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Hbomberguy posted:Posting in new thread to say that Gunbuster and Diebuster (and TTGL, their spiritual successor) collectively make up the best anime show ever, mecha or otherwise. There was a particular strain of folk working at Gainax for a long period that simultaneously hated anime, hated anime fans, and yet appreciated both on a deeply human level, and embraced their potential to be great. They fully embrace the entire point thematic point of giant robots in the first place - that they represent the power of humanity's ideals and inventiveness, abstracted into pure symbols. There are so many fuckin' rad things about these shows that I could accidentally write for ever about them and need to stop myself right now. Watch them. Gunbuster and Diebuster are great. Shin Mazinger was awesome and I'll be forever happy about its finally getting a DVD release in English yet also sad at its lack of a proper continuation. This is a pretty cool post, in general, except I don't necessarily think Gainax as a collective has ever really hated anime. Especially not the "classic" Gainax before the production of Evangelion. Many of their original founders were essentially otaku who developed the skills to actually work in anime for a living, rather than otherwise unrelated normal people. Gunbuster in particular was an explicitly commercial celebration of what they knew a lot of otaku wanted to see back in 1988, without any critical lens applied to the situation. It's still awesome, but that was literally fanservice in every sense of the term. Something like Otaku no Video from 1991 did attempt to be more self-critical and cynical about how the entire business worked, to be sure, but including enough sympathy for the idealized otaku "dream" in spite of it. Quite far from, say, Welcome to the NHK territory. Specific persons like Hideaki Anno have had some tough things to say about anime (+ its fans) over the years, but I don't believe the Gurren Lagann team was even remotely trying to follow that route. If anything, I feel Imaishi and his cohorts just liked giant robots (+ T&A) and weren't making any grand statements with that show. Naturally, you can still dissect, discuss and reinterpret the themes of a work of fiction in many ways, thanks to Death of the Author and all, but my point is that not everything Gainax made back in its heyday had the same level of authorial meta commentary as Evangelion. Sometimes the giant robots are, well, giant robots. wielder fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Sep 22, 2015 |
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Sep 22, 2015 04:16
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Hbomberguy posted:Otaku No Video is certainly my go-to example for their autocriticism, but Gunbuster manages it too with its very specific approach to nudity. Characters consistently are just sort of naked and it's not a thing anyone points out, reacts to or notices. IIRC no-one is embarrassed by their body ever. This forces the viewer to question the reaction they are having to the content. It reflects a world where people's views regarding each other's bodies and their own have developed beyond ours in a fundamentally positive way. You see similar approaches in early paintings and sculptures - they indicate a society which had better ways of looking at certain things. I like reading your interpretation, but for me that scene mostly proves Hideaki Anno's directorial skills include the ability to use a degree of subtlety and restraint for the purposes of passive sexualization. Shower scenes are often a common example of this. After all, in many older shows fanservice was initially treated as something "extra" for the fans. It could even be a single frame of nudity that they needed to freeze the playback of a VHS tape to find. Curiously enough, it seems the original version of Gunbuster apparently had a somewhat explicit shot of full frontal nudity that was only included in the laserdisc (?) release and mysteriously edited in the rest. I guess it might have gone too far for Japanese censorship laws or something along those lines. Mind you, I will concede that the concept of "topless" introduced in Diebuster does have a number of thematic implications. It might well retroactively support your views. quote:You can dismiss the robots as just giant robots the creators liked, but that fails to deal with why people like giant robots, and why people decided to create art with giant constructions of humanoids in them. Viewing mecha as 'just cool' or 'just robots' is a failure to account for their actual existence in art imo. I am not dismissing that as a valid approach to the analysis of mecha. In fact, it's certainly intellectually stimulating to ask that question and propose a series of possible answers for why giant robots are so appealing to a number of people from around the world. That's a fair subject of study and I admire those who can come up with nuanced theories. From my point of view, however, most mecha creators might not have been truly aware of all the implications and wrinkles that such an analysis will ultimately provide. wielder fucked around with this message at 05:21 on Sep 22, 2015 |
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Sep 22, 2015 05:08
