Forum - View topicShelf Life - Eye Spy
|
Goto page 1, 2 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
sepherest
|
|
|||||||
It's definitely become that way, I certainly don't remember the fanbase being as big three years ago. Though personally I am not a fan of the anime adaptation. While the english dub is kind of worth checking out for the dialogue changes I just like reading the manga instead, because it's more of a series for reading than watching to me. And drat that Key box looks awesome! I'd much rather have the larger version than the thinpack, I love how the big ones look on a shelf. More show-offy, I guess? 
|
||||||||
|
pachy_boy
Posts: 1341 |
|
|||||||
That was basically my only complaint. Otherwise, as simple and cliched as The Third may be, as I watched it I felt that everything about it worked and made it a charming, character-driven sci-fi series. And if I remember correctly, this is the very last Right Stuf-licensed series they ever did with a dub before they moved on to sub-only, as well as the last series they released by single volumes (all of which I've collected in an artbox with all its booklet goodies). If so, this series kind of marked the end of a time period for Right Stuf, which I think helps make this title a bit more special in a way. Last edited by pachy_boy on Wed Jan 12, 2011 7:35 am; edited 1 time in total |
||||||||
|
||||||||
Gewürtztraminer
 Posts: 1028 Location: Texas - Its like whole other country. |
|
|||||||
|
I really liked The Third.
I think the full sized box set released last year was the best representation of the last of its kind, never to be seen again. The story does get a little groan worthy in a few spots, but generally is engaging and pretty high quality. There are two episodes where the the animation goes so horribly off model.... It was my first experience with it, and I can spot it in other series now, but the 2 from the third are REALLY BAD! |
||||||||
|
||||||||
jmfsilenthill
 Posts: 1863 Location: Chinese cartoons are srs biz |
|
|||||||
|
The Mushi-shi artbox!!! I'm so jealous!
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
ss-hikaru
 Posts: 269 Location: Western Australia |
|
|||||||
|
Wow, Kara has a Nohohon! I have a green one
I'm still unsure about whether I want to give Hetalia a chance. I've seen bits of the anime and read some of the webcomics and it didn't really win me over. But I didn't hate it either. I've been reading all the reviews I can find on both formats, but none have really helped me in my decision making. I guess while I have other things to buy I won't be giving it a shot. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
RestLessone
 Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
|
|||||||
I have a preference for the webcomic as well. While I do like the anime series, I'm turned off by the lazy animation. I've also found that while I enjoy both the English and Japanese dubs, certain Japanese actors (mainly America and Prussia's) have changed. Like, y'know when a person starts Trying Too Hard and they are barely recognizable from their original sound? Prussia originally sounded crazy and egotistical, but now sounds unnaturally congested (or something; don't know how to describe it). America used to only get high-pitched when excited; now he's like that all the time. I understand part of his character is to be annoying, but I don't think he was ever intended to be like that. The webcomic/manga has some more fleshed out characters, back story, and interactions. And better art. Much, much, much better art. And all the characters aren't a nice cottage cheese white. Anyway, I have to agree with the review. The director (or whoever) seems to rely mainly on the BFF and gender confusion jokes after awhile. Everything else feels rushed. There's more material to be explored in the manga and it needs to be done right. Having an arc that lasts a few episodes interspersed with random other characters can detract from it. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
|
|||||||
Sorry. I was too busy listening to Takehito Koyasu deliver those lines. I really didn't mind the narration because I've read sci-fi with that sort of narrative going so it felt nostalgic for me, but I did find pieces of the plot poorly done (as in done too many times elsewhere). Maybe it reminded me of stuff from the 70's (or maybe the 50's. I read a lot of used bookstore sci fi & never cared how new or old it was). I think it's a title to refer to solid sci-fi fans vs the space opera fans like Star Wars (which I more class myself. The Third works for me as a break from my usual, but I would gag on too much of it) I really do not care about the fans of any title when I decide merit. (I think the most annoying fangirl I ever met was an InuYasha fan. I think the most freaked I was was back in the late 70's when a gal in the sci-fi club I was in talked about her dream of breathing underwater like Man From Atlantis-how the water was warm & the character interacted with her. I was smiling & all, but I found her frighteningly extreme) I enjoyed Hetalia more than The Third. (I have the release with the 2 puzzles from a year or 2 ago). Granted, I watched both sets twice (actually 3 times for the 1st set & plan to watch this one again before putting it on the shelf.) Who cares? Why should I deny myself enjoyment because some child or rabid fan is over-exuberant about the thing? I'd never have taken my daughter to Nightmare Before Christmas back in '93 if I listened to other parents who all insisted it looked horrible. I've learned some history I never knew from each Hetalia set (researched on the net to confirm they were real & not just jokes). For history nuts like myself, it's loads of fun. I love One Piece, but this arc does seem to go on forever. It really has moved into the realm of fans of the title willing to watch ad nauseum. I love it, but I probably would hesitate to tell anyone to hang in there at this point if they weren't already fans. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
chefneer
 Posts: 1686 Location: Fort Worth, Texas |
|
|||||||
|
I too thought the narration in The Third was a little overdone and the whole business with the Watcher at the end was a little out there, but overall I enjoyed the show quite a bit. It was a nice Sci-Fi fix and it had enough going for it that I was able to overlook the weak spots. I will probably watch it again sometime.
