the R-Schneider].
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garfield15



Joined: 06 Apr 2009
Posts: 1541
PostPosted: Sun Oct 24, 2010 4:58 pm Reply with quote
-Lol, they used "Rock On" again. It's gotta be on purpose now.

-Okay, I wasn't expecting spoiler[Arado to die] this early. I mean, he shows up in the OP fairly early and it's only episode 3 so I figured he had some longevity in him.

-The Angelg did something this episode!

-(Doesn't know anything about SRW here). When I saw Latooni's unit, I was like "Oh that thing has to transform" and sure enough....Very Happy Gundam has taught me well.

-Speaking of which, hi mysterious masked man. Every Super Robot needs one of you huh?
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Charred Knight



Joined: 29 Sep 2008
Posts: 3085
PostPosted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 6:00 pm Reply with quote
One of the things that I really like what this series is doing is showing how important skill is compared to the mecha. Kai is kicking ass using the SRW equivalent of a GM, against the Guarlions who are the SRW version of the Gelgoog. In the third episode Kai shoryuken's a Guarlion, and then fires a couple of shots to prevent Yuuki (a good pilot) from attacking him. The Wildrauptier is a prototype of the R-1 but it's obviously going to be useful.

After Code Geass, and Gundam 00 emphasized the machines over the pilot, it's nice to see a series that emphasizes the pilot and not the machine.
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garfield15



Joined: 06 Apr 2009
Posts: 1541
PostPosted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 6:07 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, the tactics are pretty cool in this.
Charred Knight wrote:

After Code Geass, and Gundam 00 emphasized the machines over the pilot, it's nice to see a series that emphasizes the pilot and not the machine.

Geass, yeah I can see that. 00? I think that show balanced pilot and machine pretty easily.
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