Recommended Posts

I find Space Dandy decidedly really fucking boring and that's the saddest thing I think I've said about anime in a long time. I was really looking forward to it, but it's just a dumb guy running around looking at tits and ass and eating food.

 

OH YEAH SO GREAT.

 

And unlike Kill la Kill, I see nothing there that has the potential to redeem the show.

 

Fair enough, each to his own. I'll still love it. :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Seems that Space Dandy is a Watanabe production so I'll probably give it a chance based on that alone.

I find Space Dandy decidedly really fucking boring and that's the saddest thing I think I've said about anime in a long time. I was really looking forward to it, but it's just a dumb guy running around looking at tits and ass and eating food.

 

OH YEAH SO GREAT.

 

And unlike Kill la Kill, I see nothing there that has the potential to redeem the show.

Would it be at all accurate to say Space Dandy kinda seems like if Muugan from Samurai Champloo was given his own show?

SC certainly wasn't actually that far from that description at a few points, but I guess there was always a strong narrative pulling everything on & 3 very different characters to stop it getting boring.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah Watanabe's name is what got me so excited. That and POMPADOURS cause man if there's one thing I love in this life it's fuckin' pompadours. And the opening song is rad.

 

Anyway, yeah, I suppose Muugan is similar in character. Been a long time since I watched that one, so I'm not too sure. But, as you say, having three very different characters helped a lot. Plus I think it was a lot more... reserved in its Typical Anime Bullshit characteristics.

 

Space Dandy, on the other hand... The titular characters's life goal is to visit every single restaurant in a chain of restaurants called Boobies. Which is basically Space Hooters, if the name didn't give it away.

 

The first episode introduced Space Dandy and his cute robot, and then Space Dandy's little animal-cat-person-alien companion, what's-his-face. They are both perverts, although the alien less so because he only sneaks pictures of them on his phone instead of straight up saying "some people love boobs, but I'm all about the ass". The second episode introduced a bad-ass lady who beat up a bunch of dudes that are after Space Dandy said dudes knocked some food on the ground. Wasting food makes her mad. Maybe she'll be Space Dandy's third companion. She was pretty cool. But I'm not hopeful.

 

There is an underlying thing that may open the series up to something good, but I don't think it'll ever justify the Typical Anime Bullshit like Kill la Kill managed to do. Then again, Kill la Kill is some pretty fuckin' high standards at this point, so maybe I'm expecting too much.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

DRAGONBALLZ!

 

It is one of my favorite shows ever. I wish I had gotten into more anime in the past but I haven't seen much besides DBZ, Trigun, and Tenchi Muyo (all of which I love).

 

Favorite character: Gohan

Favorite episode: The one where Gohan flips out after Cell crushes Android 16's head

Favorite movie: First Broly movie

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've never seen any of the movies. That was part of the plan with my friend and I's Great Rewatch of Dragonball (which included DB, DBZ Kai, DBGT, and all of the movies, in semi-appropriate order), but, as I already said, we never got that far. Stopped early in the Cell saga.

 

Even Kai doesn't manage to save the show from its greatest weakness - everything taking so goddamn long.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The few movies I saw (aside from Dead Zone and the Trunks and Bardock specials) were terrible and worse than the filler bs in the series itself.

 

I guess what I really liked about the show were the cool villains. Freeza and Cell are masterful designs. Though I'll always hold that the manga is way better. Toriyama's drawings have incredible energy, which is slightly diluted when animated by a studio of copy artists. Still, both are pretty nice. I don't think I'd watch it nowadays if I came into contact with it, but in the time when I was 18-ish and anime was still rare, it hit hard.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I guess what I really liked about the show were the cool villains. Freeza and Cell are masterful designs. Though I'll always hold that the manga is way better. Toriyama's drawings have incredible energy, which is slightly diluted when animated by a studio of copy artists. Still, both are pretty nice.

 

One thing that did always bother me was how inconsistent the animations were throughout the various sagas. Some of them were really well done with close attention to detail and others looked like they were just lazily slopped together. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Isn't that Just a seasonal budget thing though? I mean, for all long running series there are always dips in the quality of animation. Certainly shows like Kuroko have eps which are stupidly well animated, followed by eps which are barely animated at all.

 

I wouldn't know in the case of DBZ though. I haven't watched it. I started watching Kai, but didn't get that far into it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, you're probably right. It's still irritating though.

 

Yeah, it's always killed me that one of my favorite anime, Trigun, ran out their mid-season budget on episode 16, which should have been a spectacular apocalyptic showdown but looks like a direct-to-video OVA from the 80s.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, it's always killed me that one of my favorite anime, Trigun, ran out their mid-season budget on episode 16, which should have been a spectacular apocalyptic showdown but looks like a direct-to-video OVA from the 80s.

 

Glad to hear someone else is a fan of Trigun on these forums. I fucking love that anime so much and, as I mentioned earlier, it is one of only a few anime that I've ever watched. I felt like the voice-overs and English translation were excellent compared to DBZ at least, but I definitely still noticed some of what you mentioned with the animation quality. I still feel like DBZ was a far worse offender though. Parts of the Frieza saga looked like they were drawn by a 6 year old.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As far as the DBZ movies go... I kind of enjoyed them, but only as sort of separate, self-contained things, and not in the context of the rest of the series. I really treated most of the ones I saw as sort of "What if... this person attacked earth in the DBZ universe?" more than actually treating them like actual in-universe situations.

 

One thing I never really got with DBZ... when Goku first went super Saiyan, it was this legendary thing that no one had done for (hundreds? Thousands? I dont remember) of years, but once he does it, it basically becomes such a common thing with anyone with even an ounce of Saiyan blood left? It just feels like he does it once and everyone just goes, "Oh, that's what Super Saiyan looks like? I can do that!"
 

