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I finished the second half of Jormungand, after dragging my feet for almost three weeks. What a piece of junk! So much effort was put into the firearms and the combat, but the show keeps pushing that aside to spotlight its overstuffed cast of mercenaries. There were several scenes in the last two episodes where literal minutes were spent going through the protagonist's ten-man bodyguard and hearing every character's identical opinion on her Bond villain-esque plan for world peace, and then in the epilogue there's another extended scene of all ten saying "Welcome back" to another character that similarly lacks any differentiation. I don't think I've seen a more total failure than adapting what was apparently a character-driven action manga into an episode and setpiece-driven anime...

 

Oh dang I didn't even know there was an anime adaptation. That's a bummer, I quite liked the manga. It's actually all available on kindle now too. Amazon makes it too easy to buy a lot of manga digitally, very quickly. I got all of Jormungand and Yotsuba!&

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Could anyone here please watch Gundam 0080 War in the Pocket please, I need someone to share these feels with... T_T

 

I would, Gaizo, but I'm so trepidatious of where my entry point into massive franchises like Gundam should be...

 

Oh dang I didn't even know there was an anime adaptation. That's a bummer, I quite liked the manga. It's actually all available on kindle now too. Amazon makes it too easy to buy a lot of manga digitally, very quickly. I got all of Jormungand and Yotsuba!&

 

Yeah, the main problem with the anime is that it tries so hard to be about a globetrotting arms dealer and the wacky people with whom she has to deal, but it turns out in the end that it's really about the relationship between a diverse group of mercenaries and their boss. And... I don't know, I'm on board with either story, even though the latter is obviously more interesting, but the attempt to do both in the level of detail that I assume the manga has totally sinks the show. By the end, I badly need to know the face and personality of every single mercenary for the "band of brothers" thing to be sold to me, but instead we've wasted literally over a dozen episodes propping up antagonists like Scarecrow, Hex, and Bookman, who don't even figure into the overarching plot once we really get down to business. Hex literally comes and goes in the space of two episodes, which are entirely devoted to building and expanding her character at the expense of telling the audience anything about Koko or her bodyguards, even though the latter form the crux of the show's dramatic impact. It's almost unconscionable.

 

Here we go, I'm going to try to name all of Koko's bodyguards, as well as their defining traits:

  • Jonah: A child soldier from the Middle East, I think? Supposedly smart and preternaturally talented, but it's never seen in action. He hates weapons but uses weapons because...?
  • Lehm: Tough, blonde American who's ex-Delta Force. Fatherly but sardonic, a natural mentor to Jonah. Formerly married to Chiquita with her creepy wide smile.
  • Valmet: Ex-Special Forces from Finland, with a long pedigree. Huge boobs, gross "lesbian" crush on Koko. Shows a specialty with knives one time and never again.
  • Lutz: Former cop. A sniper who doesn't really like killing. Gets shot in the butt a lot, which is meant to be funny.
  • Wiley: A black American who's ex-Delta Force. Likes explosions and Lehm. Extremely unstable but no one seems to care.
  • Ugo: Ex-mafia driver. A big man who likes cars. Considered the weakest link by assassins that one time.
  • Tojo: Former Japanese intelligence officer. Smart...?
  • Mao: Chinese something? I don't know.
  • R: Italian? Elite?

Except for Jonah, Lehm, and maybe Valmet, the three of whom dominate the various plot points, these people mean nothing to me. For the majority, I've written literally everything that I know about them after ten solid hours of anime-watching and it's still just the vaguest sketch. I couldn't care less if any of them happen to die or betray the rest, yet the anime desperately wants me to feel that tension anyway, given how many scenes there are of them sitting in a group and each offering their opinion. Too bad those scenes are totally unearned.

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The only thing that takes place before 0080 chronologically is Mobile Suit Gundam, the first show in the franchise. I don't really remember which one 0080 was, but you'd probably be okay starting off with it.

