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Nabari no Ou


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BrothersElric



Joined: 06 Dec 2006
Posts: 1996
PostPosted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 7:51 pm Reply with quote
Nabari no Ou

Haven't seen a thread on this yet, so I thought I might as well take the opportunity. At first I was going to try this series out for sure, but then after all of the great series this season started piling up it ended up on my maybe list, then eventually almost looked like I wouldn't even watch it at all. But now that apparently no one wants to sub either Library War or Real Drive...... (Confused), I've had some extra time on my hands to try some other series out for now, and this of course is one of them (and I think I'm going to try to keep up with both of them too). So far I've just barely seen the first episode. But the mkv for the 2nd is out now, which I can't watch because after everything I've tried (which is basically like, everything....) I can play the audio for mkv files just fine but the video still jumps around a lot! Evil or Very Mad But, I'm sure a lot of you have seen it already, so some of you could probably comment on it better than I could. Anime smile + sweatdrop

Anyways....., so far I haven't seen too much originality to it, but at the same time I think I'm kind of liking the idea of modern day ninja clans. And I mean actual ninja modern day ninjas, not decedents of one (Flame of Recca) or anything like that. And Miharu already looks like he could be a fairly interesting and likable character. He may very well end up being the main reason for me to like this series. And in a way, it looks like it takes a few things here and there from Naruto (idea of the nindo, hand signs for certain techniques, some of the costume designs), but I only really see that more as a tribute. I really like the animation quality so far. There were some pretty cool fight sequences.

All in all I think it leaves enough promise for me to keep up with it, but we'll see, since I don't think it quite compares with other series this season. I think if I were to give it a ratting based off of just this first episode (which I won't give it a ratting until I've seen more of it, as usual) I'd give it a Very Good so far.
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Ishmoo



Joined: 11 Nov 2006
Posts: 413
Location: Fredericksburg, VA
PostPosted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:12 pm Reply with quote
I watched the first ep and then kind of gave up on this one. Compared to the other things I'm currently into like Kure Nai, Ghost Hound and Macross Frontier this show just isn't quite stacking up. I might come back to it later when other shows have run their course though.
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Aromatic Grass



Joined: 31 Dec 2003
Posts: 2424
Location: Raleigh, NC
PostPosted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:29 pm Reply with quote
I have high hopes for this, even though all the comments I've seen have been "average" n' stuff. Like the character designs and JC Staff's animation can be consistently good. Other than that, I don't know much else about it. Before it started airing, manga readers (and others) responded fairly positively to an adaption. It just looks like something I'd like.

I meant to watch the series earlier and start my own thread, but I guess I can't make them all. Wink
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Ohoni



Joined: 10 Jun 2003
Posts: 3421
PostPosted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:31 pm Reply with quote
Meh. I remember reading a bit of the manga, so I was interested in this one since it was announced, but it wasn't great. The art was kinda drab, and the series came off as more shoujo than I remembered. I don't think I'll stick around on this one, too many other shows to watch, too little time.
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Patachu
Past ANN Contributor


Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 1325
Location: San Diego
PostPosted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:33 pm Reply with quote
Well, I don't think it's average. I think it's above average Wink

The art (especially the backgrounds) and music are a bit more polished that what I would normally expect for a "ninja adventure" series and the characters really charmed me with their humor in Episode 2. Obviously the plot's not gonna be anything super-amazing, but sometimes all you need is good presentation to stand out from the crowd.
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Jedi General



Joined: 27 Nov 2006
Posts: 2485
Location: Tucson, AZ
PostPosted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 12:43 am Reply with quote
The first episode managed to interest me enough in order to bring me back for episode two, but the second episode was painful to watch in terms of the animation quality. The bland storyline and boring main cast didn't help either.

I'm watching enough already this season, and so I'm not going to force myself to watch Nabari no Ou anymore. I really wanted to like this series, but the show just didn't want to like me back.
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IamnotArmand



Joined: 09 Oct 2007
Posts: 6
Location: Redmond, WA
PostPosted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:14 am Reply with quote
After watching the first episode, it was a little better than I expected, but not much. Rokujou was surprisingly cute for a male lead, though having Kugimiya Rie's voice didn't hurt matters. I felt that it was a show I would follow in an off-season, but certainly not right now.

After the second episode, this show shot up to be one of my top choices for the season! My major complaint about Rokujou's personality from episode one was addressed in such a way that made it palatable to me without changing his character. Something about the four major characters and how they interact is easy for me to get into. Mostly, I liked how the situations were handled. About halfway through the episode, I realized that nothing much was going on from a plot point of view, and yet I was thoroughly enjoying the dialog and atmosphere.

In some ways, this reminded me of the eccentric conversations from last season's Hatenkou Yuugi. However, as much as I enjoyed them, I felt the overall pacing was a little rough and that they were forcibly inserted into the episodes where they occurred. It was much more natural for Nabari no Ou.