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Schwarzwald posted:The scene your thinking of showed Noriko's pubic hair. That's it. Post-WWII Japanese law/morality used to classify such depictions as obscene at the time the series was produced. Just mentioning it for the sake of trivia. Droyer posted:To further add to this, it is possible to enjoy things on multiple levels. I enjoy robots as, among other things, representations of human potential, as metaphors for nuclear bombs, as representations of their pilots (depending on the work in question of course). However I also like it when giant robots punch each other and metal goes flying and buildings are destroyed because it's loving awesome and cool and YEAH!!! To say that one of these levels is "why robots exist in art" is the same as saying one of them is more valid than the others, which strikes me as snobbish. I'm right with you there. We can freely enjoy seeing giant robots go break things on a purely visceral level and also remain capable of going beyond that point. It's the individual viewer's prerogative. That's one of the reasons why I don't personally attempt to be truly "mindless" (or, for that matter, "heartless" ) when experiencing any given work of entertainment of a certain length and density of content, regardless of whatever its arguable value as "art" happens to be in the long run. There are always multiple ways to look at all these things. Droyer posted:I still haven't seen that. I should I should finish that myself. I remember liking the first few episodes a lot and having to stop for unrelated reasons. Slow, but not lacking compelling elements. Imagawa has such a strong creative voice in all his robot shows that it's a pity his efforts are rarely commercially succesful. wielder fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Sep 22, 2015 |
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Sep 22, 2015 05:48
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It's kind of sad that Macross 2 and Plus were actually released in English thanks to some legal loophole but none of the other Macross series can use that anymore.
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Sep 27, 2015 02:18
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Son Ryo posted:Eh, they're hit-and-miss. Pailsen Files is probably my #1 favorite piece of animated work right now, and the other ones that take place before the show are pretty good, but I haven't really been able to get into most of the post-show ones. Pailsen Files is indeed good, though it does mess up the continuity in a couple of ways. Not the end of the world, but you need to take a few things at face value. The problem with the post-show OVA entries is they haven't found a better place to end the story after restarting it, so they're half nostalgic and half "WTF are you doing here?" in my opinion. The other spin-offs, like Finder and Case Irvine, aren't all that great but at least they represented an attempt to move away from just messing around with Chirico's story one more time.
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Dec 30, 2015 06:09
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VolticSurge posted:So,my co-worker just got me into VOTOMS, digging it so far. Are any of the OVAs any good? Leaving Mellowlink aside (it's cool), I'd say the rule is that the prequel OVAs (like Roots of Ambition, Pailsen Files) are generally better than the sequels. Although there are definitely some folks who don't have too many issues with what happens in the later works. So it all depends on you.
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Jan 22, 2016 07:56
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It's a shame because they could exploit Robotech in all sorts of interesting ways, but they either do the exact opposite or nothing at al. As for Gunbuster, I think the OVA is the right way to go. There are people who dislike the first couple of entries, but they're all wrong.  The movie doesn't ruin the story or anything. It's just a little more compressed. wielder fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Mar 25, 2016 |
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Mar 25, 2016 04:33
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dogsicle posted:Majestic Prince announced both a movie and new episode at AnimeJapan. The series is being rebroadcast this July, and the new episode will air at the end, to tie in with the movie (scheduled for a Fall release). Quite pleased with this news. Just hoping that it gets properly released over here (including the extra episode).
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Mar 27, 2016 09:48
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Considering that the official taglines for ID-0 are "All memories exist with I-machines" and "Is it hope or despair hiding in the lost memories?", the show does have certain aspirations in terms of themes. I would argue the second episode has already started moving towards that ultimate goal with the masked villain (?) and his apparent past as well as Ido's condition of being an evertrancer, even though it is admittedly using a more gradual storytelling approach than other series that are airing now. It's not in a hurry to reveal all of the cards. That said, the script seems efficient enough to pull it off and I've enjoyed even the standard action/adventure parts so far. The robots also have some nice body language and look cool enough in motion. Like I have said elsewhere...if someone is going to get character development in this show, it's going to be Maya and Ido. Episode 2 makes this a fairly safe bet. Regarding the presence of cute girls, I think the series is closer to Bodacious Space Pirates in their treatment. It hasn't been overly focused on cuteness for its own sake. I don't particularly like the design of the mysterious cat girl, but I presume Kuroda might treat her like Neeya from Infinite Ryvius, whose presence also seemed random at first. wielder fucked around with this message at 18:48 on Apr 19, 2017 |
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Apr 19, 2017 18:36
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I remember that Nadesico The Mission for Dreamcast continued the story of the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hslEQqY1Rrw I don't know how the game ends, or if it's any good, but at least it looks like the tone is closer to the TV show.
