Forum - View topicThe Stream - (Almost) Spring Fling
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Apollo-kun
 Posts: 1213 Location: City 7, Macross 7 |
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I disagree wholeheartedly with your take on "Listen To Me Girls." Even though the show was not on the same emotional level as something like, say, "Air", it was nonetheless a sweet ending. Seeing everything wrap up with a nice little bow, and seeing Yuuta realize that he needs to not just go it alone with raising the girls was a nice, gentle tone to end the series with. Honestly, it was the only show I could bring myself to finish this season, and I felt genuinely rewarded for doing so. My only complaint, really, is that the spoiler[Yuuta/Sora implied romance didn't really die down, nor did it get resolved. It leaves this awkward tension between them, especially when Yuuta asks Raika to marry him. That was kind of lazy, to leave it open-ended like that, and felt like a bit of a fan service-y copout.] Nonetheless, it was a highly enjoyable series, and one that I would fervently recommend to those seeking a feel-good anime with some genuine emotion and pathos thrown in with it's wholy likable characters.
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Surrender Artist
 Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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I didn't think we'd get The Stream this week. Sweet.
I agree about Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-Ne~; it became something that I could watch and become a little invested in, but I found it a chore getting to that point. I managed to pour a little interest into some of its cast and story, enough that I'll probably watch the second season, but there was a lot that felt like fluff to me. I also never really found the antagonists as interesting or sympathetic as the series seemed to have intended for them to be. Every time Villagulio showed up, no matter what he did, I just thought, "oh no, not this putz again." I've become a little ambivalent about Bodacious Space Pirates. I still like it and want to watch it every week, but I feel like it might be sustaining itself on the surge of goodwill that it accrued in the first arc, especially episode five, which I watched at least thrice. The Golden Ghost Ship story didn't feel compelling to me for some reason, even though I still liked Marika and some of the supporting cast. It kept feeling as though there were questions that she should have asked of Gruier about how she snuck aboard the Bentenmaru, why she wanted to find the Golden Ghost ship, how Gruier know Gonzaemon and how the the whole adventure would prove worth Marika's while. The series addressed some of that in time, but it felt strange that it waited. I really like that Bodacious Space Pirates is willing to be patient, but sometimes that patience seems misplaced. Still, for now I can accept that, because the series still does deliver a good sense of tone and can be very effective when it has its characters talk to one another in conversations that are often quite revealing. I did love seeing the interior of the Golden Ghost Ship and Gruier's growing infatuation with Marika is sweet. I hope that the show find an interesting new path with the next story arc, because I still want to like it, but I can't help but feel that some of the spring shows will soon enough overshadow it. I was never too committed to the idea of Bodacious Space Pirates being an epic space opera, but I harbored hope that it would become something a little deeper, but in a way so subtle that it wouldn't be obvious. It seems that the next arc might involve the yacht club again, that worked really well the first time, maybe it'll work again. It might be an overreach, but I can't help thinking a little of Revolutionary Girl Utena when Marika and Gruier are together after the rose imagery and prince/princess themes that the series has thrown out in the last two or three episodes. |
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ANN_Bamboo
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3904 Location: CO |
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That was my main problem with the show, and its ending. I don't think it should've wrapped everything up with a nice little bow. It completely shortchanges how tragic the situation is, and I just couldn't buy it for a second. Also, re: Raika, spoiler[I was under the impression that he didn't ask her to marry him-- just play his "wife" at the choir recital, so that Hina'd have a nuclear family unit?] Because everyone else they knew rolled up, too, saying they were various family members. Last edited by ANN_Bamboo on Wed Apr 04, 2012 1:15 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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opn
 Posts: 904 |
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spoiler[bamboo sit down i think we need to have a talk.  ] anyway about chihayafuru the anime increased manga sales somewhat so it might get a second season but if it does it'll probably have a much lower budget then the first season and wont look as good but now that its over heres hoping someone licenses it. anothers ending was..pretty weird but acceptable probably will buy sentais eventual release.
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Apollo-kun
Posts: 1213 Location: City 7, Macross 7 |
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And with Raika: I feel like a total idiot now! You're totally right with that, that subtle detail must have escaped me due to the time I was watching it. As an anime critic, I must make a note not to do that in the future. Thanks for pointing that out 
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One-Eye
 Posts: 2267 |
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Chihayafuru was definitely my favorite show of the last 2 seasons. I thought most of the episodes were tightly scripted and kept me coming back for more. As far as the Queen's weight gain I felt it was meant to show she was not some perfect karuta killer robot from the future and yes so we could chuckle at Chihaya's reaction. I sincerely hope we get another season in the future.
