anime

[BobbyBesar]

That's because Space Dandy is secretly incredible even though it wants you to believe otherwise.

I just watched the season 2 finale, and I have to agree. I have decided that I actually totally love Space Dandy.

 

Why? A couple things about the last episode:

- It finally pays off the galactic space battle they've been teasing the entire show, and it's pretty awesome. I didn't realize how much I wanted to see colored lines spawn little colored circles, but apparently I really did.

- The english voice actor for Dandy is mostly Ok. He has a hard job. But in the finale, he did a couple of line reads that were just amazing. Dandy's "Yeah, well, I don't." during his interrogation is a fucking great line read. There's a couple more, but that one really stood out.

- Commodore Perry jokes are the best. The reveal of his real identity is also the best.

 

(Warning: below are my own opinion-y generalizations, and won't stand up to deep interrogation.)

But the real thing is that this is a show that _gets_ sci-fi. I've long believed that the short story format is the ideal format for the goals of science fiction (at least the parts that I think are interesting.) Sci-fi stories, like horror stories, shouldn't overstay their welcome. They should introduce an idea, explore the idea, and then end (There's also a certain "kind" of idea that should be explored, usually relating to technology and the nature of humanity). This kind of distinction is what makes people say that Star Wars and various Space Operas aren't proper "S-F".

 

So, I think sci-fi should be the province of short story collections, magazines, etc. It's the "pulp" history of sci-fi. For a reasonable while, I read Heavy Metal magazine. I appreciate that a lot of people find it distasteful, but it hits just the right kind of notes for what I want from a science fiction experience. In a single episode of Heavy Metal, you can get 10 wildly different stories. Some will be good, some will be crap.

And that's what Space Dandy understands. It doesn't try to make everything coherent. It's satisfied to tell a range of stories. Some are personal. Some are about the Japanese experience. Some are critiques of the audience, or the industry. Some are just for fun. Because it's not a single body of work. It's an anthology series, that happens to use the same characters for some general thematic consistency. It's a show that is _willing to be bad_. Not because it's phoned in, but because not every episode will land with everybody. Which is great.

 

It's also got surprisingly deep legs. There are all sorts of jokes hidden here and there. There are probably so many that I don't even catch.(related: Can you make a split screen legal trial without it being a Phoenix Wright joke at this point? I assume not. Is a talking motorcycle in an episode that intentionally takes itself too seriously automatically a Kino's Journey reference? I assume so?)

 

So, I've decided that I love Space Dandy. More than Cowboy Bebop, which got too caught up in its own self-seriousness. It's the kind of love that I don't know if I would recommend it to anybody who isn't me, but I do love it.

 

Also, fishing episode Ouendan finale. Case Closed.

[Gormongous]

- Commodore Perry jokes are the best. The reveal of his real identity is also the best.

 

Absolutely!

 

 

Wait, what are we talking about?

[BobbyBesar]

Also, Viva Namida is a baller opening theme.

[Twig]

The music in general is just really good! They wrote a lot of original music with lyrics for the show! It's not just some crappy pop songs licensed for the show. That musical high school episode in particular was... somethin'.

 

Anyway, I'm not sure I completely agree with you re: sci-fi being best suited for the short story format. I've read some really good sci-fi books. H2G2 is five (or apparently six?) books which, some people dislike this or that book in the "trilogy", but I liked them all, and even if I didn't, that's still a lot more than just a short story.

 

The Mote in God's Eye is a very good sci-fi book - though it veers toward hard sci-fi, which I suppose is different from the cheesy sci-fi Space Dandy is going for.

 

But hey whatever. What I really loved about Space Dandy was how all over the place it is. Some of the episodes are completely throwaway, and some are extremely touching. It doesn't really care about the emotional whiplash you'd receive from a binge watch. It's just, like you said, a bunch of wildly different short stories! Thrown into a pot and stirred up until it's all one thing.

 

---

 

Unrelated, I watched and finished Moshidora and I teared up so that's a thing I guess. I'm surprised at how much I liked it. It is definitely not your typical sports anime - in fact, I'd say the sport is the setting more than it is the genre, in this case. It follows a girl who hates baseball because she learned she couldn't be a professional baseball player, but she ends up being the manager of the high school baseball team to help out a friend. There's lots of potential for failure there, but it ended up being prett dang good, I think.

