Forum - View topicShelf Life - Junjo Come Here
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feitian
 Posts: 27 |
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I marathon through Casshern: sin over the course of 1 1/2 day or so on Hulu couple of months ago. When I was done, I almost wanted to kill myself. lol.
Despite its problem though, as the episode goes on, one might occasionally found sheer brilliance of humanity in all of this darkness. The same way I found it in Berserk. This is best typified by the Bell , the Painter and the final episode. Although I get the feeling that most people don't last that long. I also found the sternly trembling Japanese voice of Casshern himself to be particularly compelling, its as if he is about to break every other line he utters, but was delivered with great care. Its definitely not for everyone, while it may not warrant a buy , I think its probably worth taking a second look sometimes on streams, if you feel meditative and existential. |
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rabrek
 Posts: 188 |
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I generally handle depressing and bleak quite well, but yeah, it helped that I was in the right headspace when I watched Casshern Sins. I can't quibble with any of Erin's comments - this just isn't a show that a lot of people are going to make it through. I'd agree with feitian that it'd be more palatable for someone in a meditative mood. I like it, and I own it, but I can't think of a single person I could recommend it to...
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neocloud9
 Posts: 1178 Location: Atlanta, GA |
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What a cute kitty in that last photo...
I'm happy to see Junjo getting a positive recommendation on this site, I really did feel like it excelled beyond just the sum of its parts. Especially considering, as you said, decent yaoi anime are few and far-between. Hmm, Casshern didn't really get to me... But maybe that's because I was prepared for the incoming maudlinness beforehand? And I was seriously digging those retro character designs. (One of the big reasons why Toward the Terra didn't depress me, either.) I'll have to check out the original series someday. |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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While perhaps that idea works here (you consider it a high-quality example of its genre), you're putting yourself on a slippery slope here. Arguably anything is Shelf Worthy to somebody. I still think you ought to give something your personal reaction: would I buy this? Would that make you biased? Yes! But that - contrary to internet belief - is what reviews are supposed to be!
Wow...Congratulations on repeating one of the most appalling anti-Catholic slurs to get passed around among its ignorant opponents! And I say this as someone who isn't Catholic and is often critical of the denomination. That comment was just...are you Catholic? Then maybe you can get away with it, but otherwise, no, just NO. This is three weeks in a row that I've been underwhelmed by this column. I know there may not be anything you can do about that, and you should write as you believe it ought to be written. But lately, I've really been missing Bamboo's style. |
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nechronius
 Posts: 275 Location: So Cal, USA |
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I enjoyed Casshern Sins. But as others have pointed out, you have to be in the right frame of mind (though not necessarily suicidal). I did enjoy the old school style and the post processing leaning towards the soft focus.
Well it's a good thing you're around to champion their cause in this opinion piece, tough guy. Better yet, why don't you enlighten the unwashed masses with you interpretation of the body of christ. Or better yet, don't. |
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vashfanatic
Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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"Catholics are cannibals" has been around for a damn long time, and I wasn't expecting to find it in any "opinion piece" that wasn't on an anti-Catholic site. And yes, fighting religious ignorance is actually my cause, not "theirs." If she'd called Kali a bloodthirsty goddess, or lumped all Protestants in with Jerry Falwell, or said any number of things that get passed around as "facts" that are basically just prejudice, I'd be all over her too. I don't give a damn what Catholics think about the body of Christ, but I do give a damn about people not repeating anti-anyone propaganda. I'm willing to drop it now, since I don't want a flame war, but yeah, I did have to get that off my chest. Also, not a guy, nor am I very tough. 
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utawoutau
 Posts: 211 |
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Maybe I just don't see these "things" that should be jumping out of the screen screaming 'low-budget', but I thought that Casshern looked anything but. It is definitely bleak, but it also has an interesting style that I really appreciated. I watched the series far longer than I normally would have just because I liked the way it looked that much.
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Hardgear
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Hmm, I am gonna have to check out Casshern now.
I mean, I REALLY liked Texhnolyze (after the staff got the artsy-ness out of their system in the first disc anyway) and those of us who watched it in it's entirety know how happy that was. spoiler[In addition to being rather sad and hopeless all the way through, it had an "everyone dies" ending. No, I don't mean just the main caste, I mean EVERYONE. The "heroes", the villains, the everyday citizens, basically the extinction of the human race.] |
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John Casey
 Posts: 1853 Location: In My Angry Center |
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Thank ye! 
