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Puppy Puncher
Joined: 03 Jan 2006
Posts: 25
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Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 11:58 pm
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I think I might faint after this bad score.
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Wolverine Princess
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 1100
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:13 am
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Quote: | While it the show is mostly harmless |
Found a typo.
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joel_s95387
Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 1804
Location: California... The Village Hidden In The Porn
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 2:09 am
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Wolverine Princess wrote: |
Quote: | While it the show is mostly harmless |
Found a typo. |
It still doesn't make the show any better.
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Tony K.
Subscriber
Moderator
Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 11449
Location: Frisco, TX
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 2:25 am
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Hm.. well I already got the LE vol.1 today in the mail before I read this review.
Suffice it to say, I only bought it because of the sale at DVD Planet, and I figured all of the other Geneon TV series that have a DTS track are pretty good too (Gungrave and Champloo being the only series I know of, not counting movies).
I haven't even had a chance to watch any of it yet, so I suppose I'll just have to see how it turns out. I mean, Zac didn't like Angel Links that much either, and I ended up liking it a lot. Then again, AL wasn't catered for Americans...
*crosses fingers in hopes of finding some kind of enjoyment in this series*
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joel_s95387
Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 1804
Location: California... The Village Hidden In The Porn
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 3:31 am
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Several people from work and the owner of my local comic book shop have said they liked this series... this is the main reason I'm not a big fan of reviews, because it doesn't really speak for everyone. Soul Taker got horrible reviews, yet I still really enjoyed it and think the animation style is one of the best I've ever seen.
"Whatever Floats Your Boat"... and find the lost remote, this is for the nig*** hanging out at the airport, who got laid off, I take my shades off, and take a look at the sky, cause the whole world.... sorry, Outkast memmories from High School.
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Thundercloud
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Posts: 5
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 6:54 am
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This is the problem with first DVD reviews, they only review the first four episodes or so, and so never really get any real grasp for the series. Many series' start off with what could be considered below-average (Many people consider GaoGaiGar to start off pretty awful), and yet blossom into fantastic series' (Again, GaoGaiGar).
Believe me when I say that GxS is a really good series. Of course it's silly, of course it has ridiculous enemies (And allies) at times, but the main storyline, once it emerges (And, like most anime series', this does take a while) is, imo, quite a good one, and seems to mix in elements of old anime and new ideas.
But still, anyway, to each their own is what I believe in, but I also believe in not slating entire series' just based off of four episodes worth of content! I saw this exact same approach done with the Law of Ueki's review, and that's another show I quite enjoyed as well!
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Samurai-with-glasses
Joined: 17 Aug 2005
Posts: 628
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 7:37 am
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Hmm...but the reviewers are reviewing only the material of the first disc. To actually get a "big picture" the readers will have to read through the reviews of individual discs and form their own impressions: the second, third, and other discs when the reviewers review, they will often tie it back to their first review. ("My first impression of [insert series here] was [insert comment here], but the changes in this disc convinces me to change my opinion, etcetra, etcetra.")
Sounds weird, though, this show. I might even check it out just for a laugh. The name...stuck me. Van the Stampede?
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DriftRoot
Joined: 20 Jun 2003
Posts: 222
Location: NH
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 7:54 am
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The review does give a very good summary of the first few episodes of this series, but fortunately (or unfortunately?) GunXSword really picks up the pace after awhile and is one of the more enjoyable series I'd been keeping up with. It's no masterpiece, there's a lot of "where have I seen THAT before?" moments - but honestly, few series out there aren't ripping their more popular cousins off off left and right - and a ton of unnecessarily irritating plot devices, characters etc. that cause confusion, but it's still a lot of fun and actually does pack a pretty big emotional punch later on. It would be much more difficult to watch if it wasn't so pretty, I'll admit.
Regarding the Vash/Spike thing, part of the fun of this series (for me) was drawing those similarities and seeing how the creators decided to handle them. Van's actually a pretty decent character all by himself, but you don't start to see it until later episodes. He's a lot more pissed off than Vash ever was and looks at life with far less humor than Spike. Best of all, there are good reasons for his personality to be the way it is.