 

---

 

I ALSO watched the first episode of Princess Jellyfish before coming into work this morning. I'm in this for the long haul.

[BobbyBesar]

Oh yeah, it's a terrible, garbage rabbithole to disappear down and gets into stupid distinctions between Spec Fic, SF, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, and all sorts of True Scotsman stuff.

 

But Space Dandy is great.

 

I found the English voice work surprisingly palatable, but I do want to watch the musical episodes in Japanese. It's very obvious that there's something lost in translation there, especially in the High School Musical. In comparison, Rock and Roll Dandy worked a little better, since the music owes so much to English genre roots anyways.

[Twig]

Hmm yeah I watched it all in Japanese. I loved Dandy's Japanese VA. Perfect Pompadour Voice.

[namman siggins]

I LOVE Princess Jellyfish, sadly it's only 11-episodes long.

My ex got me into it and I feel in love with it instantly; the quirky character designs, the smooth animations, the subject matter--otaku women--and quirky humor. 

[syntheticgerbil]

So uhh, do any of your guys translate stuff? I sort of have no money though, maybe I could draw you a picture?

[Dewar]

My wife is currently working on studying for the top level Japanese proficiency test. She might be pursuaded to do some practice translation. What was it you wanted done?

[Twig]

Almost done with Princess Jellyfish and it remains fantastic. Bonus: I don't think there's a single character that I don't like. Even the one I'm probably supposed to hate is just wacky and over the top sometimes. Love ittttt.

 

EDIT: FINISHED IT. THUMBS UP.

 

Only real complaint with the whole thing is that it sort of ended on... nothing. I mean it was an okay ending, but it left so many things up in the air. Especially with some of the side characters (the brother and the manipulative lady).

 

ANYWAY AS USUAL TEGAN HAS THE BEST TASTE IN BASICALLY ALL THE THINGS

 

Now I'm watching Princess Nine, which was one of those things I found when I was looking into sports anime starring girls. This one is baseball. Kinda old. Kinda. 1998. Sometimes I see Old Anime Art and it's just like man I love this. Thumbs up. Hope the actual everything else is good!

 

EDIT EDIT: Ahaha these high school kids are stomping all over these adults. TOO GOOD. THIS IS SPORTS.

[N1njaSquirrel]

Only real complaint with the whole thing is that it sort of ended on... nothing. I mean it was an okay ending, but it left so many things up in the air. Especially with some of the side characters (the brother and the manipulative lady).

 

Yeah, it's another case of the manga not being finished, and I guess it wasn't popular enough to warrant a second season. Which is a real shame. You should really check out the manga, because it turns from a kinda quirky love story to a

full-blown fashion industry manga, which is so darn interesting. I guess this isn't too much of a spoiler given the last couple of episodes, but still.

 

You should check Girl got game. It's as awful as it sounds.

[Twig]

I have little to no interest in reading the manga unfortunately.

[Twig]

Princess Nine is actually pretty good. It's a near exact copy of the average high school boys' sports anime, but with the caveat that the girls have to fight for their right to party, because the rules clearly state only boys can compete in the high school tournament! Of course, their uniforms are NOT REGULATION! Also they're pink and red. OF COURSE.

 

 

(Sorry for the COSPLAY overlay, it was the best image I found in a quick search.)

 

(Actually I really like the way they look, but well you know.)

 

Weird watching it so soon after Moshidora, which featured a girl who once loved baseball before discovering oh it's a boys' club after all and she can't participate so she grew to hate it. Before falling back in love again because it was so inspiring!! (Obviously it had flaws. It was still good.)

 

EDIT: Dang, I got halfway into the series without seeing the ol' "use your feminine wiles to win!" trope. And then bam there it is. Of course it was only their second game total, so I guess in the grand scheme of things it happened pretty early on. Oh wellll.

[Tanukitsune]

YES! I'm so glad more people are into Princess Jellyfish! It got a live action movie recently!

 

 

 

The only non Sailor Moon anime I've watched lately is Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun and.... I'm so bummed out it's over, I love how "adorkable" the characters are.

