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For reasons unknown to me, I just watched 009 RE: CYBORG, a 2012 movie based on Cyborg 009.  Pretty dumb overall, but there are a few things worth nothing:

  • The NSA has the ability to create zombie cyborgs (they're basically just reanimated bodies and don't look anything like "zombies" but that's what they call them)
  • At one point America is referred to as being part of an Axis of Evil
  • The actual villain of the movie is

    God

  • Anime Obama

 

See, this is maybe the biggest problem I'm having with anime right now. Over the past few months, I had heard from several people whose opinion I trust that 009 RE: CYBORG was the anime movie to catch in 2013. There's just not much difference in content or tone between critical and popular discussions of anime online. At least this is one less thing to watch (or just watch clips on YouTube).

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See, this is maybe the biggest problem I'm having with anime right now. Over the past few months, I had heard from several people whose opinion I trust that 009 RE: CYBORG was the anime movie to catch in 2013. There's just not much difference in content or tone between critical and popular discussions of anime online. At least this is one less thing to watch (or just watch clips on YouTube).

 

I don't watch a whole lot of anime, so my opinion of what's good and what's not isn't worth very much.  If you trust their opinion, then maybe you should watch it.  Those things I listed are most definitely in the movie, but none of them play a big part.  Personally, I found a lot of it to be silly but perhaps I just wasn't paying enough attention.

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I don't watch a whole lot of anime, so my opinion of what's good and what's not isn't worth very much.  If you trust their opinion, then maybe you should watch it.  Those things I listed are most definitely in the movie, but none of them play a big part.  Personally, I found a lot of it to be silly but perhaps I just wasn't paying enough attention.

 

Eh, I think it's probably the other way around. Watching a large amount of anime inures you to different standards of quality and different rubrics of innovation. It's kind of like gamers calling Bioshock Infinite the most daring and inventive game of the year, except there's no critical press in anime to give a second opinion. That being what it is, someone who considers themselves an "outsider" watching an anime and finding it dumb is enough for me to spend my time elsewhere.

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Eh, I think it's probably the other way around. Watching a large amount of anime inures you to different standards of quality and different rubrics of innovation. It's kind of like gamers calling Bioshock Infinite the most daring and inventive game of the year, except there's no critical press in anime to give a second opinion. That being what it is, someone who considers themselves an "outsider" watching an anime and finding it dumb is enough for me to spend my time elsewhere.

 

You could be right about that.  I definitely wasn't watching it as a "fan" of anime.  Not that I dislike anime, I just don't watch enough to really have an opinion formed.  I was watching it more in the context of any other movie I would on Netflix or what have you. 

 

I'd be curious to know what those people whose opinions you trust liked about 009.  Besides the stuff I listed above, I was also extremely distracted by the awkard character animations.

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I'd be curious to know what those people whose opinions you trust liked about 009.  Besides the stuff I listed above, I was also extremely distracted by the awkard character animations.

 

Looking at the still you posted I'm getting the impression of cell-shaded 3d models. Which is something i struggle to think of many/any instances where it has been anything but awkward when used for humans.

 

 

I just finished the second season of Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai (translation: I Can't Believe I'd Pass Up an Adorable Goth Girl for My Evil Shrew of a Little Sister).

 

It was the sort of show that I couldn't believe I was watching almost the whole time. I've seen my share of harem anime, but never one where I was any less onboard with the main couple. Literally any other female that appeared onscreen would have been preferable to the toxic and annoying Kirino, even Kuroneko's ten-year-old sister Hinata, who seemed to have a good head on her shoulders.

 

It's especially unbelievable because there are some really and truly enjoyable side characters fighting Kirino for screen time. Kuroneko, Saori, and Manami were all joys to have around, but they all got rejected by Kyousuke because of fiat-by-source-material. It almost makes me want to get a hacked PSP to play the visual novel and actually see an ending with Kuroneko that doesn't leave her in tears. Ugh, anime.