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Yeah, only thing you need to know about 0080 (and it's pretty much spoiler free, at least of any important plot detail) is that it's set during a war that's analogous to WW2 where you have Zeon representing Axis power in space, and Earth Federation representing Allies and the war is basically playing close to history.  And nuclear weapons are banned by mutual treaty when both side realized early on that being in a nuclear war was really bad.

 

0080 is 6 episodes long OVA and is one of the best one to short ones to watch standalone cause outside of that broad context, story is very much self contained and rarely relies on some weird in-universe quirks (aside from giant war mechas).

 

There is a english dub on youtube as of yesterday and dub was... ok? but not sure how long it will stay up and I still prefer sub cause it's old dub and they do really awkward job with anime grunting as reflecting the early era of dubs.

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Yeah, the main problem with the anime is that it tries so hard to be about a globetrotting arms dealer and the wacky people with whom she has to deal, but it turns out in the end that it's really about the relationship between a diverse group of mercenaries and their boss. And... I don't know, I'm on board with either story, even though the latter is obviously more interesting, but the attempt to do both in the level of detail that I assume the manga has totally sinks the show. By the end, I badly need to know the face and personality of every single mercenary for the "band of brothers" thing to be sold to me, but instead we've wasted literally over a dozen episodes propping up antagonists like Scarecrow, Hex, and Bookman, who don't even figure into the overarching plot once we really get down to business. Hex literally comes and goes in the space of two episodes, which are entirely devoted to building and expanding her character at the expense of telling the audience anything about Koko or her bodyguards, even though the latter form the crux of the show's dramatic impact. It's almost unconscionable.

 

Here we go, I'm going to try to name all of Koko's bodyguards, as well as their defining traits:

  • Jonah: A child soldier from the Middle East, I think? Supposedly smart and preternaturally talented, but it's never seen in action. He hates weapons but uses weapons because...?
  • Lehm: Tough, blonde American who's ex-Delta Force. Fatherly but sardonic, a natural mentor to Jonah. Formerly married to Chiquita with her creepy wide smile.
  • Valmet: Ex-Special Forces from Finland, with a long pedigree. Huge boobs, gross "lesbian" crush on Koko. Shows a specialty with knives one time and never again.
  • Lutz: Former cop. A sniper who doesn't really like killing. Gets shot in the butt a lot, which is meant to be funny.
  • Wiley: A black American who's ex-Delta Force. Likes explosions and Lehm. Extremely unstable but no one seems to care.
  • Ugo: Ex-mafia driver. A big man who likes cars. Considered the weakest link by assassins that one time.
  • Tojo: Former Japanese intelligence officer. Smart...?
  • Mao: Chinese something? I don't know.
  • R: Italian? Elite?

Except for Jonah, Lehm, and maybe Valmet, the three of whom dominate the various plot points, these people mean nothing to me. For the majority, I've written literally everything that I know about them after ten solid hours of anime-watching and it's still just the vaguest sketch. I couldn't care less if any of them happen to die or betray the rest, yet the anime desperately wants me to feel that tension anyway, given how many scenes there are of them sitting in a group and each offering their opinion. Too bad those scenes are totally unearned.

 

In the manga, each volume more or less highlights one of the crew, touching a bit on their backstory. Jonah and Valmet and Lehm still get the most attention though, and it sounds from your description like its a pretty faithful adaptation, except that (to my reading anyhow) I felt like i knew more about the characters and the relationships and stuff felt earned. Also they delve into Jonah's weapons thing a little. The Bookman/Hex arc is the one where R takes center stage and it goes into his backstory (he's CIA, works for bookman).

 

Also the manga has lots of scenes where jonah and valmet show off their talent/guns/knives. Guess they had to cut out some of the action to fit into an anime.

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In the manga, each volume more or less highlights one of the crew, touching a bit on their backstory. Jonah and Valmet and Lehm still get the most attention though, and it sounds from your description like its a pretty faithful adaptation, except that (to my reading anyhow) I felt like i knew more about the characters and the relationships and stuff felt earned. Also they delve into Jonah's weapons thing a little. The Bookman/Hex arc is the one where R takes center stage and it goes into his backstory (he's CIA, works for bookman).

