Forum - View topicANNCast - The Long Con
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Animerican14
 Posts: 963 Location: Saint Louis, MO |
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Glad I finally have an excuse to actually become a regular listener of the broadcast (thank you, boring county government summer job!) An I'm en more glad to actually have stuff to say! Alright, on with selective topic-by-topic commentary...
Hah, I caught the old splash screen joke of "What is Anime?", if only I've been going through a bunch of old podcasts for the first time these past couple weeks after going through several of the summer casts. (Heck, starting Monday, I've reached back into the very first podcasts and have been continuing from there.) That was from old ADV dvds, right? I think I agree at least somewhat with was said about Panty & Stocking. Didn't really care much for the humor either. Yet I ultimately gave it a good rating-- I thought the characters were fun and interesting in of themselves, as it seemed to also be indicated on the podcast, but I also enjoyed the interesting stuff they've done animation-and-art-wise and (and several of the fun little homages to both anime sub-culture and mainstream pop culture that are contained therein). There's something to be said when even I, who is fairly forgiving of plotholes (or completely ignorant of stuff that some consider plot holes), found some parts of Sword Art Online logically implausible enough to take me out of the show some. Listening to the podcast, it turns out there's some real implausible stuff that I didn't quite catch the first time around. My biggest, and perhaps central, beef of all with the show's logic is the lack of any indication *thus far* of an attempt of prosecuting the game master in the outside world. Heck, I haven't seen any feelings of the players of (somehow) "going after" the game master himself-- after the first episode, they've seemed to more or less roll with the punches (though I guess an entire month trapped in a game world might inspire a pseudo-Stockholm syndrome). Speaking as one whose familiarity is relegated to just the anime, I sincerely hope to see something done that at least tries to deal with this game creator/ master in the real world and his crime of, oh I dunno, holding 10,000 hostage and being responsible for the deaths of 2,000 and counting. However, despite these qualms, I am quite engaged, and am finding it a fun story to follow with somewhat likeable leads to follow. The great animation and the music also really help-- there's definitely more interesting action in this than what I remember of .hack//SIGN How literal of a goal is "to get everything" for Crunchyroll? Because by that point, Funimation wouldn't have anymore new anime left to license!  Or is it more like "to get everything that Funimation passes on on the first go-round"? Because the unspoken rule is that whatever CR gets, Sentai will (most likely) get, right?
Random aside, in response to a Twitter-related comment: Eh? The Old Spaghetti Factory is bad? That's news to me. While I've been to the one in downtown Saint Louis probably no more than five times in my entire life, I remember the food/service being more than decent. Wonder what you, Zac and Bamboo, personally think of Macaroni Grill, which I've been to even fewer times (but have good, more recent memories of). |
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Fencedude5609
 Posts: 5088 |
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Can I point out that there has been all of two, (TWO!) episodes, and except for the very beginning of the first, and a very brief flash towards the end of it, they have taken place ENTIRELY inside the game? How are you expecting Kirito (who is our viewpoint character) to know a damn thing about what is going on in the outside world? This is the sort of complaint you raise at the end of the story. If, when it is all said and done, that wasn't addressed at all and just swept under the rug, then yeah, that would be a good reason to criticize the story. I just can't get over how this has suddenly become a HUGE THING THE SHOW MUST ADDRESS RIGHT THIS MOMENT among a large percentage of critics. Can't you let the damn thing tell its story first? Especially when we are only two episodes into a 2 cour series? |
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JacobC
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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How has no one in the forums mentioned Natsuyuki Rendezvous yet? Not exposition-heavy like every other thing this season, and past that: well-executed, entertaining, emotional, good characters, a rare romance about *adults* acting like adults... easily the best thing of the season...not that it's *amazing* but it's much better than any of the other summer shows. Bamboo and Zac have been crazy-busy, so I know why they haven't taken a look at it, but yeah, *that's* gonna be the standout of the season, no contest. I guess Bamboo will be stuck with it for The Stream. ^^; You'll like it! I think...
I gave Humanity Has Declined and Sword Art Online a shot as well. HHD just...nnnno.  Too much exposition, too much yammering, too much preaching, absurd and hilarious in places, but not worth all the paragraphs of narration in between funny moments. Not bad, but I...nnnno. Not gonna watch any more of it. SOA is entertaining fluff/schlock, and I am gonna watch the rest of it, absolutely. I don't...*expect* much, but I'm totally gonna watch it. Entertaining, simple, effective, and I love the look of the MMO they've built, so it's well worth 20 minutes a week unless it suddenly gets boring, I guess.