 

Speaking of toxic protagonists and dodgy 3D character animation, I watched Toaru Majutsu no Index: Endymion no Kiseki over the weekend. 

 

It is apart from a few fun cameo's a rambling mess.

With little to speak of in terms of character development, and with the dialogue often dissolving into far too much exposition being shouted by characters un-ironically at each other. Then we have the whole "power of her song" Idol thing going on, urgh. 

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Looking at the still you posted I'm getting the impression of cell-shaded 3d models. Which is something i struggle to think of many/any instances where it has been anything but awkward when used for humans.

 

Yeah, it's a CG movie.  So the fast action stuff looks fine but slow deliberate movements are super weird.

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I saw the latest Evangelion reboot, Evangelion:3.33 - You Can (Not) Redo, and it's pure fanservice. I couldn't keep my eyes off of it, but it's pretty bad. It has Asuka with an eyepatch though, so that'll inspire approximately one million bizarre hentai stories.

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I saw the latest Evangelion reboot, Evangelion:3.33 - You Can (Not) Redo, and it's pure fanservice. I couldn't keep my eyes off of it, but it's pretty bad. It has Asuka with an eyepatch though, so that'll inspire approximately one million bizarre hentai stories.

This theory is the only thing keeping me going with the Eva remake. 

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I posited something similar a while back when we were discussing the imminent release of 3:33.

Even if true (& i personally strongly feel it is, go back to around April if you want to see my spoiler hidden reasons) however I don't think even that viewpoint makes this particular entry in the series any better. After the first two entires in the series that I felt we're very focused stories and playful and affectionate to their characters, i found it anti-climatic (by far the best sequence is the very first), unsubtle, bloated and uninvolved.

On a less negative note for me Uchoten Kazoku (The Eccentric Family) is on its penultimate episode and has just continued to rise in my opinion as it has progressed. It's the first time I've been really looking forward to the final episode of a series for a while, I may even make a little event of it & clear a evening to rewatch the full series before the finale next week.

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While watching the movie, the thought of it being a sequel in an infinite cycle of BSG-like loops occurred to me as extremely plausible.

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I just finished Girls und Panzer and... well, I think it might have been the best show of 2012. Sure, you're not going to enjoy it unless you have somewhere inside you an innate appreciation of tank design and operation, at least aesthetically if not technically, but it also uses that appreciation to invest you more than you would think possible in the "cute girls doing cute things" framework that all the imitators of K-On! and Lucky Star have driven into the ground. I cheered during the last episode, guys. Cheered. Ugh. It's great, watch it.
 
And it's good that I'm so taken with something, because I finally watched Haganai and was really let down. It felt like a quirky high school club comedy as written by committee, like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya or something with no larger hook than the characters themselves. I was fed up after maybe six episodes of them sitting in their clubroom and bickering, but I rode it out, because that's who I am, and came out with a list of things that I liked unreservedly:

  • Their faculty advisor, a ten-year-old nun named Maria, calls everything she doesn't like "poop." It's never not funny.
  • The crass rich girl is really nervous and formal on the phone. It's charming.
  • The fujoshi girl is mostly into robot sex, but occasionally makes passes at the male protagonist anyway, who always turns her down with this tolerant air. It's the best relationship dynamic in the show.
  • The voice actress for Yukimura, I can't be bothered to look up her name, but her delivery is great.

Everything else didn't really work for me. There's lots of harem and tsundere going on, maybe that's your thing, but I've found that I get sick of the former if there's an obvious "best girl" to choose and the latter if I can't tell it from abuse. Both are the case with Haganai. And the art's not even that good! Oh well.
 

On a less negative note for me Uchoten Kazoku (The Eccentric Family) is on its penultimate episode and has just continued to rise in my opinion as it has progressed. It's the first time I've been really looking forward to the final episode of a series for a while, I may even make a little event of it & clear a evening to rewatch the full series before the finale next week.