Another ended up being disappointing to me. I felt that they attempted to have the tension of the early episodes released in an orgy of violence at the end. For me, they didn't succeed. I felt that the execution was tripped up by cheap gimmicks. Cliffhangers that didn't feel natural, but rather abrupt and planned. Some of the deaths just felt driven by a need to up the body count at the end not for any other reason. Is the main lead grief stricken at the very end or mentally scarred? No, of course not instead he's kinda flirting with a girl. There was more that I really didn't like about the last 2 episodes and that's frustrating because I was kinda digging the show in the beginning. I don't think it was an awful show, but for me it turned out to be more average than good. As far as Lagrange goes...
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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I'm starting to have reactions when anyone unduly praises Space Pirates. The show had premise, but it's becoming tepid, underwhelming and kind of dumb. Any action presented is immediately cut away from in a fashion that Mamoru Oshii only wishes he could achieve, and when it gave the chance to really wow us it just went through the paces and told us more than showing us. Not to say it's bad, it's just lapsing into a story that doesn't want to take chances. I know it's not the anime's fault if the light novels go that route, but it really feels like some key elements are missing from the series that could have made it better. I get the exact same feeling from Ozuma, I'm not expecting that show to go anywhere and I feel the only thing drawing it me to it are Leiji's designs. I know Bamboo's response to Lagrange was less enthusiastic, but that show is giving me hope for the second season and I find it much easier to connect or care about the characters. Marika and the Bentenmaru could go down in a cosmic storm, and I'd just wonder what Chiaki and Chiaki Omigawa are up to. I think I can sum it up in saying it feels anachronistic, it's a show that would have fit much better among others like Stellvia and Stratos 4. Like Surrender Artist said, I want to be patient, but the show is half over and the next episode looks like inane filler.
I enjoyed Chihayafuru more than I thought I would, but I ended up like Kana, Nikuman, and Desk-kun the most. Oh no, the poor beautiful, rich, perfect guy is suffering? Go jump off a bridge, bring back Arata. Also, goddamn Shinobu let herself go for some stupid Snowmaru merch, I think she loses in in later manga chapters. Another was enojoyable on multiple layers, one being the mystery and makeshift detective work, the second being the awesome gore and "psychological horror", and the third for the completely unintentional comedy. Some parts of the series just made me burst out laughing at their ridiculousness. I love that. Hell, that's why I love Violence Jack, Battle Royal High School, and tons of other old gory 80s OVAs. The violence is comedy. I would never never even bothered with Guilty Crown if it weren't for the discussions on /a/. I don't believe you can sit through and enjoy that show by yourself, it must be in a constant dialog with others who are also watching for the same reasons: sheer retardation in writing mixed with fantastic visuals and endearing dumb characters. Like Dan Eagleman. In any other show he would be a buffoon, but he's a True American Hero in here. It's a trainwreck of the best kind in 3D, and if you're not in the front row with a few hundred other people, it will be a miserable slogfest. Last edited by walw6pK4Alo on Wed Apr 04, 2012 2:22 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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I think Chihaya's affection for Daddy Bear merchandise and Shinobu's similar ties with Snowmaru merchandise were just there to remind the audience that these were still teenage girls. Even after immense concentration and practice spent on karuta, there are still other things that the two enjoy. They're not simply karuta machines, so such scenes are meant to endear them to the audience.
Sad to see Chihayafuru end, but I am happy that at least we got as much as we did. The remake for HxH is getting better, so I looks forward to seeing how they handle some stuff with the Celestial Tower arc. I'm quite curious to see how you'll respond to it Bamboo. Miniskirt Pirates still ranks high in enjoyment factor for me. But now that we're halfway through the series I hope to see a more involved story than what we have had so far. Seeing the yacht club again was a good sign in my opinion, though I must have missed when Jenny Dolittle left the school. |
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Merida
 Posts: 1946 |
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The ending of Chihayafuru was very fitting and satisfying, even - or because - it didn't wrap up everything nicely (and unrealistically), but i wouldn't complain about a second season either.
I guess the queen's weight gain was to show (again) what an oddball she is and the master didn't seem to be very far behind in that respect. So i guess if weirdness is an important factor in becoming queen/master, Chihaya's definitely got what it takes.