GunXSword also likes to leave explanations for the very last minute, drawing out the story almost to the breaking point. There's a ton of history behind all the characters that is shared a little bit at a time, often in very disjointed flashbacks. I like to compare this series to "Kill Bill" in that a lot of it is overly dramatic, kind of silly, hard to follow and requires some level of active thinking to appreciate, but you can still watch it and get something out of the experience even if you're half asleep.
It's not a waste of time to check this series out, but if you do, look at more than just the first DVD.
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mufurc
Joined: 09 Jun 2003
Posts: 612
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:14 am
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Thundercloud wrote: | This is the problem with first DVD reviews, they only review the first four episodes or so, and so never really get any real grasp for the series. |
However, most people do judge a series based on the first four episodes or so. I can only speak for myself but if a series can't grab me with its first two episodes, I stop watching it because I have no time to watch a series in hopes that it may get better.
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Thundercloud
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Posts: 5
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:27 am
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mufurc wrote: |
Thundercloud wrote: | This is the problem with first DVD reviews, they only review the first four episodes or so, and so never really get any real grasp for the series. |
However, most people do judge a series based on the first four episodes or so. I can only speak for myself but if a series can't grab me with its first two episodes, I stop watching it because I have no time to watch a series in hopes that it may get better. |
Jooc, what's your opinion on RahXephon? A lot of people I know watched the first two episodes, stopped watching it and slated it as being crap, when in fact it gets better from episode 3 onwards and is one of my favourites
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:02 am
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Samurai-with-glasses wrote: | Hmm...but the reviewers are reviewing only the material of the first disc. To actually get a "big picture" the readers will have to read through the reviews of individual discs and form their own impressions: the second, third, and other discs when the reviewers review, they will often tie it back to their first review. ("My first impression of [insert series here] was [insert comment here], but the changes in this disc convinces me to change my opinion, etcetra, etcetra.")
Sounds weird, though, this show. I might even check it out just for a laugh. The name...stuck me. Van the Stampede? |
Yep, this is exactly right. If the first disc is bad, it's our responsibility to say so. If it gets better, it is also our responsibility to say so; obviously we will be reviewing Gun Sword as it comes out, so if it gets better, we'll certainly be saying so.
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madpierrot
Joined: 17 Apr 2005
Posts: 29
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:48 am
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I'm just curious about the rating. For dub you give it a "C" then under pros you say "Great dub". These just seem to contradict each other a bit for me or is a "C" considered great?
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:56 am
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madpierrot wrote: | I'm just curious about the rating. For dub you give it a "C" then under pros you say "Great dub". These just seem to contradict each other a bit for me or is a "C" considered great? |
That category is "Overall (dub)". What that is is a general score for the show itself, dubbed. Note the sub score is a D; the dub is good enough to lift the material up to being a full letter grade higher.
It isn't just a score for the dub, it's a score for the show, dubbed.
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v1cious
Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6235
Location: Houston, TX
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 2:09 pm
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the sad part is this show had so much potential. the first episode started off awesome... and then the damn mecha showed up and it was all downhill from there.
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Zalis116
Moderator
Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 6902
Location: Kazune City
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 2:12 pm
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Zac wrote: | That category is "Overall (dub)". What that is is a general score for the show itself, dubbed. Note the sub score is a D; the dub is good enough to lift the material up to being a full letter grade higher.
It isn't just a score for the dub, it's a score for the show, dubbed. |
True, after all, even the best acting in the world can't save a play/movie/anime if the script is lousy. So let's see, we have Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion, Gunslinger Girl, maybe a bit of Gungrave, the main character name taken from Escaflowne, and did anyone else notice that even the box art looks like the cases of Samurai Champloo? This whole project reminds me of Samurai Gun, which was also a co-production aimed at American audiences. I haven't seen either one, but they both looked bad enough (even before reading this review) to put in the "avoid" category.
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