I'm very much looking forward to the third episode now, and I hope that this sense of enjoyment isn't just a fluke.
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kizzmequik_74



Joined: 06 May 2007
Posts: 302
Location: QC, Philippines
PostPosted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:55 am Reply with quote
I actually went into the show without any expectations whatsoever, despite reading a bunch of previews (just goes to show how apathetic I now am towards anything with ninjas). Didn't even remember that Kugimiya Rie is playing the lead, didn't even remember that JC Staff is doing animation production...

And I was pleasantly surprised. The background art is gorgeous, the character designs are anorexic but attractive (major credit for Miharu's shounen-ai facefaults and the devil wings/tail he gets in the super-deformed aftermath), the humor is mostly spot-on (see above; despite moments of mood whiplash), and the action is animated well enough. Episode 2 cranks up the humor and tosses out the action, but it ended on an interesting enough note (lol cliffhangers) to keep me hanging around for at least a few more episodes.

I just hope they keep a plot in there to gel it all together, though. If they do, this series may well be the biggest surprise for me this season (and Amatsuki, too, but that's another topic).
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Aromatic Grass



Joined: 31 Dec 2003
Posts: 2424
Location: Raleigh, NC
PostPosted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:04 am Reply with quote
Patachu wrote:
Well, I don't think it's average. I think it's above average Wink

Yeah, all the reviews gave it a 3.5 or higher. Sounds like whatever one thinks of the story, at least it'll look gorgeous. I probably won't have the chance to watch till tomorrow (possibly tonight), but now I'm really looking forward to it. I feel like I'm going to die looking at all the stuff I have to catch up with for this past week. Anime cry
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Patachu
Past ANN Contributor


Joined: 08 Jul 2004
Posts: 1325
Location: San Diego
PostPosted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:34 am Reply with quote
Aromatic Grass wrote:
I probably won't have the chance to watch till tomorrow (possibly tonight), but now I'm really looking forward to it. I feel like I'm going to die looking at all the stuff I have to catch up with for this past week. Anime cry


Hey, at least you're not the one who has to write about every single episode after watching it, lol. So don't worry, my backlog is even worse right now (aaaaah Shugo Chara wait for meeeee).
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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6235
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 12:57 pm Reply with quote
i liked the first episode a lot more than i thought i would. i haven't seen the second one yet, but i'm interested in where the plot's goiong.
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Ultenth



Joined: 02 Oct 2007
Posts: 229
Location: Washington State
PostPosted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:46 pm Reply with quote
Not a bad start thus far, I kinda like how completely apathetic the lead is, to the point that it's kind of a joke, instead of being all emo about it. The way he manipulates people is pretty funny as well, even though it's a little shonen-ai (but not nearly as much as Monochrome Factor, I severely underestimated the blantant shonen-ai nature of that show, LOL). The art is pretty good and the VO's are as well, will continue to watch for now, just out of curiousity more than anything,
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Westlo



Joined: 03 Oct 2002
Posts: 1684
PostPosted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:23 pm Reply with quote
You can say this starts out average and you would be right but what shounen show like this actually starts out with a bang in the first place?

Rurouni Kenshin? Average until Kyoto
Bleach? Average until Soul Society
Naurto? Average until Exams
HunterXHunter? Average until Exams
etc

Anyway I really liked the OP song for this series, the action was well done in episode 1, backgrounds are great in that style J.C Staff love. Will watch this when I can find time.
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BrothersElric



Joined: 06 Dec 2006
Posts: 1996
PostPosted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 5:04 pm Reply with quote
Patachu wrote:
Well, I don't think it's average. I think it's above average Wink

The art (especially the backgrounds) and music are a bit more polished that what I would normally expect for a "ninja adventure" series and the characters really charmed me with their humor in Episode 2. Obviously the plot's not gonna be anything super-amazing, but sometimes all you need is good presentation to stand out from the crowd.


Well yeah, definitely good presentation. That and Miharu alone probably make up about 2/3 of what I like about it so far (the rest mostly being ninja and shounen Wink ). It certainly isn't terrible or anything though, I'll give it that. Definitely good enough for me to want to continue it for sure. We'll just see though, I still have to give ep. 2 a shot latter today sometime.

Westlo wrote:
HunterXHunter? Average until Exams


More like average until after exams. Wink

But anyways, I don't think I could say all those series you mentioned were "average" at first, just not nearly as good as what happens latter is all. Wink (Except for maybe Bleach that is.....) I felt like all of those series you mentioned (again, except for Bleach) had at least some kind of draw in at the beginning that told you that this series was something special, or at least was going to be in the long run anyways. With this series, I don't feel like I've gotten that draw in yet (feels a lot more like Bleach did at first). Though I definitely don't doubt that it'll get better later on. It is a shounen series after all. Wink
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Westlo



Joined: 03 Oct 2002
Posts: 1684
PostPosted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 6:17 pm Reply with quote
Personally I could never watch the first 28 episodes of Kenshin again (I would rather watch episode 30 28 times than watch 1-28 again), same with the equivalent Bleach/Naruto episodes but you get my point right!?

And yeah I meant after exams for HxH.
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