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REVIEW: Noein DVD 5


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Cowboy Cadenza



Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 243
Location: Poughkeepsie, NY
PostPosted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 2:19 am Reply with quote
I don't know about anyone else, but the way everyone in the dub cast except Crispin Freeman pronounces Haruka really annoys me. It's just wrong. Ha-ROO-ka my ass.

/pointless anger
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daedelus



Joined: 07 Apr 2007
Posts: 743
Location: Texas City, TX (ajd: 6/11/05)
PostPosted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 4:46 am Reply with quote
This show is one of my favorites of 2007. Other people may not agree, but Noein had a uniqueness about it that was very appealing to me. It also helped that I grew a considerable attachment to the characters.

It is said attachment that made the viewing of Noein's (the character) past such a kick in the gut. Wow, just thinking about that scene makes me sad. Sad

I look forward to many subsequent viewings as this is a show that definitely gets better and better the more times I watch.
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 6:55 am Reply with quote
Cowboy Cadenza wrote:
I don't know about anyone else, but the way everyone in the dub cast except Crispin Freeman pronounces Haruka really annoys me. It's just wrong. Ha-ROO-ka my ass.

/pointless anger
That's down to the English director not keeping his ear on the continuity. Just how do you think it should be pronounced?
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 9:27 am Reply with quote
I was very disappointed in the ending. It was the same old "let's not give up!" public service announcement...using the whole Einsteinian physics thing as a metaphor just to get that point across AGAIN, just like an uncountable number of series before it, is incalculably weak. The "let's observe our own world!" thing in La'Cryma was especially bad.

Not to mention that Atori's whole storyline didn't have any rhythm or reason to it, or that the magenta-haired chick whose name I cannot recall did essentially nothing the entire series.
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scortia



Joined: 27 Mar 2006
Posts: 174
PostPosted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 4:35 pm Reply with quote
Fronzel: Hate to admit I agree with you mostly here about the ending... and yet, by showing in the end that the destruction of all existance can be brought about by anyone who has let themselves be corrupted by their grief was a nice dreary message to end on. Like "ho hum let's go screw up some other guy obsessed with his dead girlfriend" and do it all over again.

The magenta haired girl - Miho - served as a catalyst for Atori... I think there's speculation that in Atori's timespace (I believe it's insinuated that he's of a timespace other than Lacryma) that his sister Sara greatly resembled Miho - he does mistaken her for Sara afterall. But it's been a while since I watched the last eps so don't quote me on that. Razz
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 5:36 pm Reply with quote
But that whole "destroy all of existence just because I'm such a mopey bastard" is pretty cliché, too. It's just a metaphor for suicide. The whole thing just ends up being a metaphorical battle between suicide and "ganbatte!". It's been absolutely done to death.

spoiler[And the main thrust of Noein's emo whining was that existence inevitably leads to pain…and as way of proof, he showed Haruka a dimension in which all of her friends are maimed or killed, but the series had several times explained that there are an infinite number of dimensions, so what’s showing any single one supposed to prove? Series doesn’t even obey the rules it set for itself!]

No, sorry, I didn't mean Miho(who works as comic relief, btw), I meant the moody Dragon Knight who was apparently in love with Karasu for no particular reason or consequence. She didn't do much.

The series was so different and intriguing for about nine or ten episodes in the beginning, too. What a dreadful waste of potential.
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scortia



Joined: 27 Mar 2006
Posts: 174
PostPosted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 7:20 pm Reply with quote
True true... in the end it was a big, lame...

spoiler[Can you spot Yuu? game. I remember a lot of people assumed the Wanderer was going to be a future older Yuu as well. Thank god he didn't end up like that. Razz Noein proved to be a very lame villain... indeed... the concept behind his existance interested me, he did not. Also, lamest character design ever when the mask came off. Naked Karasu with white goo on the naughty bits.]

Oh you meant Kosagi. I didn't regret her not being developed more. I wanted a backstory for Tobi though. He was ridiculously smart for his age, there has to be something interesting behind him. Same goes for Kuina who ended up being pretty lame and unbelievable in the end.

Man you're making me like this series less and less the more I think about it. Well I liked everything up to the last 5 or so eps... and certain scenes in those eps were wonderful... but yeah, well, the director headed Escaflowne, so it ended with a similar ganbatte ending (not nearly as good though), nuff said. Razz
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 10:22 pm Reply with quote
I don't exactly "regret" Kosagi's lack of characterization...but if she's so irrelevant, why is she even there? Sloppy!

Tobi's a guy!? Oh shi-...I've been trapped! Are you sure?

But yeah, I kinda liked him/her, too. Maybe just because s/he wasn't so prone to melodramatic overreaction as every other Dragon Knight.

Since I've gotten onto a bitching grove, I'd like to complain about spoiler[Yuu's mom. Yuu's wonderfully believable angst regarding her was one of the things that kept me watching early on, but then the whole plot just suddenly self-destructs in a flashback? What's more, while that flashback explained her motivations just fine, but I don't see how it fixed the problem...and maybe the writers didn't either, because she more or less just disappears for the rest of the series. She had less screentime than Haruka's mom!

And then Yuu decides he wants to go to Tokyo!?]


scortia wrote:
Man you're making me like this series less and less the more I think about it.

Glad to be of service!

EDIT:
Ah, excuse me, I just remembered more things I need to complain about.

What makes the fact that the ending was of the "plea for optimism" variety so annoying is that it doesn't really fit the characters. It's Haruka who nearly succumbs to despair? After being unrelentingly cheerful the entire series? Nuts!