Last edited by JacobC on Fri Jul 20, 2012 7:52 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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TitanXL
 Posts: 4036 |
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This is why it's impossible to review a show until it finishes airing. You can't critique the story when it's not finished yet and things are still being addressed.
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Cecilthedarkknight_234
 Posts: 3820 Location: Louisville, KY |
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you can still get an overall impression of the show based on few epiosdes however, I gotta agree this season it's a whole lot of meh but I'm holding off on few series and waiting to see if they will be marathon worthy from the reviews here. |
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Fencedude5609
Posts: 5088 |
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There's a difference between "forming impressions" and "critiquing major aspects of the plot after less than 10% of the story has been told". Its entire possible to comment on, critique and generally analyze episodes of an ongoing show, but demanding that it reveal important plot points RIGHT THIS MINUTE is pretty silly. Also, this season is great. |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5503 Location: Iscandar |
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I did mention Natsuyuki Rendezvous! I am enjoying it immensely. Like you mention, this series feels very refreshing because the main protagonists are actual adults. It gets kind of boring to see 14-years old children trying to be adults. I really hope Natsuyuki Rendezvous gets very big. I want Sentai to release it on BD because I would want to own it in all its glory in 1080p. |
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JacobC
ANN Contributor
Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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Ah, so you did! Gomen~ ^^; What I find funny about that show is for the first 10 minutes of episode one I was like "Oh my god where is this going, I've had enough of the 'life is lifey' romance full of internal monologue where the two people don't start dating until the last episode" -- and then that second half hit and it was like "Yeeeeeeees, this is gonna be craaaaaaazy!" And they did start dating, after that twist! In episode one! YES. Really looking forward to more.
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Cecilthedarkknight_234
Posts: 3820 Location: Louisville, KY |
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Well I thought that clannad after story did a good job for after high school relation ships with the characters being over 18 and ease into adult hood but that's my opinion... we need more like that with no supernatural elements >_> |
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Galap
Moderator
 Posts: 2354 |
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Well, while I agree that sword art online is in many ways preposterous, without those elements coming together that way, the story wouldn't happen. In order to have a story about time travel, time travel has to exist. In order to have a story about being stuck in a video game, there has to be a video game that you can be 'in' and something has to get you stuck in there. I recognize that this is a little silly though. To address the prosecution of the guy who did it, well, you wouldn't really see that from the inside would you? If you're stuck in the game, you can't see what's going on out in the real would and would know nothing about it. As to going after the game master, there's no reason to think he even really manifests there, and if he is killable, what would that accomplish? Now, what's the appeal of this show so far to me? well, for me it's the games as serious business aspect. I don't play MMOs but I know how they work and how games in general work (I do play other types of games) for this to be moderately interesting. So far, it's alright. Good enough that I'll keep going for now, and that's about it. |
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Keichitsu0305
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Sorry to butt in but I also like Natsuyuki Rendezvous. ^__^ The latest episode (#3) was so good and dramatic! Shimao's jealousy and frustration was illustrated wonderfully without too much dialogue and was actually a bit frighting. I like how Rokka is trying to move on but still has attachments to her husband; just so sweet~ I'm probably enjoying Humanity Has Declined more than you guys. I laughed more in Ep. 2 than Ep. 1 mainly because the storybook in the beginning & the use "Ave-Maria" in the end made me ROFL.
I honestly didn't find it preachy at all; it seemed more tongue-in-cheek to me. Especially loved Episode 3 since the 'main topic' hit pretty close to home and wasn't as mean-spirited as I assumed it was. 
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Angel M Cazares
Posts: 5503 Location: Iscandar |
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For me Atsushi Shimao's jealousy was also kind of scary. I am really enjoying Natsuyuki Rendezvous' balance of drama, romance, comedy and supernatural. I like it this way, and I hope the supernatural stuff spoiler[does not go beyond small quakes.] I would not want this promising series to turn into crazy, supernatural crap. |
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Ojamajo LimePie
 Posts: 772 |
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Yup. I always loved seeing that commercial show up on DVDs of Sunday morning or Primetime children's anime like Angelic Layer or Kaleidostar. I thought anime was "not kid's stuff", ADV. 
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opn
 Posts: 904 |
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Look at my post in the first page for the answer to your question about the maker of the game . Also what the hell could they do? They have no way to get to the game master in the real world their in SAO the best they can do is fight their way out.
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TitanXL
Posts: 4036 |
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In Japan they for kids yes, but in America they'd be for adults. Different standards and practices and TV censorship. |
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