Recommended Posts

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?

 

You're right, the first two movies are re-cut and re-animated recaps of the series, which is a little weird because the Blu-rays of the series were already re-cut and re-animated from the TV broadcast. In the anime industry, runaway success tends to lead to a very release-oriented form of perfectionism, I suppose! The third movie is new material and, though somewhat of a side story, still plugs directly into the themes of the series, so therefore it's worth a watch if those themes spoke to you. I almost (almost) liked the last movie more than the series as a whole, which seems like it's not saying much because I hold the series in relatively low opinion, but the movie's just so much more thematically coherent than the show, which maybe applies to all of the movies, I don't know.

 

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.

 

Akiyuki Shinbou's always been interested in alternate media for his more experimental anime. Whatever I think of Madoka's thematic content, the fact that it finally gave a legitimate venue to his weird papercraft and clay animations that he did with Gekidan Inu Curry, previously confined to Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei OPs and EDs (plus that one weird episode about a train station), makes me overly fond of it.

 

The original character designs for the non-witch characters were done by an outside party, Aoki Ume, who's better known as the author of Hidamari Sketch, which I also find to be overly blobbish and inexpressive. I don't know why Shaft brought her into the project when they have several strong concept artists on staff, but whatever, it hardly sinks the show.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I watched the Madoka movies through with my girlfriend recently (she went from "why are you making me watch this" to "I love this" and then back to "why did you make me watch this") and they're more or less a more neatly edited version of the show with some flashy transformation sequences added in. The only part I found really weird is they completely skip Madoka's dream sequence at the beginning, so when she recognises Homura at school it doesn't make any goddamned sense.

 

I love the movie. Don't read anything about it, just watch.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The original character designs for the non-witch characters were done by an outside party, Aoki Ume, who's better known as the author of Hidamari Sketch, which I also find to be overly blobbish and inexpressive. I don't know why Shaft brought her into the project when they have several strong concept artists on staff, but whatever, it hardly sinks the show.

 

From some of the wikipedia quotes, it sounds like they were attempting an intentionally misleading pre-release campaign to make it seem more like a typical magical girl show. So, the deliberate use of more stereotypically moe-ish characters might be part of that. 

 

 

I watched the Madoka movies through with my girlfriend recently (she went from "why are you making me watch this" to "I love this" and then back to "why did you make me watch this") and they're more or less a more neatly edited version of the show with some flashy transformation sequences added in. The only part I found really weird is they completely skip Madoka's dream sequence at the beginning, so when she recognises Homura at school it doesn't make any goddamned sense.

 

I love the movie. Don't read anything about it, just watch.

 

I'm trying to figure out whether I think Madoka is good enough to recommend that my wife watch. She tends to be somewhat more critical than I am, and  I specifically think that I got more out of the action sequences than she would. It might be worth it just for the visuals, but the more that I think about it, the less thematically coherent and interesting it feels. Maybe we could watch the films, which would be slightly less time intensive, and would also be something new for me.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think Madoka's just okay. It's one of the recent Anime Darlings, but it never really managed to go beyond "this is interesting", unfortunately. It certainly didn't help that it was just... boring, the vast majority of the time.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm kinda with twig on Madoka. I enjoyed it, but found it quite empty? idk.

 

Also I'm sorry for being a butt and not commenting on all you guys watching school-live. I shall do so when I can! T_T

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
 

Nothing can be worse than Sucker Punch.

I actually liked SuckerPunch as a B... maybe C movie.

I don't know if you guys have seen the Mega 64's DBZ: Frieza Saga in 5 minutes video, but it's great. I love the intentionally bad low budget special effects.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I quite liked Madoka (I didn't watch the last movie or whatever it was, just the regular series). I think that was a combination of I went in without any expectations (I thought it was just a well-reputed magical girl anime, didn't know where it was going to go) and also the super cool art. Good/Weird art goes a long way with me I guess. I also really liked Beyond the Boundary based mostly on the art/animation, as well as Redline. 

 

Recently started Steins;gate, which I am liking a lot. Also went in without knowing anything about it, quite happy with it so far. About halfway through.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Beyond the Boundary is really really pretty but unfortunately just has a boring story. Sad trumpet noise.

 

Redline however is amazing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Recommend her Gundam 0080~

 

So gorm... how you doing with second season of Railgun?

 

I ended up watching Golden Time instead. I've had a weird week, gearing up for the semester to start, so I've only gotten about a third through. It's a funny show to watch, so far, because the premise is something that I should find revolting (Amnesiac Potato-kun x Manic Pixie Dream Bitch, anyone?) but the execution is generally solid and even a bit subtle. It does not surprise me at all that the source material is from the same mangaka as Toradora.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I really hated Golden Time once (ep 9 or 10 spoiler)

past-ghost-potato-kun

showed up. In fact, I think I dropped it literally one episode after that happened. I may have mentioned this during our last episode recording; I can't remember. I definitely brought it up very recently with somebody.

 

It really frustrated me, though, because I otherwise enjoyed it. And I liked seeing an anime romance that wasn't high school (even if it pretty much hit most of the same beats).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I really hated Golden Time once

past-ghost-potato-kun

showed up. In fact, I think I dropped it literally one episode after that happened. I may have mentioned this during our last episode recording; I can't remember. I definitely brought it up very recently with somebody.

