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ANNCast - Critical Mass II: The Seasoning

dtm42 wrote:

My goodness, all of Gundam AGE? Why would you do that to yourself? You probably lost a year off your lifespan, maybe two (the finale was particularly awful, so I hear).

The last story arc is really terrible. They spend the first two Gen's making the villians complete monsters, only to show a horrible HORRIBLE understanding arc in the form of Second Moon.

Still not as bad as Destiny shafting Shinn as main character for Kira though, IMO.

angelmcazares wrote:

To hate or not to hate on Sword Art Online? That is the question. I disagree with Theron and Rebecca on their views on SAO. I fail too see any serious social commentary, deep questions about life and death, marriage. If you see any deep philosophical **** in SAO, you are over reaching or are too much of a fanboy/girl.

When did "serious social commentary" or "deep philosophical doo-doo" ever come up in that discussion?

AAs for it having crossover appeal, the usual guy who plays Call of Duty, Battlefield, Mass Effect and Gears of War are not going to watch a show with a moe aesthetic to it(I mean guys who are not already anime fans). Thats why Japanese games have not been able to be anywhere as successful as they were in the previous generations. Half the video game websites will have a "Japanese games are dead" article on the front page at anytime. You can't get gamers to like the way Final Fantasy looks let alone SAO. To get a crossover appeal the main character would need to be a muscular bald dude who shoots a lot of people.

Though for what it's worth, Kotaku called Sword Art Online the 'smartest anime in years" So.. maybe it can appeal to non anime fans.. or at least the ones who like JRPG aesthetics.

Is there such thing as an 00's specialist, and is it so recent that fans are going to have big preferences for the latter part of the decade to the former? (cue the debate between FMA and Brotherhood) The other thing that's going to color this list is the switch to HD coming partway through this decade: are 2001-vintage SD shows at an automatic disadvantage because they're technologically dated?

Enjoyed the ANNcast and I hope Theron and Rebecca come on the show more. Also I wish they'd move closer to the mike or adjust their clip-on mikes . They're audible but their voices aren't as loud as Zac's, who speaks very clearly.

dragon695 wrote:

I'm surprised that someone who appreciates prose, like Rebecca, has no problems with SAO's writing, specifically the romantic development between the leads. I wish she could clarify what she means by she's tired of hearing the complaints about Asuna, really.

Oh, I have problems with it - I absolutely agree that the show is terribly written. I enjoy watching it in the same way that I enjoy reading a Forgotten Realms novel or a schlocky romance: for a brain break. But as a reformed WoW player, not to mention someone who spent an awful lot of time walking into closets and wardrobes as a child, I appreciate the fantasy aspects of it, the "what if" element, if that makes sense. Watching it is like eating candy, which is a large part of the reason why I'm not battling Theron to review it.

As for the Asuna thing, I'm just tired of people complaining that she's useless or Kirito's pet. I've actually been fairly pleased with the way they've fought together and how she pulls her weight. The romance plot is fairly lame (at least in the first half), and I'm not thrilled that she's the one who mastered cooking (as opposed to one of the guys), but she's a far cry from the female lead of Sakurasou.

All of this said, I do have some reservations about where the new story arc is going...spoiler[Asuna in a cage and the sister both make me a bit leery.]

invalidname wrote:

The other thing that's going to color this list is the switch to HD coming partway through this decade: are 2001-vintage SD shows at an automatic disadvantage because they're technologically dated?

That would be true of many fan lists (I've seen several people say they won't watch shows from back that far), but a panel of critics aren't going to worry about that.

Zac, I think you misunderstood the intentions of those anime creators. Anime adaptions, unless they're bonus episodes sold with the manga etc., are intended to get new people interested in a series, so they won't assume that most of their audience knows the source material and therefore they don't need to explain things properly. On the contrary, especially with the very first episode, they are actually trying to get you - new audience - hooked. Whether they succeed or not is a different issue though (a large number of animes has pretty bad writing imho).

Anncast is done through skype conversation. When I did it I simply spoke normally and used the built in mike on my computer.

Well, I think lots of anime adaptions aren't doing a good job as "stand-alone entities", simply because they rarely adapt the whole story and often you either get a bad, possibly full of plotholes anime-only ending or a straightforward "from here on please continue with the manga"-open end (like Skip Beat or Bamboo Blade that actually introduce new characters during the ending credits of the last episode o_O) - or something between those two. So I haven't had the impression that it has become any more prominent in the last years, but rather has been like this since at least 2000.