 

Also the manga has lots of scenes where jonah and valmet show off their talent/guns/knives. Guess they had to cut out some of the action to fit into an anime.

 

Yeah... At this point, I'm mostly just interested in how a "faithful" adaptation of a well-regarded manga made for a terrible anime, partly because they were trying to cover three chapters per episode with very little cut from the story but mostly because the two mediums are efficient at different way of conveying information and no effort was made to optimize for anime, instead just cutting some characterization and making a lot of the rest just informed attributes.

 

Yeah, only thing you need to know about 0080 (and it's pretty much spoiler free, at least of any important plot detail) is that it's set during a war that's analogous to WW2 where you have Zeon representing Axis power in space, and Earth Federation representing Allies and the war is basically playing close to history.  And nuclear weapons are banned by mutual treaty when both side realized early on that being in a nuclear war was really bad.

 

0080 is 6 episodes long OVA and is one of the best one to short ones to watch standalone cause outside of that broad context, story is very much self contained and rarely relies on some weird in-universe quirks (aside from giant war mechas).

 

There is a english dub on youtube as of yesterday and dub was... ok? but not sure how long it will stay up and I still prefer sub cause it's old dub and they do really awkward job with anime grunting as reflecting the early era of dubs.

 

After Jormungand, I think I've earned a nice comedy, maybe the second season of Railgun, but after that, I'll definitely watch Gundam 0080, if you can wait that long. We can even make it a spotlight anime for the podcast, if it's as good as you say.

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oh man, if it's going to be a spotlight for a podcast I want to be in that one so bad, I'll do whatever scheduling it takes to be on that one!

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Oh boy I'm totally up for watching some Gundam. My knowledge for the whole universe is purely cultural, and not at all because I've watched it, and I've always wanted to watch some gundam. Spotlight anime ey-oh! (I'm the worst. Excuse me)

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That one dude with the whole bushido thing is such a weeaboo. I love it. Also hate it but also love it.

I've heard that about Piccolo before. It's a better read than Mr. Popo being the only main black character in DBZ, that's for sure!

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There have been interesting parallels drawn between Dragonball Z and being black in America. Of course there's Piccolo, who becomes a mentor to Gohan later in the show (incidentally, Gohan also cribs his style from Piccolo while he's growing up).

 

Some people have also mentioned how the saiyan characters and their history appeal to black fans. Something like, the idea that there is this race of people who possess immense power in their blood, and are under constant pressures from the world (or from alien villains I guess) to unleash that power and only refrain from doing so by their own will and honor. Even though most saiyans are depicted as clearly asian, the fact that the main characters of the show have been separated from their home, which was blown up and its inhabitants all murdered, and now protect their new home with the genetic power that unifies them as a race... well, its a good explanation for the whole black goku phenomenon.

 

Though I also think a lot of it just has to do with the show being exciting and badass and great, as well as the fact that kids of every race got to watch it on Toonami as a kid.

 

(edit: If i recall correctly a lot of this I first heard about from books by RZA, who of course is all about this particular reading of eastern philosophy and culture)

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There's also the "good father" trend with black characters you see a lot in anime that totally fits with Picollo. He's an excellent father to Gohan, and seems more attentive to him than Goku, taking care of him while Daddy is away at work.

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It's like, shocking to me that Dissapearance of Nagato Yuki can be so boring, but they can play

and I still lose my shit completely.

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Decided to drop Kekkai Sensen. I'm not sure that show actually has characters and a story >_>

 

On the positive side, I picked up Ore Monogatari and am really enjoying it. That show is so full of happy and goodness, my god!

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Kekkai Sensen has a ton of characters! That's the show's number one strength! But the overarching plot doesn't serve them well.

 

But dropping it is a good decision anyway since they still haven't aired the final fucking episode.

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There are a lot of characters, but none of them seem like people. I found it really hard to follow. Like I'm not sure why anyone is doing anything they're doing, and what/if there are consequences for anything. It just seems like... things happen.