She's a very likeable protaginist, and the very fact that she, the kind, cheerful girl, is the lead rather than Yuu, the mopey boy who needs to grow a pair, was always interesting. Plus I liked the somewhat odd art style and the scoring was pretty impressive. What a waste!
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18435
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Fri Nov 16, 2007 11:40 pm Reply with quote
Oh, come off it. The last few episodes did drop off in quality by resorting to some less original elements, and I'll admit I was a bit miffed by the whole nihilism approach, too, but the ending was hardly that bad.

I saw no problem whatsoever with how Yuu's mother was handled; you're just digging for something to compain about there, Fronzel.

And what's wrong with Haruka being shaken up by things? She's only 12 and clearly acting more on instinct than actual intelligence, so I don't find it far-fetched at all that the scenes Noein shows her would get to her.

On a different issue, if Tobi is a guy then I've been fooled all series, too. I've always assumed that Tobi is just a slight woman.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 1:01 am Reply with quote
What really irked me about this whole series was the ugly character designs. They were outright hideous at times. I mean seriously, couldn't they have gotten someone to draw better looking humans?

Grumbling aside, I wasn't able to finish this due to the late night time it's on (I can't stay always stay up late). I have to admit the discussion about quantam physics earlier in the series was awesome. I love that kind of information feed.


Last edited by belvadeer on Sat Dec 10, 2011 7:16 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 1:12 am Reply with quote
Key wrote:
I saw no problem whatsoever with how Yuu's mother was handled; you're just digging for something to compain about there, Fronzel.

Oh, well, if you're cool with it...

Key wrote:
And what's wrong with Haruka being shaken up by things? She's only 12 and clearly acting more on instinct than actual intelligence, so I don't find it far-fetched at all that the scenes Noein shows her would get to her.

It doesn't follow from what the rest of the series is about. Haruka’s experiences throughout the series don't include that suffocating gloom until the very end. It doesn’t even include hints of it; she doesn’t start to lose her emotional composure as the series progresses; it just pops up suddenly there at the end. She’d been frightened, confused and horrified, but her basic personality is always quite happy. The series as a whole doesn't make use of the idea until the end, not even with Yuu. Yuu's main problem is a state of suppressed stress and anxiety, not depression. It's only Noein who's like that, and we only really learn anything about him during the very last few episodes.

If only it was real science fiction and continued to explore the effects of quantum concepts on the idea of human life instead of playing it for a cheap metaphor.
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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6227
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 3:03 pm Reply with quote
it's actually a pretty sad ending when you look at it closer. spoiler[even though they traveled to many different realities, there was always one definite in every timeline: Haruka death. so no matter how the future progresses on, it's inevitable that this is Haruka's fate. my theory is the dragon torque is too poweful for one person to have and at a certain age, the bearer has to die so it can passed on to someone else.]
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:27 pm Reply with quote
Butspoiler[ isn't the very idea of fate hard to reconcile with the infinite multiverse concept?

Plus, was every Haruka the/a Dragon Torque? If they made that clear, I missed it.]
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
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Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 11:58 am Reply with quote
Fronzel wrote:
Key wrote:
And what's wrong with Haruka being shaken up by things? She's only 12 and clearly acting more on instinct than actual intelligence, so I don't find it far-fetched at all that the scenes Noein shows her would get to her.

It doesn't follow from what the rest of the series is about. Haruka’s experiences throughout the series don't include that suffocating gloom until the very end. It doesn’t even include hints of it; she doesn’t start to lose her emotional composure as the series progresses; it just pops up suddenly there at the end. She’d been frightened, confused and horrified, but her basic personality is always quite happy. The series as a whole doesn't make use of the idea until the end, not even with Yuu. Yuu's main problem is a state of suppressed stress and anxiety, not depression. It's only Noein who's like that, and we only really learn anything about him during the very last few episodes.

If only it was real science fiction and continued to explore the effects of quantum concepts on the idea of human life instead of playing it for a cheap metaphor.
In order for Haruka to stay that happy after witnessing all the death and distruction shown to her she would have had to be autistic. Like pulling one's self out from under the rubble of Hiroshima the day after and saying "what a wonderful day, I just know things are going to get better." Yeah they might, but will you be alive long enough to see it? Also in the multiverse theory what happens to each of you in each different universe is totally independent with no affect of any other, and for any one to come into contact would cause both to be destroyed like matter/anti-matter. This concept was completely ignored in this series.
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 4:04 pm Reply with quote
Mohawk52 wrote:
In order for Haruka to stay that happy after witnessing all the death and distruction shown to her she would have had to be autistic.

Yes, but I reiterate; by the way this series explains the idea of a multiverse(which Haruka personally experiences), it's impossible to be shown "the" future. Why does she need Yuu to yell at her before she realizes that what she's been shown doesn't negate hope? Wasn't it explained to her that even though La'Cryma is 15 years in the future from her perspective, that her world won't necessarily turn out like that?

Even if I give Haruka a pass on it, why should the audience find any of this disturbing? The implications of the idea of a multiverse demand that there be infinite dimensions where Haruka and company come to nasty ends, and that it's impossible to dertermine how "our" versions of them will turn out.

The series introduces counter-intuitive ways of looking at time, then forgets to conform to them.

Mohawk52 wrote:
Also in the multiverse theory what happens to each of you in each different universe is totally independent with no affect of any other, and for any one to come into contact would cause both to be destroyed like matter/anti-matter. This concept was completely ignored in this series.

Well, yeah, you have to fudge some things or the story won't work. Not hard sci-fi.
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