 

No, you're right. It's truly terrible, in a show that I'd otherwise rate maybe a B+, and I don't really see the purpose at all. It's funny that The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan does almost the same thing with amnesia and yet, for all the show's gaping faults, that's charming and builds the character up, whereas in Golden Time it just reveals that the generally likable Banri used to be an annoying and spineless asshole before he lost his memory, which fails to make me terribly invested in any questions about whether he'll get it back.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

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.

I've only watched two episodes of Zombies Break Loli Innocence but yeah so far it feels super gimmicky and cheesy. It reminds me of a super hamfisted version of (Paranoia Agent spoilers)

the Happy Family Planning episode of Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent where the main characters all turn out to be ghosts, because of how that deals with a similar dynamic of happiness papering over something sinister

. Also to its credit I guess it's an example of moe being used in a calculated (albeit conveniently titillating) meaningful way, though that's not much of an achievement when the result is still hammy and unconvincing in the way that big twist in Spec Ops: The Line kind of was. I'll probably finish it, though my impressions so far are that it's kind of typical anime heartstring porn.

Also maybe the twist didn't really have the intended effect on me since I wasn't at all endeared to any of the characters or any of the art, atmosphere, or humor. The whole moe thing feels decidedly inhuman to me. So again maybe I'm criticizing something that I'm not even the target audience for but whatever.

Unrelatedly: I've started to actually watch Evangelion after about six months of straight bagging on it. I hope through watching it I find more material with which to bag on it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I did finish watching Aquarion Evol this days. Like I said, before, it kind start a bit weird in different very different tone and theme that the original Genesis of Aquarion, but overtime the pieces came together and the series ended in a very high note for me. Now I started to watch Aquarion Logos, again if felt very different, but let´s see how things develop.

 

Spoilers about Aquarion Evol and the Ova

- It toke me forever to figure that the "Evol" is "Love" backwards

- Kagura changing side in the end was cool ,despite the fact that everyone pardon him very fast. I even kind shipped Kagura and Zessica in the last episodes.

- Talking about Kagura, he and Apollo together in the ova was great.

- The Ova story maybe is bit weak, but the seeing some characters from both Evol and Genesis together was worth it.

- Lot of people might think that the sudden plot reveal about Apollo in Genesis not begin the actual reicarnation of Apollonius but rather his "dog" might came from nowhere, but reading on Tv Tropes I found out that in fact this was the author original idea dropped in Genesis, but bring back in Evol.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

i just checked and kekkai sensen still hasn't aired its final episode

 

the previous episode was june 20

 

c'mon

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Clannad finally started to pique my interest last night. The Fuko arc finished a few episodes ago and now the focus seems to have shifted towards the girl genius and some of her mysterious past. And then suddenly it became a show where there is supposedly a hidden microscopic dimension that the genius girl's scientist parents had found but then something horrible happened and a mysterious man wants to tell her he's sorry for shit.

 

This show is kind of hard to process. I can't tell if it's just supposed to be a show about silly high school hi-jinks with some coma ghosts thrown in or if it is a deep sci-fi mystery and some of what is happening isn't what it seems because the main character might possibly have schizophrenia (I think this was alluded to in one of the dreams he had when he fell asleep next to the genius girl who might have like hypnotized him or something?). Whatever this show is, I'm actually starting to like it quite a bit and I'm hopeful this weird trajectory continues and culminates into something much more than the boring high school drama that the first 10 or so episodes focused on.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

i've developed an opinion of this season of anime

 

<Twig> gate is probably my favorite anime this season even though it's like objectively bad it's subjectively great

<Twig> i love it
<Twig> favorite new anime*
 
i won't apologize you can't make me

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I would but I really don't like mechs!

 

I watched Eureka 7: AO 'cause I liked Eureka 7 (what a mistake that one was). I watched Gargantia 'cause it had a planet covered in water (this one was super good). I watched Eureka 7 'cause it had sky-surfing (fun and colorful and I liked the art but the plot was mediocre). I watched Evangelion 'cause people told me it was good (still a mystery, that one...). I watched various Gundams 'cause they were on Toonami but they were all boring (ALL!!!!)!!!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I feel ya, but Gundam 0080 is very... not 'mecha' if that even makes sense?

 

Like you can take out all the mechs in 0080 and replace them with any high tech weaponry and the OVA would work just as well.

 

The mecha aspect of 0080 adds one interesting aspect in that it actually ends up serving as deconstruction of the entire Gundam franchise that I really want to talk about but also don't want to spoil! :x

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

For the record, this is one of the ones I've seen. It was on Toonami.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah all I remember is not liking it! Maybe I'll watch it again but probably not since my backlog still exists.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

i have seen gundam 0080

 

i do not remember a damn thing about gundam 0080

 

!!!

 

I guess I'll just have to accept my deviant taste for liking it as much as I do...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

!!!

 

I guess I'll just have to accept my deviant taste for liking it as much as I do...

 

To be fair, I watched it a long time ago, and I don't remember the details of many things I watched/read/played during that period!

 

I've been thinking of getting back into Gundam, so maybe I'll start with Gundam 0080 and go from there.

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