 
That's the weird tanuki-family thing, right? If you've got a moment, can you sell me on it? The only anime blog I follow (because it always has interesting opinions with which I usually disagree) has been really big on that and C3-Bu, but the latter has a much more comprehensible attraction to me.

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 The only anime blog I follow

Which one would that be? I follow literally zero anime-related websites or blogs, but I think I'd like to start following at least one, so that I'm a bit more up to date on anime in general. Most of the anime I watch tends to be years old. Occasionally I'll accidentally learn about something more recent, but it's rare. (Most of those have been from this thread, even.)

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Which one would that be? I follow literally zero anime-related websites or blogs, but I think I'd like to start following at least one, so that I'm a bit more up to date on anime in general. Most of the anime I watch tends to be years old. Occasionally I'll accidentally learn about something more recent, but it's rare. (Most of those have been from this thread, even.)

 

The site is Karmaburn.com. I don't remember how I found it -- wait... no, I do. I was fascinated with Shirai Kuroko's old-woman voice in A Certain Scientific Railgun, so I googled "Kuroko old woman voice" and found a site with not only that phrase, but also so much more.

 

I like Karmaburn because the guy has seen so much and has it organized by show, so if I want to find out his opinion on any given thing, I just have to click the links on either side of the front page. He watches more or less everything that's out and current, so I can use him to keep up, but he's also quick to drop stuff and to voice dissenting opinions, without being spiteful or contrary. Sometimes he stands up for garbage like Amangami SS, but always in an interesting way, and he's got a good ear for seiyuu, which is something I want to work on myself. In all, I like it.

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I did a quick search of that guy's archives. Somebody should seriously tell him that Madoka used the phrase "Puella Magi" in the title because it also translates to Slave to the Deceiver, not just an unusual choice of Latin for "Magical Girl".

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I did a quick search of that guy's archives. Somebody should seriously tell him that Madoka used the phrase "Puella Magi" in the title because it also translates to Slave to the Deceiver, not just an unusual choice of Latin for "Magical Girl".

 

Not meaning to refute you or anything, but where did you get the translation of magus as "deceiver"? I mean, "sorceror" or "conjurer" maybe, which can be read pejoratively, but I've never seen it used just as "deceiver" in any ancient or medieval Latin text that I've read.

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I've just seen it in the context of discussion of the series name. :T

Apparently it can be "charlatan." I'm thinking it's one of those things like how in English a magician can be either the Doctor Strange kind or the Harry Houdini kind.

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I've just seen it in the context of discussion of the series name. :T

Apparently it can be "charlatan." I'm thinking it's one of those things like how in English a magician can be either the Doctor Strange kind or the Harry Houdini kind.

 

Yeah, I don't doubt that it's what the show's creators meant to do, because Madoka seems all about shit like that. It's more just that puella magi as "slave(girl) to the trickster" is a somewhat extreme reading, in my own experience with Latin. It'd be kind of like someone reading "fight club" as a stick you use to beat people up. It's valid, but also a little off?

 

Sorry, no more Latin nerdery. Japanese nerdery only!

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I just finished Girls und Panzer and... well, I think it might have been the best show of 2012. Sure, you're not going to enjoy it unless you have somewhere inside you an innate appreciation of tank design and operation, at least aesthetically if not technically, but it also uses that appreciation to invest you more than you would think possible in the "cute girls doing cute things" framework that all the imitators of K-On! and Lucky Star have driven into the ground. I cheered during the last episode, guys. Cheered. Ugh. It's great, watch it. 

 

 

The bits I saw while my wife was watching Girl und Panzer looked pretty good, but I wanted them to be even more technical and detailed about the tanks. I guess I'm more of a World of Tanks player than an Anime watcher.

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Related to the previous discussion, I watched the first Puella Magi Madoka Magica movie! The first part (everything up to Mami's death) was a liiiiittle bit rushed, but otherwise I really like the pacing changes. Moreover, the already gorgeous visuals look even better. I've been thinking of watching the series with a friend who's never seen it before, but now I think the movies might be a better choice. I'm gonna' watch the second one in a little bit.

