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Joe Mello
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 2319
Location: Online Terminal
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 2:19 pm
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I'd have to think that Utaware is one of the better game-based series out there in there's enough motion that you aren't banging your head against the wall waiting for something purposeful to happen. (I'm looking at you, Lunar Legend Tsukihime) Every major event seems to have a purpose and even where there's filler (and there will be some filler) it's entertaining enough that you looking for the cattle prod.
Poor Eluluu. She gets busted on so much in the early goings.
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DragonsRevenge
Joined: 15 Nov 2004
Posts: 1150
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 5:51 pm
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It's funny. I'm usually a bit perturbed when a company changes the Japanese title of a series. Here, I really wish they did. No f'n way am I gonna call Best Buy and ask them if they have "Utawamanerwrneorno" or something.
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Josh7289
Joined: 27 Aug 2005
Posts: 1252
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:22 pm
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DragonsRevenge wrote: | It's funny. I'm usually a bit perturbed when a company changes the Japanese title of a series. Here, I really wish they did. No f'n way am I gonna call Best Buy and ask them if they have "Utawamanerwrneorno" or something. |
I don't think it's hard to pronounce, but I could imagine that conversation over the phone.
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bci110
Joined: 02 Sep 2006
Posts: 391
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 9:29 pm
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DragonsRevenge wrote: | It's funny. I'm usually a bit perturbed when a company changes the Japanese title of a series. Here, I really wish they did. No f'n way am I gonna call Best Buy and ask them if they have "Utawamanerwrneorno" or something. |
I don't need to call my Best Buys because I know they have it. I saw it on the shelves this past weekend, and plan on buying it tomorrow.
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DragonsRevenge
Joined: 15 Nov 2004
Posts: 1150
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 12:27 am
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Umm.. why was my post deleted?
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Necros Antiquor
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 571
Location: Funny in a car crash sort of way
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 1:25 am
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I must say that I did enjoy this series, but purely on the level of "just another anime." Unlike some other series which I could safely recommend to non-anime viewers, I found that the series contained enough cliches, stock responses, and predictable scenes and dialogues to prevent it from being really special. I'll say that the ending, though kinda convulted, was rather original, but on the whole, it just seemed trapped within the anime format, and not in a good way. (The stereotypes were horrible.) I remember even voting against it after watching the first episode in my college's anime club, and though it turned out better than I thought, I still wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't your average anime fan.
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Ai no Kareshi
Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 561
Location: South Africa
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 3:13 am
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That's funny. I didn't find the storytelling to be lacking at all. Once I'd watched the first episode, I just couldn't stop myself anymore and had to keep watching until I ran out of episodes. Also, don't you think it's a little early to comment on character development? Most of the main characters haven't yet or have only just been introduced. Besides, I didn't find goody-goody Hakuoro boring at all – having a more mature-acting main character was a welcome change for me.
I do believe ADV could have come up with a better English title, but frankly I'm just too relieved that they didn't go with "Shadow Warrior Chronicles" to care. Besides, if you're even slightly acquainted with Japanese, "Utawareru Mono" really isn't that hard to pronounce…
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Adept_Rogue_Saiki
Joined: 09 Dec 2006
Posts: 33
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Posted: Tue Jan 16, 2007 10:48 am
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Josh7289 wrote: |
DragonsRevenge wrote: | It's funny. I'm usually a bit perturbed when a company changes the Japanese title of a series. Here, I really wish they did. No f'n way am I gonna call Best Buy and ask them if they have "Utawamanerwrneorno" or something. |
I don't think it's hard to pronounce, but I could imagine that conversation over the phone. |
Yeah that would be an interesting phone call. I would rather go to the store and see if it is there than try calling the store. I watched this series from beginning to ending and thought it was a pretty good series. I am rather suprised they change Eruru's name into Elulu and then did not change Aruru's name to match. Oh well it does not bother me that much. From seeing the first episode on Anime On Demand, the english dub looking promising. The only voice I was iffy about was Nuwangi.