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Jun 8, 2017 01:24
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The Muffinlord posted:I'll look into that one, thanks. Netflix's browsing interface is a slog so I must have missed it. Netflix hasn't uploaded the show outside of Japan yet. That is going to happen on October 6th or so, apparently including a dub. It's a pretty nice sci-fi series, starring mostly characters in robot bodies rather than strictly piloted machines.
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Aug 22, 2017 19:04
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GimmickMan posted:I find Zambot 3 to be a more poignant tragedy than Zeta, Victory or even Ideon (though Ideon comes close). It is some top shelf Tomino and it is a shame that it gets overlooked so often just because it is old. It's definitely a historical landmark. In retrospect, the fact it's a super robot series -and a very old one at that- might have inevitably lowered its profile when the sub-genre became less popular, especially after Gundam came into the picture and took all the accolades. Relin posted:is the rahxephon movie worth watching? i've read it explains some things The movie is an alternate version of the story with some changes to the characters and a different ending. I don't remember the key details of the film myself, but I preferred the TV series. It was obviously influenced by Evangelion yet, in my opinion, still managed to set itself apart in the long run and did a few things better. wielder fucked around with this message at 22:29 on Nov 19, 2017 |
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Nov 19, 2017 22:21
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I didn't mind Takuto not really losing during Star Driver, because those sequences were often ritualistic in a way that's more or less comparable to what happened in most of the duels throughout Utena. I might give Captain Earth another chance one day. Mostly to see if coming with lower expectations would help.
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Nov 23, 2017 05:09
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The first episode was a lot of fun, in exchange for being a bit confusing and fooling you into making wrong assumptions about the story/characters involved. Once you can watch the rest of Shin Mazinger to put those scenes in context, it all works quite well.
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Feb 12, 2018 03:01
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The Muffinlord posted:Edit: I watched all of ID-0 in two nights based on how much I'd enjoyed BBK/BRNK and that sure is a mecha anime. It's not bad in any outstanding way but it was kinda generic. The designs and the mecha control system were pretty neat but it still feels like the CG for the characters and the CG for the mecha were done by two different teams that shot for two different framerates when they were rendering. Also one of the most drastic differences in quality between the OP and ED tracks as well. I thought ID-0 was a pretty good show myself. Although I would argue it works better with weekly viewing sessions than through binge-watching, especially given the density of dialogue at a few points. It's easy to miss nuances in a rush. Specific elements have been done before, yes, but not necessarily in combination. It's not like we're swamped with a ton of space-based non-military mecha series these days, let alone many anime starring non-fleshy robots as actual individuals, to truly consider it as "generic" in my opinion. By the way, the framerate for the 3D animation wasn't always constant, whether we're talking about characters or mecha, so certain scenes looked better than others. I think the 3D mecha were a lot more impressive in general, no doubt, but at times even the humans also looked nice and I almost forgot they weren't 2D. I really liked the OP. Regarding the ED theme...the English pronounciation reminds me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYKW6fVqbmA wielder fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Mar 11, 2018 |
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Mar 11, 2018 22:20
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I'm still a bit sad that a second season of Gargantia was in the works but ultimately cancelled. I think they still had a lot left to do with that setting. Oh well.
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Mar 12, 2018 00:07
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GimmickMan posted:Make Zeon Great Again. Everyone has tried to do that, but none have succeeded! It's almost like a family tradition.
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Jun 16, 2018 23:00
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Does anyone remember that Break Blade prequel project that got cancelled? That could have been neat, I think.
