Codicier

Knowing nothing of the mythology of DC's wonder woman my 1st reaction here was "well isn't she supposed to have a link to the classical past" i dont really see that in the new costume, she doesn't "look greek" isn't that all toga's & such? well a quick look at wikipedia seems to suggest that even in Greek times that Amazon warriors did wear trousers I still feel the current look is too genericly superhero, id love a version which evoked a classical warrior more, not just a male 90's superhero design applied to a lady

I'm thinking of going back and reading MORT (for obvious reasons) or maybe one of the Witches books because I felt in the later books Granny Weatherwax & her weird memories problems after 'borrowing' and in some of the alternate world memories stuf kinda reflected what Pratchett must have being going through.

Up on Poppy Hill is probably a good companion piece to Kids on the Slope

with this & Iain Bank's death in 2013 that's basically the two most significant authors of my youth passing away before their time. They both seemed to have so much fire left in them, so many more ideas, and things to say than life allowed them. RIP Sir Terry Pratchett Creator of books which took me elsewhere whenever I opened them, made me laugh when I needed it, and made me think when I least expected it. I was lucky to meet him at book signings twice and he genuinely seemed as happy to be there as everyone who came to see him. He genuinely seemed to believe in the best possible way what he wrote for me inside one of those books

I really can't put into words how sad this makes me. His writing had a kindness mixed with sharpness which I never found elsewhere

Ooooh, nice call with Bacanno! FLCL is good too but I always kinda thought of it as quite a 'anime persons' anime as Patrick put it.

I agree it's uneven I just think it's best bits are worth it, and I never found it dull. Otherwise Tekkonkinkreet? Maybe? If he want non fantasty Ping Pong and Kids on A Slope are both excellent combinations of music, charcter, and animation if he's ok with them siting squarely within their particular genres (sports, & high school drama)

It generally get labelled "timeless classic" but also it's revered in the same way a bands debut album might do if its also considered their definitive work. Maybe take a look at Michiko to Hatchin as a kinda inferior but still enjoyable modern equivalent?

Reposting this here from the "plug your shit" thread since i thought others might be interested in Rodi explaining the Shinsengumi

Really hard to respond to a lot of your thoughts without spoilers for future episodes, but they are intresting ones anyway so keep em comming!

The audience you watch something with can be hugely influential to your experience of it. The first time I ever watched Perfect Blue was with one of my 1st serious girlfriends post uni. I had no idea what to expect, people just seemed to think it was a critically important artsy foreign animation and at the time i very much wanted to play up the who arts graduate thing. Boy that was one awkward watch.... I don't think I watched it again for nearly 5 years out of residule awkwardness

You have a intresting take on it so far, would be interested to know how you feel after episodes 13 & 14 I'm just gonna state from the get go I hate the term 'high art', but that's a huge topic of its own so let's that one sit for now. So it hasn't told a heartbreakingly subtle tale, and what it has attempted to do has at times been carelessly executed in ways that actively undermine what could be it core positive messages. But... There's a important difference between KLK and Panty & Stocking, little/no effort is made in P&S to build relatable and likeable characters where as KLK for all its flaws is positively overflowing with them. No one would ever want to be like Panty or Stocking, where as I think Ruyko & Satsuki however have enough charisma, charm, and sheer badassery to them that despite the flaws in their creation by the end of their arcs they are proper inspirational Heroines.

For me all the wider talk about Kill La Kill can be boiled down to two episodes and whether people consider a quite disturbing moment of victimisation set-up be worth the moment of self empowerment we get in pay-off. I'm specifically talking about episodes 16 & 17. Bottom line: Is it acceptable for a director deliberately set out to create a negative reaction in a empathic audience towards the sexualisation of a character while also potentially titillates others who don't feel that empathy for dramatic ends (regardless of if the victim gets to to make violent payback).