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purple_monkey
Joined: 20 Oct 2005
Posts: 48
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Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 5:32 pm
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I'm glad it got a decent review. Utaware is definitely not in the same league as 12 Kingdoms, but is better than most anime out there. I thought it was a catgirl show at the beginning but it turns much better, though it still is hard to get over the fact that everyone's a girl, it's not a harem anime in the same sense as, say, Love Hina or Negima. No girl's gonna be trying to dig into anyone's pants and there are very few of the usual harem gags. Mainly, it does try to pull a 12 Kingdoms. Anyways, it's worth a watch people. It's a good yarn, not great, but good. Better than most of the offerings out there.
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Zalis116
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Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 6902
Location: Kazune City
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Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:17 pm
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Strangely enough, I think I already have this DVD...except it got lost among my Judas Priest and StyX albums I hear a lot of good things about Utawarerumono, and it sounds like the dub is at least acceptable enough to tolerate. Compared to the dub for This Ugly yet Beautiful World, how does it fare, Key?
I'm sure there would've been a copyright battle, but I halfway think they should've named it "Foxgirls Gone Wild" for the R1 release: it's catchy, it's funny, and it describes at least something of the series' content.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18517
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
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Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 12:16 am
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Zalis116 wrote: | Strangely enough, I think I already have this DVD...except it got lost among my Judas Priest and StyX albums I hear a lot of good things about Utawarerumono, and it sounds like the dub is at least acceptable enough to tolerate. Compared to the dub for This Ugly yet Beautiful World, how does it fare, Key?
I'm sure there would've been a copyright battle, but I halfway think they should've named it "Foxgirls Gone Wild" for the R1 release: it's catchy, it's funny, and it describes at least something of the series' content. |
Actually, given that there's no fan service whatsoever, I don't think the "Foxgirls Gone Wild" would fly - but it is an amusing idea.
I always thought the dub for TUYBW was at the lowest end of acceptable, so this one is unquestionably the better of the two.
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NegativeZero
Joined: 21 Aug 2003
Posts: 94
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 8:05 am
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I don't understand the comparison to Twelve Kingdoms. Aside from the fact they're both Fantasy with an eastern influence, they're radically different in target audience, plot style, tone, depth, format, setting and basically every major comparible feature. A far more valid comparison would be against Scrapped Princess, where it fares reasonably well.
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Ai no Kareshi
Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 561
Location: South Africa
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Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 8:07 am
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NegativeZero wrote: | I don't understand the comparison to Twelve Kingdoms. Aside from the fact they're both Fantasy with an eastern influence, they're radically different in target audience, plot style, tone, depth, format, setting and basically every major comparible feature. |
From the twenty-something episodes of Twelve Kingdoms that I've seen, I have to gree with this statement.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18517
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
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Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 3:57 pm
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NegativeZero wrote: | I don't understand the comparison to Twelve Kingdoms. Aside from the fact they're both Fantasy with an eastern influence, they're radically different in target audience, plot style, tone, depth, format, setting and basically every major comparible feature. A far more valid comparison would be against Scrapped Princess, where it fares reasonably well. |
No. Scrapped Princess has very prominent magical elements and is very distinctly a swords-and-sorcery fantasy despite its weightier context. Utaware (at least so far) isn't like that at all. That makes a big difference.
And I guess we'll have to disagree about the tone, temperament, and style being radically different. Twelve Kingdoms is the first series I thought of when I saw this one, and while I fully agree that it completely diverges in story content (and I didn't say anything about that being similar in the review), that impression never left me the whole time I watched it - especially in the scenes involving the tigers. I can't agree that the target audience or format is all that different, either.
Edit: Spelling.
Last edited by Key on Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:24 pm; edited 1 time in total
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0utf0xZer0
Joined: 08 Dec 2006
Posts: 80
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Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 5:14 pm
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For some reason the lack of explanation of the setting didn't bug me much, even though I didn't know it would be explained later when the first time I watched these episodes.
For me, the main draws to this series in the early section were the fairy tale like feel to some of the scenes and Eruruu's ears - I actually started watching this series because of pictures I'd seen of her. Later on it takes on a bit more of an action feel - and also gets a LOT bloodier. If ADV keeps a TV-PG rating for the later volumes they'll either have to censor it from the Japanese version or seriously underrate the series.
Also, why did they use the name "Eluluu"? I know there's the whole thing with l and r in Japanese, but I remember the name fairly clearly being pronounced with r's.
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