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Oct 4, 2018 03:55
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chiasaur11 posted:So, finally watched Gunbuster. This is a bad take. More seriously, you're free to dislike any part of it, but for me even the earlier episodes have their positives. I enjoy the pseudo-sports atmosphere that was heavily influenced by the late Osamu Dezaki's works. Furthermore, almost everything can be tied together both thematically and in terms of the main character's arc. wielder fucked around with this message at 08:52 on Oct 13, 2018 |
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Oct 13, 2018 08:49
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Diebuster is a more recent show made with much more modern sensibilities, so that's not a surprise. However, the whole thing is a tribute to Gunbuster. Both literally and figuratively.
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Oct 22, 2018 19:05
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To quote what Alan Moore had already pointed out back in the day: "This is an imaginary story...aren't they all?". Canon status should not matter when it comes to your own appreciation of a work of fiction. If anything, I think Japanese media generally doesn't tend to place a lot of emphasis on whether something happens to be strictly canonical or not. That's been more of a concern for the non-Japanese fans. With that in mind, I don't really care about whatever needlessly convoluted and dark layer the staff is adding to their new Eureka 7 movies. I do think that in the rush to avoid repeating themselves they've been taking the wrong kind of risks and perhaps they're also trying to one-up Hideaki Anno's meta-commentary in the process. But, in the end, the movies are just another alternate universe in practice. Good or bad, it doesn't detract from the value of the original Eureka 7 story. Which could get dark and dramatic at times, yes, but was ultimately a romance with a happy ending and cool mecha surfing.
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Nov 12, 2018 00:10
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Kanos posted:Why not just tell a new story with a completely different cast, besides the obvious "we're trying to cash in on an existing franchise name and somewhat popular character designs that we already made"? That's what they should have done. Even AO would have probably worked better if the new cast had absolutely no connections to anyone from the original show...and, to be sure, if they had also simplified the messy story into something more straightforward. Admittedly, most people would have been happy with a standard "Eureka and Renton get the cast back together for one more adventure" approach to the sequel, but I guess the staff wouldn't have felt satisfied with that. I wonder how they judged the reactions to Eureka Seven AO, because something tells me they may have learned the wrong lessons from it.
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Nov 12, 2018 01:53
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Schwarzwald posted:The end of Mobile Suit Gundam is as psychedelic an ending as Tomino has produced. It's basically a declaration of an end to all war, forevermore, a dawning of a "new age" populated by a "new type" of human. Not surprising, since that ending leaves relatively little room for a standard sequel. As a matter of fact, even Tomino himself didn't initially want to make any sequels to the original Gundam. It all seems so far away from us now, but some folks viewed that decision as a turning point for the industry and particularly for the alleged historical "decline" of mecha anime: Meanwhile, director Yoshiyuki Tomino's "Kidô Senshi Z Gundam" (Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam) debuted in April of 1985 to great controversy, as he had previously announced that he would never make a sequel to the original Gundam TV series and films. (...) If there had been more, and more talented, creators with the drive to create original content, there wouldn't have been any need to rely on sequels and brand value from the past. This is why the Gundam sequel represents the end of an era. Putting aside the critical response, or the merits of continuing the series, there is no question that this Gundam sequel represents a boundary between eras. Taken from the "Japanese Animation Guide: The History of Robot Anime" available here. That doesn't mean it was necessarily a mistake to make sequels, yet it's an issue we're still seeing today.
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Nov 12, 2018 02:55
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Blaze Dragon posted:I've seen there are a few Gunbuster things that aren't the main series or Diebuster (Gunbuster! Science Course and Gunbuster Renewal EX). Are these worth watching? When should I watch them, if so? It is always good to see more people discovering the greatness of Gunbuster, including the early episodes. The science lessons are nice bonus extras. You can watch them either after every episode or so, for best results, or all at the end if you prefer. wielder fucked around with this message at 03:25 on Nov 28, 2018 |
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Nov 28, 2018 03:23
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Pureauthor posted:I'm just a tad miffed a show so amazingly well-fitting for SRW has only shown up in the mobile game so far. Probably because they want people to be interested in the mobile game(s) and not just the main SRW titles. That's also why Gundam IBO is going to debut in SRW DD and not in the upcoming console game. Gripweed posted:I remember it being disappointing but not bad, up until the trans panic episode That episode was the worst part of Gargantia, but I thought the show was decent overall. I suppose some folks were cynical about the main twist because it's been done before? Either way, I am still disappointed they cancelled the planned anime sequel and just made some light novels instead. Tribladeofchaos posted:Valvrave was funny bad until the rape scene and then it was horrible until the end. Don’t bother with it. I didn't think it was "horrible" after the fact, things even became rather predictable at one point, but they did sweep that topic under the rug rather shamelessly. I enjoyed some parts. Still, not a show I'd really recommend.