Also...I never saw Sins, but is it anything like....the live-action "movie"? If you can call that randomly-strung-scene atrocity a "movie"? |
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sepherest
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I really don't know what to say about this week's column. Seeing Casshern fall under perishable seems extremely unfitting for it - I can easily see it as a rental, at least. There was a good point earlier in that everything can or can't be shelf worthy to somebody, but with Casshern getting put under the bus and Gravitation being ranked better than Junjou (which is considered SW) I must say this entry is really testing my interests...
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TatsuGero23
 Posts: 1277 Location: Sniper Island, USA (It's in your heart!) |
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Ouch on 2 fronts. Ouch number 1 being another sentai/tokusatsu anime gets the flush. Ouch number 2 being what seemed like an unnecessary jab with a Catholicism joke. Cause religion jokes are always never not funny...
I liked Casshern: Sin but like feitian, I see why some people won't stick with the series. It is very bleak like Erin points out so its not surprising a good chunk of people won't stick around once the series builds and picks up a bit more (and are protagonist becomes less suicidal). Personally I actually put off the series during it's initial run and just stocked piled episodes. Then when I felt like I was gonna implode from "anime overstaturation" I put the series on my playlist and found myself surprisingly refreshed despite the subject matter and overall ambiance of the series. Plus Tohru FURUYA voice acting was really compelling so that's probably another reason I stuck with the series outside of change of pace. I still think it was a great series especially for those looking for a change of pace or on the verge of anime overload of the standard fair of anime. It's one of those series that takes a unique perspective on life and humanity that we haven't gotten in a while, so for new fans it might be their first taste in the deeper contexts anime is capable of. Granted we get stuff like that from the horror/supernatural anime series we had over the past few years but the idea of life and death is more central in Casshern I felt; rather then something you see or notice in retrospect. I really liked the style of Casshern personally (strangely to the point where I cannot stop watching Yoshihiko UMAKOSHI more recent series  ). I thought the background and camera work set up the mood of the series very nicely so the series didn't communicate "budget saving technique!" to me as much as it did "artist style" so kind of sad Erin went the other way. But if Erin feels the same way about Bakemonogatari or GiTS then I get a better sense of Erin's threshold for technical techniques.
Last edited by TatsuGero23 on Mon Aug 30, 2010 9:27 am; edited 1 time in total |
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John Casey
Posts: 1853 Location: In My Angry Center |
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Erin's been a fan of testing people's interests as of late... I haven't seen a more polarizing feature in years on here. Sometimes, to me at least, I feel a particular series is being hated on just for the sake of being hated. More specifically, genres. For example, in movies and television, I detest historical movies like Gladiator, and music biopics, like The Temptations. But I can still be man enough to admit that I loved I, Claudius BBC series, and somewhat dug The Doors. But reading Erin's Shelf Life columns, not liking the gangster genre, as an example, means shows like Gungrave and Baccano get completely trashed. As an example...doesn't mean those ones got trashed. |
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Aura Ichadora
 Posts: 2305 Location: In front of my computer |
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Well, to be fair, there was only about...four or five episodes (Kakashi's mask and that whole race arc whatever) of pure filler in the first 135 episodes of the first season. The rest was cannon material laced with some filler to stretch out time. After that, THEN you could skip to last episode and Shippuden without missing anything. 
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braves
 Posts: 2309 Location: Puerto Rico (but living in Texas) |
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Saying Casshern Sins is low budget, ignorant Catholic jokes and saying that the backgrounds in Casshern all look the same? Best Shelf Life so far!
Did you even pay attention to episode 9? That episode has some of the best background art I've ever seen, period. Casshern Sins being low-budget. *grumble grumble* That's exactly why they could only afford people like Eunyoung Choi and Yoshihiko Umakoshi to work on the series. They were penny pinching. 
No mention of the great color design either by Kunio Tsujita (who also worked on Tatami Galaxy). |
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JackCox
 Posts: 386 |
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I profoundly disagree with your opinion about Casshern Sins, it was one of the most beautiful and compelling shows I've ever seen, This is not a show for everyone but in no way did this put me to sleep.
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