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I really liked the episodic almost sitcom-esque format of the anime until the second half when the dumb Big Plot started. But I find this is a thing I apparently experience very frequently with anime. Like Trigun! Except Trigun redeemed itself by the end of the dumb Big Plot, whereas I don't see Kekkai Sensen doing the same.

 

Also to be fair to your complaints I think my favorite "character" was actually just the world. It's an incredible world. They introduce a lot of characters that have a lot of potential (like that chess playing guy or the mushroom spore guy or the master's second disciple or hell even the other members of the organization that never really do much) and really pique my interest... and then they look in a different direction. It's a format I don't entirely find unappealing!

 

Biggest problem, maybe, is that they planned far too few episodes and didn't have time to really explore everybody to the depth required. Which is odd, since the manga is ten volumes long. I heard the anime actually diverged from the manga significantly. But this last episode, seriously, it's almost two months. I read they wanted to make the episode longer to fit in everything they needed (which maybe supports the first sentence in this paragraph!), but goddamnit what is taking so long? Whatever happens in this episode, I don't have any faith in it being satisfying, but I still want to finish. \:

 

I suspect the anime is written by people who are huge fans of the manga but wanted to ...write fan fiction or somethign weird. So they never bothered to actually explain anything?? I don't know.

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Guys, I really want to talk to someone about the first episode of School-Live. It's really powerful and really good, but the pay-off is literally in the last scene.

 

I really don't want to say why it's so good, because like the Stanley parable, saying anything about it ruins it completely. 

 

so please, someone, watch this for me. Endure it, because it's worth it. 

 

I liked the twist and then I didn't. I got close to predicting it, I thought it was some kind of hell/purgatory scenario where the main four were spirits who died in a shooting or something. Then it pulls back more and... zombies. Eeeeehhhhh. I think I would've liked it better if it was just a weird ghost thing.

 

Oh well, I'll probably keep watching it anyway. Prediction:

 

that zombie you see chained up in the dark at one point is the long pink-haired pink girl. Something about her seems off.

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I watched Madoka, based on some specific recommendations and the fact that it's on Netflix (dubbed, but a reasonably good job of it).

 

It was pretty good. I thought it was doing one thing for a while, but it ended up being more of a Whatever Happened to The Magical Girl?, which is kind of neat, I guess. I assume I missed a lot of references in the first half of the series (for instance, after seeing Sakaya's world, I assume every witch world we see is a reference to somebody specific. Also, I didn't quite understand the Murakami / Superflat witch, which I assume has some significance (as Murakami's work is very charged), but I haven't thought it out yet..

 

How much Madoka actually is there? There are 3 movies on Netflix as well. I gather that Beginnings and Eternal are retellings of the series? (Which seems like a good idea: I think several sequences dragged a bit and the overall story would have worked better in 4 hours than 6). It looks like Madoka:The Movie might be an alternate timeline though?

 

Although I'm lukewarm on some of the character design, it's still quite beautiful overall. The Dave McKean style multi-media witch worlds were neat, as were the several silhouette sequences.

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Guys, I really want to talk to someone about the first episode of School-Live. It's really powerful and really good, but the pay-off is literally in the last scene.

 

I really don't want to say why it's so good, because like the Stanley parable, saying anything about it ruins it completely. 

 

so please, someone, watch this for me. Endure it, because it's worth it. 

So I'm watching this now (less than ten minutes left) and I dunno if it's because you've led me to Expect Something, but

man this thing has a weirdly sinister undertone that peeks its head up every now and then.

 

WONDER WHAT'S IN STORE AS THE EPISODE ENDS

 

Hmm yep that's about where I expected it to go.

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Also, unrelatedly, Dragonball: Evolution is on Syfy tonight. Holy crap is it bad.

Update: this is probably the worst movies I've ever seen. Justin Chatwin's acting is a war crime.

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Intro to Sucker Punch makes Guyver 2 look like a masterpiece.

 

Heck, at least Guyver 2 was actually kinda fun.  Campy and janky as heck, but fun as in rated R power ranger kind of way.

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