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Feb 3, 2019 19:10
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Gun X Sword is more or less the definition of a cult classic anime. It didn't have super high sales or anything, so we can't describe it as a huge hit compared to what was actually popular at the time, but the show has also accumulated a surprisingly decent number of fans over time whenever people actually sit down to give the series a chance. That's why it was actually pretty cool to see a lot of folks get excited on Twitter when the series was announced for SRW T, graduating from its single appearance on a portable game, and there was even a GXS groupwatch here in ADTRW a few years ago. In short, I am glad there's still some appreciation for it. The series gets occasionally dismissed as purely derivative by a few critics, because that's superficially true, but to me that criticism is almost like watching a Quentin Tarantino film and then loudly complaining because several sequences were very much meant to resemble some other work of fiction. In the case of Gun X Sword you can argue some of the more obvious similarities are in fact part of the message or theme. Gundam SEED and Destiny were the main targets of criticism and mockery, but I think there's also a jab at Evangelion and other series that became popular in the wake of the decline in the production of Super Robot anime. The Eldora V isn't a random copy of GaoGaiGar but more of a tribute to that series as well as to the Eldoran saga and the sub-genre as a whole. You can watch the series as pure entertainment and get good bang for the buck that way, but I think there's also enough in terms of implication and commentary along those lines if you want to look a little deeper into things. Also, see what Schwarzwald wrote.
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Feb 4, 2019 04:52
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I would say the first episode is more about giving you a taste of various elements and the basic setting while going full speed ahead. It establishes why Lelouch finds his daily life to be boring, with the chess game barely being a challenge, yet he was still willing to try and help the people in the truck while disliking those who stood aside and did nothing. Even before the subsequent coincidence, he didn't hesitate to run and see what was happening down there. Episode 2 or so also portrays how he makes a couple more decisions during the same incident, so the entire context of the premise and the full scope of the personalities involved isn't fully available to you right away. Hard to judge convictions too much before then. Interestingly, since the new compilation movies arrange the flow of events chronologically, you get to see Lelouch's past right away instead of waiting for the reveals that take a few episodes to manifest. A TV show can afford to be somewhat more coy about that, but the movie should create a slightly different initial impression. Ep 1 still gives us a brief tease with the quick flashback right at the start, but you barely know what's going on. Kanos makes interesting observations and I agree with those. wielder fucked around with this message at 15:37 on Mar 1, 2019 |
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Mar 1, 2019 15:33
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Schwarzwald posted:Code Geass is a lot like the Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock show in that it presents its lead as a brilliant thinker but it doesn't survive more than basic scrutiny. To be honest, that's almost no different from a whole bunch of popular fiction, all the way from a classic Chinese novel such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms to the ongoing manga sensation that is Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Both of which have a number of genius strategist characters that, upon closer inspection, are often not particularly realistic, benefit from luck and coincidence, or simply exploit the incompetence of their opponents. In fact, like the Geass power itself, some of their skills are better described as outright mystical in nature (for instance, see Zhuge Liang's ability to predict the weather or control the wind). Having said that, I don't think there's anything wrong with this. I wouldn't call Lelouch a brilliant thinker either. He's more of a trickster who does pull off a few clever stunts, but the character doesn't always win and can be held back by his own inexperience and immaturity too. I would argue there is a clear intent to portray a certain in-universe tension, in the sense that he isn't nearly as perfect as his own self-image or self-confidence would have you believe. wielder fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Mar 1, 2019 |
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Mar 1, 2019 18:00
