Forum - View topicWhat are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6528 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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You're right. Despite all the problems Garden of Sinners is utterly compelling. I've upped its rating to very good in My Anime. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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^
You found Garden of Sinners to be compelling? Huh. I thought it was a poorly-written snoozefest that was nowhere near as clever as it wanted to be. |
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Errinundra
Moderator
Posts: 6528 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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Take out the "snoozefest" and I agree with you. I'm a sucker for slow moving, atmospheric anime. Hence my love of Noir. In my extended review of GoS I was trying to make that point. If the atmosphere doesn't beguile you then I can understand you would call it a "snoozefest". |
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Pamachu
 Posts: 24 Location: The Lonesome Crowded Midwest |
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All of the common complaints lobbed at Garden of Sinners -- about its slow pace, its non-linear structure, its impenetrability and withdrawal of immediate gratifications -- just make it sound like something I'd love unconditionally. It sounds like the sort of thing I'd fall head over heels for. Some of us love our "snoozefests," I suppose... and I am no exception. Love those atmospheric, slow burn, tiptoeing-through-the-mystery shows. I definitely need to check it out. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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I have a pretty high tolerance of slow-moving shows, so long as they aren't actually dull. Even the fight scenes in Garden of Sinners were boring. The non-linear storyline was there to make the plot seem more interesting and intellectual than it actually was (same trick as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya pulled). The slow pace lent the production its unsettling atmosphere, true. But it also meant that I had far too much time to think about and gripe at the plot holes I was seeing, and there were more than a few.
I confess that slow-burning productions are not my cup of tea. However, if they're done right they can be very effective and I can still like them a lot. For example, I really thought Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade was a great movie that - while slow - was never dull. It had an intricate and thought-provoking story, a genuinely unsettling atmosphere, and was terrifically 'shot' (as in directed/storyboarded). Something was always going on, even when it looked like nothing was. |
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Mr. Oshawott
 Posts: 6773 |
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Currently watching Ikkitousen: Dragon Destiny.
...I have to say that this sequel of Ikkitousen wasn't as smooth-sailing as Season 1. The first four episodes were really excruciating to watch. All those parts where the voice acting was sub-par and the first and last names of most of the fighters were abundantly getting mixed up... In spite of those problems, I did enjoy all the intense battling and the funny moments right in between, so I might watch this show through the end. |
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ailblentyn
 Posts: 1688 Location: body in Ohio, heart in Sydney |
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I'm half-way through Dusk Maiden of Amnesia, and am really enjoying the mixture of modes. It's actually comedic and actually chilling at the same time. I'm grateful to Theron Martin's review for convincing me to watch it. Thanks for an excellent review — it described the show accurately and communicated its appeal. (Even if the author might want to brush up on the difference between "laid" and "lain". Ahem.)
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Jose Cruz
 Posts: 1775 Location: South America |
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Finished watching Garden of Sinners, I though it was a bit overrated considering it is ranked among the top 30 titles. However, I found it very good. Character designs, style and animation were top notch. Music was top notch. Only the plot wasn't that good but it was decent and well executed. It's slow paced but that helps to build up atmosphere. I liked movies 5 and 7 the most. I rated the whole series very good.
Last edited by Jose Cruz on Wed Jul 17, 2013 11:46 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Jose Cruz
Posts: 1775 Location: South America |
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I watched it. The 8 episode part about the summer vacation was quite hard to finish, the other 6 episodes were mostly good though. But I still found it decent overall. |
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Beltane70
 Posts: 3891 |
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After owning it since it first came out as an Anime Legends collection back in 2006, I'm finally watching The Vision of Escaflowne. This is actually the first time watching it since it originally came out in Japan back in 1996. I'm actually pretty surprised about how much I remember about it after not seeing it for 17 years.
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Jose Cruz
Posts: 1775 Location: South America |
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Interesting thing about the Castle of Gagliostro it is considered among japanese film critics, animation critics, anime fans and cinephiles as one of the greatest films ever made. For instance, in the 2010 kinema junpo (a film magazine) poll choose by their readers, the Castle of Gagliostro was ranked as the 11th greatest Japanese movie of all time and the greatest Japanese movie since 1970 (and, obviously, greatest animated movie of all time as well). Interestingly, it is more respected in Japan than strictly adult movies like Grave of the Fireflies or Kon's films (for instance, these movies did not show up into the top 200 of all time, only Miyazaki's movies did) while western anime fans tend to these movies in much higher regard than CoG. A children's movie? Well, American children's movies are not respected in Japan among critics and cinephiles, no US animation ever made into a Kinema Junpo's yearly top 10 or into their top 200 of all time foreign films lists. While The Castle of Gagliostro was ranked higher into their domestic top 200 list than many live action classics that often show up in western lists of 10 greatest movies ever made (like Ugetsu Monogatari and Late Spring), and also relatively higher than Citizen Kane did in their foreign movies list. The Castle of Gagliostro was also ranked first in a list of top 13 anime films of all time voted by a poll of anime critics in 2010. The second and third places were also Miyazaki's films, Nausicaa and Totoro, respectively, fourth place was Akira. Grave of the Fireflies was only 10th place. I watched the Castle of Gagliostro and I though it was masterfully executed - like Miyazaki's other works - but it lacked a bit of emotional power - unlike many other MIyazaki films - so I rated it Very Good when I watched it over a year ago. So I don't consider it a top of the line anime. Though that's maybe because I wasn't able to truly master it. It may be a film less accessible to westerns than Spirited Away, for example (which was ranked 100 positions lower than Castle of Gagliostro at that top 200 list). Still, I think that characterizing it as an "okay children's movie" is almost heretic given my research on the critical and popular perception of anime films in Japan. |
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Knoepfchen
 Posts: 698 |
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After a long wait, I decided to finally watch Evangelion 2.0 yesterday. What an incredible disappointment that was for me.