...which brings up another question: If no one has seen Super Saiyan in such a long time, how does anyone know that Goku actually *did* go Super Saiyan? Or was it just some other thing that they mistake for Super Saiyan but its really more like a super powerful Kaio-ken? I guess there are beings that exist in the afterlife, and I don't really know if or how strongly they age, so maybe some of them have seen it and confirmed it, but I dont remember anything like that? King Kai, maybe?

 

It's been way too long since I watched DBZ, so it's entirely possible these questions are actually answered in-show and I just dont remember them.... well thats my DBZ talk for the day! Adios!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Nah those questions aren't ever answered. It's basically exactly as you describe it. (Queue someone proving me wrong.)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I broke down and downloaded the new anime of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. I'm tired of not understanding the memes. Anyone actually seen it?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Actually I fucking love it. I love the manga for being absolutely ridiculous and featuring totally unrealistic poses all the times from all characters, and that's also what the anime is. It's just one of those Stupid Fun Things.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

On the topic of Super Saiyans. (Yeah, this is happening.)

Before Goku became SS, it actually was a subject of contention and doubt among the cast. Before it happens, I believe Vegeta claimed to have become SS, only to be shattered when Goku gets there first. I guess his rise in power (level) was such that no one even doubted this was the real thing. As for afterwards everyone and the grandmother reaching that state, chalk that up to exponential shonen manga escalation. Isn't that always the case? The once special power becomes a humdrum trope.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've never actually watched a single episode of DBZ, but listening to all the love it seems to have makes me think perhaps I should make the effort. Do any of the streaming services have a back catalogue of episodes, after the day I've had I really could do with something silly to watch while I drink a few beers before bed.

Although that said I might just watch a few episodes of Space Dandy

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Ok 2 episodes into Space Dandy, so far seems ok through my beer goggles, was wondering if anyone knows if there is there a common design ancestor that both Dandy and Redline are referencing for their styles that I'm unaware of?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm probably over-analyzing, but Space Dandy really feels like Watanabe trying his hardest to destroy Cowboy Bebop aura of perfection so that he can remove the burden that it placed on his career: it takes all the tropes of the Bebop universe - the rubbish technology, the femme fatale, the hyper-ethnic future, the bounty hunter lore, the noir backstory of side characters - and deride them in the most dismissive and dumbed down way possible.
It's really sad to see one of the few anime TV directors who take himself seriously giving up on that to go for easy lampooning; but unlike Kill La Kill shit take on fully limited anim' style, it has truly virtuoso animation.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm probably over-analyzing, but Space Dandy really feels like Watanabe trying his hardest to destroy Cowboy Bebop aura of perfection so that he can remove the burden that it placed on his career: it takes all the tropes of the Bebop universe - the rubbish technology, the femme fatale, the hyper-ethnic future, the bounty hunter lore, the noir backstory of side characters - and deride them in the most dismissive and dumbed down way possible.

It's really sad to see one of the few anime TV directors who take himself seriously giving up on that to go for easy lampooning; but unlike Kill La Kill shit take on fully limited anim' style, it has truly virtuoso animation.

 

That's a really interesting take on it. A concious decision by a creator to take apart his most famous work, and honestly after watching a few episodes it feels it fits that desiption pretty well.

 

I'm not sure why he'd feel the need to though. I mean Kids on the Slope was utterly unburdened by any comparison to his previous work and was excellent, why would he feel the need to exorcize his past when he's already proven he can produce good work outside the confines of genre.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm probably over-analyzing, but Space Dandy really feels like Watanabe trying his hardest to destroy Cowboy Bebop aura of perfection so that he can remove the burden that it placed on his career: it takes all the tropes of the Bebop universe - the rubbish technology, the femme fatale, the hyper-ethnic future, the bounty hunter lore, the noir backstory of side characters - and deride them in the most dismissive and dumbed down way possible.

It's really sad to see one of the few anime TV directors who take himself seriously giving up on that to go for easy lampooning; but unlike Kill La Kill shit take on fully limited anim' style, it has truly virtuoso animation.

 

This is indeed a really interesting interpretation and it's convinced me to give the show a few more episodes. The first episode felt like nothing more than very pretty trash, and I was gonna give up there.

 

...I realize that being adolescent crap on purpose isn't inherently better than being adolescent crap by accident, but I'm willing to try watching the show again if there's a way to relate it to the rest of Watanabe's work in any way (other than production quality). Bebop/Champloo are the only TV anime shows that I truly enjoyed without any reservations, so I was looking forward to Dandy despite how dumb it was probably gonna be.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm probably over-analyzing, but Space Dandy really feels like Watanabe trying his hardest to destroy Cowboy Bebop aura of perfection so that he can remove the burden that it placed on his career: it takes all the tropes of the Bebop universe - the rubbish technology, the femme fatale, the hyper-ethnic future, the bounty hunter lore, the noir backstory of side characters - and deride them in the most dismissive and dumbed down way possible.

It's really sad to see one of the few anime TV directors who take himself seriously giving up on that to go for easy lampooning; but unlike Kill La Kill shit take on fully limited anim' style, it has truly virtuoso animation.

Actually that's kind of making me want to be more forgiving. Hah. I wonder if it's at all true. I can definitely see where you're coming from with these thoughts now that you've shared them.

 

I'm with Codicier, though. It's strange he'd feel a need to. I think his other work is great, too. Kids on the Slope in particular. (Although I did feel the ending was too... I dunno, rushed? It didn't feel right.)

 

My problem with Space Dandy is

 

it's very little of this

20131202_dandy01.jpg

and almost all of this

Space-Dandy-2.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now