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Schwarzwald posted:His victories are unearned and also his losses are unearned. He's not held back by his faults so much as he's held back by the plot deciding that he needs to lose now, and he doesn't triumph except when the plot decides he needs to win now. Things just seemingly happen arbitrarily. Lelouch stumbling across the Gawain, a mecha that just happens to be fifty times stronger than any previously shown, complete with flight and a wave-motion cannon, is a one particularly egregious example. Generally speaking, whether something feels "unearned" or not is an essentially subjective judgment. Other viewers may have felt differently. In fact, there are multiple opinions about Lelouch. We clearly have distinct interpretations and personal preferences here, which would prevent us from reaching the same conclusions about this subject in any case, but that generalization is not accurate to all of the facts. My recollection is that the show presents more variety in this respect. In a few words, it's not true of every single episode or every event. There are various situations in Code Geass where I would argue the contrary at length, because we were given enough information to conclude that Lelouch himself either explicitly or implicitly made decisions (or omissions) that resulted in his victory, stalemate or defeat. At other times, I would accept that something wasn't properly explained and should be taken at face value. In the end, everything that happens in a fictional story is always the result of an arbitrary decision by the author. This happens in Code Geass but also applies to multiple mecha series. It's an objective fact that main characters suddenly finding or stumbling upon a new powerful giant robot is one of the most common tropes in mecha anime history. For that matter, variations of this same concept are present in any number of games and JRPGs. Aside from that, I will note the Gawain isn't "fifty times" more powerful, so that bit of hyperbole is misleading. We see that Cornelia, for instance, was able to put up a fight against it using inferior technology. Beam weapons are often overpowered and that applies to the Gawain, but it isn't good for close combat. What can vary, of course, is how a particular event was implemented, portrayed or acknowledged within the boundaries of suspension of disbelief. Some stories are trying to be more realistic than others, so they build up a more detailed causality equation, so to speak, while others place far less emphasis on this in favor of other aspects. There is no universal rule, or at least there shouldn't be, forcing all kinds of stories to adopt the same methodology. Like a number of fictional stories that focus on soap opera and melodrama, Code Geass is not really attempting to present itself as a down-to-earth documentary on war, politics or science. Frankly, it's not even as realistic as the average Gundam show. But even that other Sunrise property tends to play rather fast and loose with certain incidents. I really like Zeta Gundam, for the record, but I could put on my cynical glasses and point out various arbitrary events within its story. Still, that doesn't usually bother me. I've accepted it. Incidentally, Romance of the Three Kingdoms has often been accused of feeling like fanfiction, in a way, due to how the historical events were modified to fit a strongly pro-Shu perspective, but it is still a classic novel that many generations have enjoyed reading. It's neither remotely realistic nor good history, yet those are not the only things people want from fiction. wielder fucked around with this message at 20:07 on Mar 1, 2019 |
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Mar 1, 2019 19:30
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Schwarzwald posted:I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say. I think you might be arguing against a point I'm not making. Leaving aside my tendency to overly elaborate on the details and extend the implications, which can admittedly take more time to read and process, I am pretty sure each of your main points were addressed. If you want a more straightforward answer: you've said that every victory or defeat was arbitrary and unearned, so for you it's all fanfiction. I happen to disagree about this and explained why that isn't the case for me, plus why it doesn't really annoy me too much even when said criticism is valid. Lord Koth posted:I think the problem here is that a significant chunk of Code Geass isn't presented like a normal mecha - it's made clear multiple times that Lelouch is an average pilot at best - and most of the victories in most of S1 and early S2 are down to the actual group battlefield tactics involved (regardless of the dubiousness of said tactics, that's how the win's presented) rather than the individual abilities of a single suit. So while Kallen is an essential asset to his plans generally, she's still not typically winning the entire battle on her own. S2 in particular suddenly having literal super robots that actually ARE that "fifty times more powerful than anything else" and basically made tactics irrelevant was incredibly stupid. To be fair, that's a rather distinct argument, but sure. I would point out we still saw plenty of standard mecha show tropes all along, even if they involved people like Suzaku or Kallen. Still, the tech upgrades did lead to some issues. I didn't like how the mecha combat often became less interesting to watch in S2 either. There were exceptions to the rule even in R2, mind you, yet the average KMF encounter during S1 was more dynamic in comparison. Even though folks may have mixed views about Akito the Exiled, I liked how that OVA tried to re-interpret KMF combat by using a more elaborate form of choreography. Based on my experience, I thought the ending implied the peace was a moment of relief to let people take a break for the purpose of reorganizing the world into a better place. Not something that would last forever, since the narration briefly alluded to some problems remaining. Of course, the story had to end somewhere rather than keep going, so we were left on a happy note, but nothing was absolutely certain.