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That's the weird tanuki-family thing, right? If you've got a moment, can you sell me on it? The only anime blog I follow (because it always has interesting opinions with which I usually disagree) has been really big on that and C3-Bu, but the latter has a much more comprehensible attraction to me.

 

Mostly it never lets the whole Tanuki/Supernatural angle become overblown to the detriment of its focuses on personalities and relationships (though the first two episodes do emphasise it more while setting the scene).

 

There are lots of slice of life anime out there that fall down because there is no link between the moments that make them up, but that's something that's never a problem here.

Uchoten- Kazoku's characters are grounded within a consistent world, which allows it's director to tells us a 1000 little things about the lives of its protagonists, and then shows how these elements interact over time. The more episodes I watched, the more I could feel the plot developing over time as little pieces of the puzzle clicked subtly into place with perfect timing, and unlike many anime (I'm looking at you Eva 3.33) it has a great instinct for when it best to infer and when to fully reveal a piece of information, and is confident enough that it rarely feels it has to address the audience with exposition after it's set it's world's ground rules.

Most of the cast share a positive outlook to life, which along with the affectionate way they interact makes them very easy to like. Animation wise what's impressive is how the animators get body language right throughout in a way very few other series have, something that is particularly in evidence in what feels like a genuine chemistry between male and female leads.

 

All in all much of the series charm lies in seeing these relationships unfold and develop, which does make it hard to explain why I have taken to the series in more depth without spoiling those very moments. It's very much greater than the sum of it's parts.

 

I think for me the mini story arc that runs through episodes 3-5 really hooked me in, by then they have finished introducing the cast and are ready to start stirring the pot. It's also when some really lovely directorial touches start to show, the shot that bookends the first scene post opening credits in ep 3 is wonderful bit of visual character building.

 

Edit: Oh & there's a absolutely wonderful series of little artistic touches mid ep 3 centred around the way a supporting character interacts with his glasses, I know it doesn't sound like a thing that would matter but when you notice it it really says a lot the care the animators have taken.

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[redacted]

 

Okay, that's good enough for me. The premise still leaves me a little cold, but I should know better after a decade of watching anime.

 

The bits I saw while my wife was watching Girl und Panzer looked pretty good, but I wanted them to be even more technical and detailed about the tanks. I guess I'm more of a World of Tanks player than an Anime watcher.

 

They actually add in the hardcore stuff gradually as the series goes on. I was also prepared to be bitterly disappointed in the lack of true gunji fanservice, but they're just trying not to overwhelm people who tuned in for the cute girls and nothing else. By the end of the show, they've described three of the major revisions for the Panzer IV and discussed the merits of the Sherman M4A1 vs. the "standard" M4. It's made by people who really care about tanks.

 

And if that's not serious enough, they also made a series of OVAs (Yukari's Tank Corner) that are basically ten-minute history lectures on the tanks used in a given episode. It's the most in-depth thing on tanks that I've watched since the History Channel became the Ghosts & Aliens Channel.

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I went to the mall today to pick up some shiny Pokémon and look for potential gifts for a secret santa I'm doing. I went into HMV an inadvertently noticed the Panty & Stocking Blu-Ray. I didn't even know it was out on Blu-Ray. ...I kind of want it.

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I just watched the first episode of Kill la Kill with a friend. It was suitably insane and wacky cool and then all of a sudden the main character is half naked and that's her fighting uniform and my eyes rolled right out of their sockets.

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Is that the one where uniforms have "star ratings"? I found it some Crunchyroll-like site, but the subtitles were in my native language and didn't feel right so I stopped and tried to make a mental note of it.

 

I recently started to watch DD Fist of the North Star, a parody of Fist of the North Star were the characters live in a normal non-post-apocalyptic world and it's pretty hilarious, but I guess you have to have read the original comic or watched the anime to get some of the jokes? It reminds me a bit of Bo-bo-bo in it's humor.

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