This show was my absolute favourite of the season, with Daily Lives of High School Boys and Bodacious Space Pirtaes following closely behind. The rest was more or less 'meh'. |
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Thatguy3331
 Posts: 1799 |
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The hunter x hunter remake has had some great eps recently, although next week appears to be another recap, so drop all expectations.
at anyrate I can't wait to see how madhouse handles heavens arena, as thats when we get to see some fights! bamboo I'll warn you now there might be one thing that'll annoy you if you were THAT bothered by Gon's arm healing, its explained but YMMV on the explination as well as how madhouse handeled the door scene. I personally found it hilarious. anyway, we get a 'new' set of themes next week! WOO-HOO! As for waiting in the summer, I'm now on the side that I wish the ailen sections weren't there... sort off. It was nice and all to see everybody work together and I found the spoiler[Men in black appearing] to be hilarious, but I can't really make out the ending. I was happy it wasn't a cliche' we won now we're together, but at the same time it felt somewhat... meh-ish. IDK, it just didn't do it for me. it was a good show nontheless, but I doubt It'll stay in the memory banks long. |
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zensunni
 Posts: 1294 |
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Both Bamboo and Carlo seem to be of the opinion that the SF aspect of Ano Natsu de Matteru/Waiting in the Summer was a letdown, but I really liked it. For one thing, it took me completely by surprise when I saw the first episode. I knew that the writer had also written Please Teacher, but nothing in the promotional material had even hinted that it was an SF romance. In addition, if you remove the SF sub-plot, so much of the humor of the show goes away entirely. For instance, if Ichika was a normal human girl who was a visiting student from Europe or America, how could they have arranged for Ichika to be living alone with Kaito if she were a normal foreign exchange student? There is no way an organization that sponsors exchange students would let her live alone with another student. Sure, she could have been living with him and his sister, but not him alone. There goes a good deal of the tension in the early part of the show and Kanna's issues with it too. Then there are the comedic moments when she is caught "kissing" him? (When she is really repairing his body that she broke... she really needs to learn to take better care of her boy-toys!) Those go away... Then there is the exquisite irony of Remon creating a movie plot that mirrors the reality of Ichika's situation. That would be totally lost. Sure, she could come up with a plot about an exchange student who falls for the guy she is staying with, making everyone squirm as they see their love lives written out before them, but that would just seem mean! Not that Remon isn't mean, but there is a difference between mean and wickedly clever. Remon's character looses something if she is not the latter.
Not to mention the awesomeness that is Remon: spoiler[the MIB Agent!], or thespoiler[ apparent tip of the hat to Please Teacher in the final episode. If that really is Kikuko Innoe voicing the alien from the past, whose memory engram, implanted for some reason in Ichika and her sister, is the actual driving force behind the entire plot, the reason Ichika chose to take her yearning for "something to happen" to a little backwater, class F planet, where she met some fellow teens with a similar yearning, fell in love, and changed everyone's lives. That does make this a direct sequel, does it not?] So much of what I found really enjoyable about the show is wrapped up in the topic that tended to co-dominate the message board discussions about Ano Natsu de Matteru: Who the heck is Remon, anyway? How on earth does she know the things she does? Is she an alien or some sort of ... well, you know... That was what people talked about, aside from the various shipping combos and who people wanted to end up together.
Then there is the parting of our two young lovers. Sure, you could do it with her having to go back to America or Europe. Maybe even with an arranged marriage in the offing to make it hard for them to ever really get together, but that still doesn't really make it that difficult for them to overcome. They may be apart for what, two or three years until they are legally adults, then either she runs away from whatever her family plans for her or he swoops in and carries her back home with him. Not really any sense of lingering loss. Instead we are left with him, wandering about, with his friends, but still clinging to the hope that he will be able to live up to his promise to go get her, filming the continuation of their story. As for any rushed feeling to the ending, I didn't feel that was the case. If they had drawn it out and explicitly shown the events, it would have been too long. The story was over. What they did was wrap it up nicely, with a touch of humor and a very sweet ending that left me with a tear in my eye. In those last couple of minutes, during the credits and end music, we see the result of the summer for all of the main cast left on Earth. Kaito is clearly still out of Kanna's grasp and she knows it. However, she is actively trying to get Tetsuro together with Mio. I took the later scene where those two were walking in front of Kanna to indicate that it happened. Then, there is Remon spoiler[and Rinon at MIB Japan Headquarters, figuring out how to make the ship that may be able bring our star-crossed lovers together, and usher humanity into an age of galactic citizenship...] The tip of the hat to the Toradora! ending, with the yonger students talking about, and watching, the film the alumni left for them at the "annual viewing" of Waiting in the Summer, is the final gem that makes the ending so perfect! It shows that they did go on with their lives and they did finish the film, and at the end, yes Bamboo, Ichika is wearing the Bolivian vest the his sister brought home for her, showing that, somehow, either by stealing a ship and coming back herself, or by spoiler[Remon making contact with the Galactic Federation and making it OK for them to interact,] she returned to earth and they do get their happily ever after! I am such a sucker for this kind of stuff! |
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Well, I watched through Chihayafuru and enjoyed it all the way (even the final episode) although it didn't meet the expectation I wanted as I was hoping that Chihaya, Arata, or Taichi would face each other in the finale rather than a supporting character. Still though, I enjoyed the series.