I have very strong feelings about the TV series and consider it to be one of the best pieces of fiction and entertainment I've ever had the pleasure to enjoy, and I really did not feel the need to see it re-imagined, which is why it took me so long to watch the first two Rebuild-movies. While I enjoyed the first one (it just looks so very gorgeous, there's so much technical detail that pleases my eye and soul immensely, and the action was also very engaging), I honestly had troubles finishing the second one. I was trying to keep an open mind and not compare everything to the TV series, which was quite difficult as they stick so close to it in so many aspects that comparing the two is basically unavoidable. Sadly, though, where they don't stick so close, it did not seem to me that anything they decided to change contributed to my emotions or enjoyment in any way. On the contrary, so many precious little things were lost and reduced the characters to shallow ideas of the complex people I remember and appreciate them as. I could not bring myself to care when spoiler[Shogoki in dummy mode smashes Azuka's angel-possessed Eva to pieces], despite the wonderfully ironic little children's song playing in the background. (Soundtrack-wise there were some interesting choices there, which I liked.) But since neither spoiler[Azuka not Shinji] had much of a personality up to that point, I did not feel like caring for any of them. In the TV show, I find myself trembling and shedding tears every time Shinji spoiler[discovers that it was Toji who just got smashed to pieces, not because I care more about Toji than Azuka] (at least the TV version), but because the scene was just executed so much better: We are not explicitly told in the beginning that spoiler[the dummy system is already in place and ready to take over], making it much more of a shock when that happens, Shinji does not know spoiler[that the one piloting the Eva is actually his friends], making his refusal to attack another human being all the more heroic, and because he does not know, when he finds out spoiler[after the Eva (with his friend inside) got smashed to pieces, his breakdown and threat of a rampage] is so much more heartbreaking. This movie generally had way too much talking and explaining going on instead of showing. There was not much feeling of mystery left with Gendo spoiler[talking about instrumentality every five minutes] and Shinji mentioning how his Eva spoiler[smelled like Rei and his mother (at a moment where is detects a smell of blood in the TV series, way more creepy, frightening, and interesting)]. Where there were pictures, images and feelings in the TV show, there were words and explanations in this movie, which is a sad and always weaker choice for a visual medium to make in my opinion. The following scene exemplifies the point I am trying to make quite well. When Azuka falls asleep next to Shinji in the TV show, spoiler[he's scared at first, not sure what to do. Watching her face close to him, he opts for kissing her, because he's 14 years old and incredibly insecure and lonely, and Azuka seems so much more mature and self-confident to him, he could never dream of approaching her like this. When Azuka then just says "Mama" in her sleep, both we and Shinji learn how she's just as insecure and lonely as he is. It was a powerful, touching scene, that told us a lot about those two characters and their relationship and how they would come to need one another in the future.] In the Rebuild-movie, what do we get?spoiler[ Some meaningless bickering and talking about why one pilots Eva and whatnot.] Zero emotion, zero layers, zero emotional engagement on my part. Talking instead of experiencing. Instead of the awesome balance between comedy, tragedy, and action the TV show provided, all that was left for me to enjoy in this movie is the action and the (very pleasing) visuals. I could go on, but I'm sure I'm already boring you with things probably said a million times already. Not sure when I will feel like watching the third Rebuild-movie after this. Which makes me a bit sad, not feeling the need to watch something part of a franchise I love so much. Rating: not really good. I'd rate it even lower, but it was very pretty and I just get goosebumps every time I see Shogoki running, jumping, or spoiler[going berserk], so I suppose I should give points for that ... |
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CrowLia
 Posts: 5505 Location: Mexico |
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For the life of me I don't give a damn about what Japanese, American or extraterrestrial critics think of it; let alone what your research on Japanese opinions says about it . I watched it -albeit dubbed, and dub makes most things sound really stupid- and I found it fun and entertaining but nothing groundbreaking. The story was simple and the characters were likeable but not particularly fleshed-out. Also, "heretical"? Take your church of anime ideology somewhere else, just because it's highly praised in Japan doesn't mean everyone everywhere has to think of it as the highest masterpiece in the history of everything. ------ Anyway, a quick rundown of what I've been watching this week -mostly finishing up stuff I had left hanging Finished The Lost Canvas. Rated both seasons Excellent. I really really like the way they fleshed out the gold saints, I think they do a great job at it given the short amount