Forum - View topicREVIEW: She, The Ultimate Weapon DVD
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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"Tragedy porn"...I like that.
I must remember to use that sometime when some old-generation fan tells me I "have" to watch Grave of the Fireflies because it's such a classic! 
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DmonHiro
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I knew who the reviewer was without reading his name. Zac, your reviews are always entertaining to read, regardless if I agree with you or not,
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Themaster20000
 Posts: 872 |
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^I agree. It always a treat when Zac does a review.Haven't watched this show at all,but it sounds like it does as poor of a job as Elfen Lied did when it came to pulling at the audiences heartstrings.
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prime_pm
 Posts: 2383 Location: Your Mother's Bedroom |
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Ouch.
Never liked this angst ridden mess either, but Goddamn that was an ice cold burn! Also never liked any of the characters, especially the main character. But that's partly because I'm only 5'7," 8" online. |
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Merxamers
 Posts: 720 |
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My word, that review was scathing! I haven't seen this show before, and was actually considering picking it up based on the positive reviews I've been hearing, but now i'm having second thoughts.
Hearing Zac discuss the 'misery porn' of this series reminds me of when i saw District 9, which infuriated me because of its 'subtle as a hammer' message, pointless misery, and downright unpleasantness. If District 9 is held up as a positive counterpoint to this show, i think i'll pass |
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Sailor S
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As soon as I saw that Zac had written the review, I knew I didn't have to read it. His hatred of Saikano is pretty well known, and I'm sure I've heard his complaints about it in various forms throughout the years. Not saying it's without merit, just that I'm pretty sure I've heard it all before.
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Angel'sArcanum
 Posts: 304 Location: Toronto, Ontario |
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Ruthless hahaha. Didn't know you were actually going to put up a review for it, but interesting...
Always knew a bunch of the other staff didn't seem to like Saikano and it is a divisive series, so I always feel bad for Bamboo seeing everyone else rip it to shreds. As for me, Saikano was kind of middle of the road at a 'C' or 'C+' for me. The last few episodes (particularly the ending) just go nuts with making things as dire as possible, and sometimes it feels a bit manipulative or shallow, but there's some parts that feel genuinely tender in my book. In any case, love your reviews Zac, always a smooth, bold and enticing read. |
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itachi06103570
Posts: 200 |
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Good god this thing sounds horrible (mind you I didn't see this) but the review makes it seem like it was just a steaming stinking pile of hot s@#$ from start to finish. I mean I won't go against the review because it's from someone who knows their stuff but just for a historical standpoint I want to now see how bad this thing really is now. It just sound so horrific that like school days might just make me watch it on the sole basis of it being interesting now that I've read the scathing review.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Odd. The only writing I've ever done on it was for this site, which was a rave for the first episode back when it came out. Since then I'm pretty sure I've only mentioned it in the same breath as the phrase "I don't remember much about it beyond the fact that it tried very hard to make you cry". |
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Twage
Posts: 366 Location: North Bergen, NJ |
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I remember being unable to get past the first episode of this back in the day. Beyond the milquetoast characters and threadbare story, her eyes were so far apart they seemed to be looking in two different directions, which freaked me out.
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Akane the Catgirl
Posts: 1091 Location: LA, Baby! |
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I have never seen Saikano, but I do eventually want to pick it up one day because by God I need to have an opinion on it. However, your review brought up some interesting points I want to discuss. This is less about the show and more about emotional manipulation. So here goes.
The other day, I was having a bit of a debate about the merits of Princess Tutu with someone who didn't like the show. (IMO, I just think it wasn't his thing, but that's another can of worms not to be opened.) One of his arguments revolved around Princess Tutu being emotionally manipulative, which I thought was pretty dumb. When most people use "emotionally manipulative" as a criticism, it usually means "I didn't cry at this, therefore, BAD." I really hate this way of thinking due to how utterly self-centered it is. Not everything is going to make you cry, just like not everything is going to make you laugh. For example, Bambi didn't get a tear out of me, but I still think the infamous "Bambi's Mom" scene was well-written and made sense thematically. Usually, if you're going to look for emotional manipulation, it's going to be in places featuring cute characters with little personality having horrible things happen to them for no reason other than "CRY DAMMIT". I would use something like CLANNAD or Elfen Lied, but I have little to no personal experience with them. Let's use something like the laughably (or en-ragingly, depending on who you are) awful Future Diary anime as an example of emotional manipulation. Early on, we meet this character who was raped in her backstory. In something like, say, Berserk, this would work because 1) I actually care about people like Guts, Griffith, and Casca and 2) the "rape as backstory" lines up with how these characters behave during the present. The Future Diary example fails because this particular character's behavior during the story and the history provided for her don't mesh together logically. In addition, she has no personality and her characterization amounts to "enemy of the week". The only reason the "rape as backstory" cliche was used was to elicit sympathy, which is not only awful, but also incredibly FANFICTION-Y. In the end, the character dies, and I don't give a damn because in an attempt to make me feel sorry for her, the show forget to give me a reason WHY she deserved sympathy. So those are my personal thoughts. Does anyone else have anything to add? I'd be happy to offer some more of my opinions. 
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Shar Aznabull
 Posts: 236 |
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This sums up my feelings on the show pretty well, I'd almost say you were too kind to it.
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jmfsilenthill
 Posts: 1863 Location: Chinese cartoons are srs biz |
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One of the few shows I regretted buying/watching the whole thing. So bad.
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Sailor S
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I seem to recall it coming up from time to time in various ANNCasts, and about the nicest thing you said about it was "Uggh". |
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Keichitsu0305
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I would love to see Zac review Bokurano, or as I like to call it, "that mecha show that enjoys pissing on children's faces". Much like Saikano, everyone has a sob story and the structure prevents any character from developing beyond said tragedy. I only watched the whole thing to see if it was meant to satirize dark mecha shows after NGE and RahXephon came out previously but nope, plays the whole thing straight. I simply don't understand when people praise the show as a masterpiece when absolutely none of the characters are interesting aside from the mascot (only because its Akira Ishida).
But yeah, I'll just continue to avoid Saikano. If I wanted 'good looking' tragedy porn, Ajin manga is on Crunchyroll. @Akane the Catgirl: I agree with your sentiments on 'emotional manipulation' but my thoughts are entertainment is supposed to manipulate you. What makes a scene effective (for me) is whether or not it was properly built up. The best and most recent example I remember choking up on (besides 90% of Death Parade) was in episode 23 of Shirobako spoiler[where Shizuka says during recording "Thank you, Aria-san. I just got a step closer to my dream" and Aoi starts crying uncontrollably.] The whole series built up to this one small moment but, thanks to great writing, it pays off. Future Diary, Saikano, and shows of those ilk are too lazy to build up for a payoff so they rely of obviously cheap tactics. As popcorn shows, its whatever but nowhere near as golden as say Princess Tutu. It's like the difference between a home cooked meal and Taco Bell; you can tell where the real meat is. |
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