Since its airing, I still have Bodacious Space Pirates on-hold so ....ya As for Another, I really enjoyed the series although I do agree that the rushing was a bit rushed after all the psychological build up of the hype. Still I really enjoyed it as well and Mondays won't be the same without this series anymore. Ano Natsu de Matteru: loved how this series turned out later in the final 2 episodes. I'm a sucker for action series and the final 2 episodes have plenty of that. Did I mention the superior OST? As for Listen to me Girls, I am Your Father!, I did enjoy the series all the way through although a bit more of a drama mixed in would of helped better as one of the episodes near the end was a bit boring. I'm expecting a season 2 of this in the future tbh. Loved Rinne no Lagrange although the final episode of the first half isn't much of a climax. It was a bit slow paced imo especially during the second half of episode 12. Compared to Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, it didn't seem to reach some sort of climax. I'm hoping it will get to it in the 2nd half. Haven't seen Hunter x Hunter yet. Anyways, interesting stuff. |
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Tanteikingdomkey
 Posts: 2350 |
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I have not seen the final three episodes of papaniki or inuxboku so I will not comment on them. I will say I know a lot of people said inuxboku has a strong ending, however it has turned into a chore and makes me wish the female lead could be pulled out and transplanted into another series, since so many character in that series have started to annoy me a lot (mainly the SS member,apartment workers, and that idiotic S&M freak). I have been enjoying Papaniki every week though even though it was to slow at times.
I have been enjoying Pirates a lot, my favorite episode is number 11 with the amazing animation, and story. followed by episode 5 where they really get hacking. I am happy it is staying around for another season. PS they did explain for about 2 minutes in episode 13 how she got on the ship, and the princess returning the ring she got to marika. Pirates has lulled a bit since the first arc but it is still a lot of fun and still one of the best shows of the season I saw the canary episode of the orignal hunter hunter and it brought me to tears. the new one, came close but braking up her story into episodes and the more limited interaction between her and killa hurt the story. I still enjoyed the end of the arc very much though. Persona 4 had a GREAT ending, I am still in shock how well they actually made the show work as a TV series, because everyone I was talking to was expecting it to be a complete and utter train-wreak. was there a problem with the battle system, sure however it is easily seen in the finale that the battle going on with the persona is a gauge of the argument going on during the battle. I still have to watch the final two episodes of familiar of zero however I will say that despite the ups and downs of the final season, it did mange to turn it around in the second half thanks to the elves and dragons. it is the inverse of season 3 where it started out good to below average and then was constantly strong. Chihaya furu was a very well done show, I never got into it like some people did but I have a lot of respect for the show. the ending made sense since she did not make it past the prelims of the queen tournament. Ano natsu and another really annoyed me a lot when I was watching them and I dropped it for them for that reason. another I will probably watch episode 6 when the dub of it comes out. ano natsu though I was really excited about and then I saw the first episode and I didn't like the characters. second episode I grew to hate the blond haired girl (remon) who got everyone drunk. third episode I found my self disliking the main pairing and wishing the childhood friend would get with him instead, and I dropped the show. |
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Stretch24
Posts: 107 Location: Ohio |
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This wrapup column is a neat idea. I cracked up laughing when the teacher said "This is not normal" in the final episode of Another (one of the greatest understatements of all time). It seemed like that series used up around half of its episodes just to explain the rules of the game, then rushed the conclusion to compensate. Still, I liked it and wish it could have been a twenty-sixer.
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Tanteikingdomkey
Posts: 2350 |
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PLEASE no I could not deal with those first 5 episodes being any slower and any more of that annoeying stalling BS would have caused me to give up any hope of another being decent. most people would agree another should have been SHORTER, or at the very least better paced. |
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