of time they have for each one. Compared to what they do in Omega -just shove some backstory in your face in the most awkward of moments-, or in the original -no backstory at all- this one was a lot more well-written and cool. Of course I'm especially glad to see a really cool Cancer Saint, Manigoldo is awesome. Since Cancer has a history of short-lived sort of lame saints, I was very glad to see a cool and very likeable incarnation of my zodiac sign. Another thing it has going for it is the very pleasing art, the color scheme and the character design is beautiful. And that the voice actors are all top-notch is great too. I loved Shinichiro Miki's Shion -I have a soft spot for Aries Saints-. Finally, I'm intrigued by how they ended with thespoiler[ "death" of Dohko, when the one thing everyone knows about this show is that Shion and Dohko are the only ones to survive the war.] I'd heard the series was cancelled but I hope they get to continue it someday, I'm really looking forward to the development of this war On a side note, I always wonder how Athena manages to win these wars. She has only 88 soldiers, of which only 12 can be considered competent enough; and she keeps sending them on individual suicide missions -spoiler[El Cid's mission to rescue Sisyphus's soul is notable for that]-. In comparison, the enemies always have infinite amount of minions that are stupidly strong and never freaking die. Even in Omega, the protagonists have faced the same batch of lowest-ranked Pallasites a billion times and they still come back no matter what, whilst Gold Saints seem to have a talent for dying meaninglessly. I also finished Robotics; Notes. Rated it Decent. It was a fun and exciting show, but I felt it tried to bite more than it could chew. There were too many plot elements going on at the same time and it got so confusing it was frustrating. There were also a bit too many plot holes and unresolved threads like what was the point ofspoiler[ the rebellious robot if the big evil plot was to make a black hole in the atmosphere or who and why started sending out the Kimijima Reports, and why did it have anything to do at all with the Mecha show that was cancelled but had an apocalyptic ending episode, etc.] Basically, it was a hot mess. There were some interesting ideas, but I think they were buried under so much mistery and deep dark evil plotting I watched the Fairy Tail Movie. It's awful. There are seriously no words for how awful it is. One thinks the point of movies is that they get higher budgets, so even if the story is crappy, the animation and effects are cooler. This one is so not like that. I don't think they spent a dime animating this. The magic looks so cheap and awful, the fights are unimpressive, the villains are so generic and boring, the villains' magic is uncreative, and the insert character that is supposed to be the focus of the movie really has no important role like at all. She's just there, doing nothing for the sake of the plot. And she's named after a french pastry. What a waste of time. And just today I finished Kuroko's Basketball. The one thing I can say is that the anime truly shows how overwhelmingly powerful the GoM are, especially in Aomine's case since his talents are speed and his unusual forms and movements, which look fantastic animated. I think I'll rate it Very Good, it's cool entertainment with likeable characters and excitingly outrageous basketball games + fujoshi feelings to the max. I was also reminded of how sad it is to see Aomine play like that and spoiler[how heartbreaking to see Seirin and Kaijo lose. Kasamatsu's tears T^T]. Now I'm all pumped up for S2 and the Winter Cup, especially since S1 doesn't show anything of Kiyoshi's awesomeness. I can't wait >-< And now I'm finally going to pick Kimi ni Todoke 2 up again. I dropped it for almost two years because the spoiler[Valentine's episode pissed me off with how Ume, who had already been rejected, convinced Sawako to not give her chocolates to Kazehaya.] Bitch!Shojo rivals piss me off to the max, and that Sawako didn't show the slightest backbone and allowed herself to be fooled like that in spite of all that she'd grown in S1 really made me angry. So now I'm giving it a second shot, hoping that stuff starts moving with Rival/Mamoru Miyano |
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Bango
 Posts: 1122 |
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I just saw the first episode of Twin Angel purely by accident. But it's another pachinko-based anime so I'm glad I saw it. I'm building a theory around them so extra material helps.
Let's just say I have no plans to ever see episode 2 and will actively avoid it if I ever get the chance. |
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Pamachu
Posts: 24 Location: The Lonesome Crowded Midwest |
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I agree with you 100%. In trying to streamline some of the wonderful messiness of the original TV show, the Evangelion movies have become pretty conventional action movies that lack most of the emotional resonance and off-kilter psychodrama of the original. The most praiseworthy elements are the surface details: action set pieces, animation, soundtrack, etc. They're mostly fine, but pale in comparison to the original. But, hey. Whatever. I guess they're making money, so it's been a pretty successful cash grab, I guess. |
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