I've only seen the first two half-hour segments of Hetalia (I've no idea how much of the show that is) and it's entertaining enough, I suppose. I've gotten some good laughs out of it though I know some people who would not appreciate the stereotyped characters. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
CareyGrant
Posts: 453 |
|
|||||||
Ah, Mook Chivalry: one of my pet peeves. It ranks up there with characters in a life & death struggle who, instead of doing the logical thing, fighting as if their lives depended on it -using the most lethal and expedient means at their disposal to dispose of their enemy- they instead start things off with some silly, escalating slap fight until, many moons later, they finally break out the heavy artillery. It's the real world equivalent of using fisticuffs to try vanquishing your enemy when you've got a perfectly good tank right next to you. I say: go big right out of the gate. Oh, and then there's the ol' BAMF turned super puss. You know, you get some super BAMF (e.g. Nico) who can kill entire armies on a whim, but as soon as they turn good their power/BAMF-ness drops to about a third of what it was, or they suddenly have some "amnesia" whereby they forget their own power and BAMF-ness. And now you have situations that take hours or days when they could have been solved in minutes. Also, is anyone even renting Funi's dub anymore? I know Netflix isn't. I haven't seen any new anime from them since August of last year. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
Brack
 Posts: 291 Location: UK |
|
|||||||
|
My impression of Hetalia season 2 was that it lost sight of what made it good, and focussed instead on what made it popular. Which aren't always the same thing. It's a common enough occurrence in TV, for a western example take the last season of Psych. Just as 80s pop culture references became its crutch, then innuendo became Hetalia's.
What I've seen of season 3 shows some improvement, at least in the episodes where the focus shifts to different countries than the usual suspects, as it gets back to its strength of ludicrously specific historical and geopolitical references. When it gets that specific it feels a lot more sincere, than mechanically going through the fan-pleasing gags. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
Captain Crotchspike
 Posts: 355 Location: Phoenix, AZ |
|
|||||||
|
I wonder how many other people started paying attention to The Third because Honoka looks like a duller version of Rosa from Kizuna Encounter.
I keep thinking I should check it out, but after seeing the okay first episodes and every review or impression I've seen of it saying it's merely alright at best, it's never seemed worth it. Maybe I'll turn to it on some distant day when I run out of other stuff to watch. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Pippin4242
Posts: 111 |
|
|||||||
|
Either the photo quality is very strange, or the main place the Shelf Obsessed poster saved money is on the figures. That is one weird-looking Yukimura - check out the missing paint on his boots.
- Pips |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 2656 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
|
|||||||
Yep, that's me, ol'vacuum viewer! (Living in the middle of nowhere helps, I guess...) I admit I started enjoying it a bit less once I encountered my first creepy fangirl (and even less when I tried to watch it with my soon-to-be-brother-in-law who kept pointing out where the fangirls were apparently pandered to), but like CCSYueh said, you can't listen to others' obnoxious behavior to decide what's good and what's not. As for The Third, "...and then she contemplated her favorite poem by Donna Myfree" has become a running gag during a long, thoughtful pause in any given series. 
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
erinfinnegan
ANN Columnist
 Posts: 598 |
|
|||||||
That's fair, but sometimes the fans can sour things for me and kind of tilt the scales in one direction. I try to be open to the source material, though, unlike, say, Daryl Surat (of Anime World Order) who refuses to watch Avatar the Last Air Bender (the tv series) because of over-exposure to yaoi fangirls of the series at conventions.
We were kind of hoping Honoka would meet Donna Myfree, like at a book signing or something, later in the series.
Yeah! spoiler[Couldn't Nico Robin ground herself from Eneru's lightning attacks using all her arms or something?] It seems like she should be unstoppable spoiler[but she didn't even get in a hit!]
Seriously, what is up with that? I'd like to rent more Sentai Filmworks releases but they don't seem to have a lot of them at Netflix. Rentanime.com is more reliable, but they certainly don't carry everything. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
Top Gun
 Posts: 4807 |
|
|||||||
spoiler[I'm...pretty sure that's not how grounding works, given that Robin's arms are still a part of her body. If she tried to channel the lightning down to the ground through them, she'd still just wind up electrocuted. And given that Eneru is a Logia Devil's Fruit user, his body is quite literally made of electricity, so Robin's usual physical attacks won't do a thing to him. As the series notes, Luffy's pretty much the only one who's able to fight him, by virtue of his own particular Devil's Fruit.] On a less spoilery note, I legitimately love the Skypeia Saga, mainly because it's pretty much the only major arc of the series where the Straw Hats go on an adventure just for adventure's sake. It also happens to be where I first started watching the series when FUNi's dub started airing on Toonami, so it gets a bit of a sentimental boost too. I can see how parts of the arc drag a bit, but the payoff is well worth it. I'm also glad to read a fairly positive review of The Third, since that's something I've been interested in for a while and keep meaning to check out. |
||||||||
|
||||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group