 

What I did like was 

the ending, GOD DAMMIT, they tricked me into thinking there were going to kiss at the end! T_T

 

I also started to watch Hi-sCool Seha Girls, which is from SEGA and look might be made in the same engine they use for Vocaloids? They only have two episodes, but if you're a SEGA fan, it's a must see! Not to mention you probably won't get any of the jokes if you're not?

 

And now I need something to fill the void left by Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun.... I need a show with adorkable character like Princess Jellyfish or Ouran Host Club. 

[BobbyBesar]

I found the English voice work surprisingly palatable, but I do want to watch the musical episodes in Japanese. It's very obvious that there's something lost in translation there, especially in the High School Musical. In comparison, Rock and Roll Dandy worked a little better, since the music owes so much to English genre roots anyways.

Hey, did you guys know there's a website you can go to and watch videos online? I don't think they even have the rights, but nobody seems to care! It's called Youtube.com. Protips!

 

Anyways, it occurred to me that if I just wanted to watch the music bits, they were probably on youtube, they were, and I did. My verdict is that, yes, as expected, it's much less awkward in Japanese, but once again, the English voice work was better than I expected.

[tegan]

ANYWAY AS USUAL TEGAN HAS THE BEST TASTE IN BASICALLY ALL THE THINGS

 

I dunno where this came from but okay, thanks.

 

I also recently watched Princess Jellyfish and Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-Kun and really enjoyed both. I don't really have much to add since I guess everyone else is watching them. Is Kashima from Nozaki-Kun supposed to be into girls or what?

 

I also started re-watching Another, which I think I give more of a pass than it deserves because it's so rare that anyone makes horror-themed animation.

[Twig]

Could've sworn you had mentioned Princess Jellyfish in here before! Am I wrong? I guess I'm wrong. Well you have horrible taste then!

 

(It comes from the fact that I like pretty much every cartoon you've recommended that I've watched.)

[Codicier]

Is Kashima from Nozaki-Kun supposed to be into girls or what?

 

As far as I'm aware it's a no, seems she is just supposed to be naturally 'handsome' & charismatic and enjoy playing up to the attention that brings her. IRC she's in love with her impossibly competent drama club president guy.

In fact sadly think by the end of the first series all but one person has been quasi happily paired up with someone else whos attention they stubbornly refuse to either notice for one reason or another. It's particularly weird that one guy who isn't paired up is supposed to be base for Nozaki's heroine and yet he's the only one who seems to have absolutely no romantic progression.

[Gormongous]

I also started re-watching Another, which I think I give more of a pass than it deserves because it's so rare that anyone makes horror-themed animation.

 

I like Another a lot.

It definitely has flaws, especially its fitful attempt at moe in horror and the rapid descent into bloodletting in the last couple episodes, but they are outweighed in my mind by its successes. Even upon the second viewing, the show sustains a high level of tension and dread throughout, if only because the deaths are so shocking and so signposted. The curse feels like a real character with its own logic that exists even if the characters and the audience can only partially apprehend it. And I think the art's lovely, even Misaki's moe whatever.

 

It would make a lot of sense if in the planning stages, the director and studio thought they were going to get a half-season and then a multi-episode OVA run, like a lot of shows these days. When they didn't, they decided to keep the pacing of the earlier parts intact and compress all the violence at the hotel into a couple episodes, making it move too fast but leaving the best features of the show as is. But that's just a theory.

[Blambo]

I have been voraciously consuming Nichijou because I am trash.

[Gormongous]

I have been voraciously consuming Nichijou because I am trash.

 

Nichijou is awesome and you become awesome by watching Nichijou.

[Twig]

):<

 

yeah what gorm said

 

(also watch high school boys' nichijou because it's also great)

[Gormongous]

):<

 

yeah what gorm said

 

(also watch high school boys' nichijou because it's also great)

 

Even though the "High School Girls Are Funky" segment is the best part of that show.

 

[Twig]

It's a good segment but I'd completely disagree with that statement.

[Tanukitsune]

Wait, is this one related to the other anime called "Nichijou"?

 

Either way it looks so much better than the other anime I tried to watch today, YuriYuri. The last and only other "Yuri" anime I watched was about two innocent and adorable girls in love, but this one? They're all perverts groping and fondling.... Since when is being a prevert OK just because you're a girl? I'm pretty sure it's a trope by now, one I'll try to avoid in the future.