I'm not a big fan of Tatami Galaxy, and i've never read a Murakami book so sadly i can't really comment there. My issue is that anime has become increasingly insular and risk averse, just at the time where it need to be becoming bolder and trying to broaden its market. That as it audience grows older it doesn't offer them stories that reflect their life as adults but instead continues to smothers everything in the soft comforting embrace of Moe. It's like someone carrying a safety blanket around with them and not realise why it make everyone else look strangely at them. I'm actually encouraged that people like Netflix have picked up things like Kill La Kill because really anime companies need to be reaching out and getting more viewers from a wider demographic not selling single Blue Rays for more than the average western TV boxset. speaking of which I'm almost unsure if we are watching the same thing, Episode 4 of KLK was full of moments where animation short-cuts are used for comic effect but i don't remember any cell shaded 3d & the whole "STREPOWER!" sequence & the "fake academy" moments in particular were great. In fact thank you for the excuse to watching it & laugh myself silly again Edit: I ended up enjoying it so much I just watched another episode, & i'm about to start another I don't think this is ending till I'm done with a full rewatch

Give it a shot, individual episodes are nicely self contained whioe providing just enough titbits of info about the ongoing situation of their world to keep things intresting. I actually think there's a proper case to be made that Moe is a symptom of what is killing anime, and that indeed in someways anime may already be dead and in need of shocking back into life, But its 2:00 & I have to at least to try & damn sleep but give me the benefit of the doubt and I'll try to flesh out that rather inflammatory statement

I've never watched a single episode of Dragon Ball.... Is this something I should try to fix? Or with something do labyrinth plot wise am I better off staying well clear. Utter sidenote: Death Parade from it gimmicky beginnings has been quietly winning me over this season, it's pretty uniformly excellently animated as you would expect but its done a very intresting job building up our understanding of the central mysteries from the way the characters interact with each other and the world rather than any big lore dumps. Also I love the energy & verve of the opening sequence

I think I will always have problems with Moe just because it's sometimes feels like it's applied almost blanket like across anime regardless of the suitability of it in a particular character or show. This image which was posted a few pages back to me is a near perfect example, I mean is there ANY, I mean ANY artistic reason to not treat the female characters with the same realism they do their male equivalents.

I had always assumed the whole Moe stylisation was nothing to do with titillation but about making the character non threatening, now obviously it gets used more on female characters than males but i think the purpose is the same. Though when i think about more, it feels to me the western trope Moe makes me think of most is quite a misogynistic one, the "Girl/Guy next door" that the character is designed to be visually attractive, often quirky, but flawed and often vulnerable in a way where they could be seen as either "attainable" (in the case of a girl) or "relatable" but non threatening in the case of a man. Think of it this way how many show's can you think of which used Moe stylisation but had a "threatening" character feature prominently (i can think of perhaps 2-3 off the top of my head max

Best of luck with this, i know several people who've gone back back into higher learning in the UK with varying amounts of success, and while it's true what you say that as a mature student the red tape surrounding university isn't exactly designed with you in mind don't be deterred. As you say having a sense of purpose again after a period of drifting is a wonderful thing even if the climb ahead is a bit rocky.

I enjoyed S2 once I had given people time to settle in but a warning Mr twig, so far there's no clear sign of a S3 as far as I know & plot threads are left hanging

Minor note for anyone playing the campaign when the mini patch hit today, it seems it moved the save files to a slightly different location(I'm typing this on my iPad so the exact place escapes me atm) but you can retrieve the file and move it to the new location and keep going

There's absolutely nothing that allude as to how or why he came to adopt that style of dress anywhere I've seen in the anime or manga as far as I'm aware. Even when we see him as a youngster he's dressed traditionally, it's just something he seems to have mysteriously picked up. I'm sure someone more historically knowledgable about Japan could nail down a exact era for the setting, from the tools, dress etc, but Ginko himself seems very much apart from it.

Obviously he's keeping them in one of those draws in his travelling cabinet More seriously theme's surrounding Misogyny of "olden times" do creep up occasionally in Mushishi (unhappy forced marriages, & abusive patriarch being a particular recurving ones) but are generally dealt with pretty well

Hey guys I know another series about a mysterious, white haired, amnesiac, protagonist with a great knowledge of supernatural creatures who use a kinda "alchemical science" to deal with the problems these animals bring up in small communities he comes across as he wanders from place to place trying to make a living, & which explores its world landscape through a series of tales which are morally grey at the best of times, and sometimes darker still. Its called the Witcher

I just got a fine for mispayment of self assessed taxes i thought I'd fully sorted months back. I'm unsure if their right or not but right now i've no choice but to to both pay up (to avoid being charged interest) & launch a appeal simultaneously. All this however leaves me precariously close to running on fumes now.