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Mar 1, 2019 22:11
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Darth Walrus posted:Definitely a pro watch if you have any love for musical punchplanes. It's not the cleanest show, either artistically or writing-wise, but it's a nicely complete package that starts well, ends well, and keeps up the tempo pretty decently throughout its run, and still looks and sounds pretty great even with the aging CGI and occasionally slipshod character art. Episode 7 is still one of the best action experiences in mecha anime, and works pretty well as a twenty-minute taster for the show. I'd mostly agree with this. I think the movies fix some of the story issues with the original show, even if they had to create an alternate retelling in the process, but Macross Frontier is worth checking out. Caphi posted:Cut to R2 and it's all armies of mechs with flight packs and huge beam cannons staring at each other to seem epic. At that point it's functionally the same as Gundam technology. Which has led to similar problems in the past, at least on occasion, though some Gundam shows get around it by either improving the animation and choreography or trying to come up with interesting scenarios even if the tech is still overpowered. Honestly, I get the feeling there wasn't a ton of mecha animation budget and manpower available in R2 until the last few episodes, where we do get to see a proper final fight that's got several stages and more going on. Which was a pleasant surprise after not liking the battles around the middle of the season. wielder fucked around with this message at 05:04 on Mar 2, 2019 |
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Mar 2, 2019 05:00
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The ending of Yamato 2202 was a case of "let's do the movie ending...but also no, not really" so you could say they had their cake and ate it.
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May 21, 2019 17:50
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Tatsunoko is not involved with the newer Macross shows, so in that sense they might be doing this partially out of spite. The property itself is not theirs, just the international distribution rights for one TV show.
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Jul 6, 2019 07:33
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Zereth posted:If they're not involved then why does Harmony Gold have the power to prevent other people from licensing later Macross shows? Because HG does own the trademark rights to the name "Macross" outside of Japan.
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Jul 6, 2019 08:01
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LORD OF BOOTY posted:If it was just trademarks, they'd be able to just release it as "Makrozz" or something without dealing with HG. It's the IP as a whole. I think they could try to do that, on paper. As long as someone would be willing to take a chance. That said, Macross Plus is still legally available for purchase without HG being involved, so they haven't always enforced the trademark (presumably because the first release of Macross Plus was before HG had formally registered the Macross name in the US?). As far as I know, HG does have the IP rights for the Robotech version of Macross, but not for any of the Macross sequels. I don't think the US court cases gave them any right to the entire IP covering even unreleased shows where Tatsunoko never participated. They don't have any rights to Frontier or to Delta. Tatsunoko has zero involvement in their creation or distribution. The recent arbitration recognized that Big West still had the rights to 41 character designs taken from the original show, whatever that means, not Tatsunoko or Harmony Gold. Seems you have a different interpretation of those cases, but it is not like we are legal scholars here. wielder fucked around with this message at 20:12 on Jul 6, 2019 |
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Jul 6, 2019 19:53
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chiasaur11 posted:It's not perfect. The last two episodes suddenly expect the viewer to know about the original Orguss, most of the mechs look pretty generic, and the dub... is not recommended. But overall, it's quite good. Definitely a better watch than Orguss 1, and quicker on top. They retcon some parts of the older series. Which isn't a big deal, on paper, except that this adds confusion and was mainly used to increase the drama. It feels...mostly unnecessary. Either way, I agree that Orguss II is a much better standalone watch. I'm still oddly fond of the original TV show, despite its meandering and weirdness, but it's harder to get through.
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Jan 15, 2020 15:40
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Ranzear posted:I've been meaning to watch Gasaraki ever since I saw the trailer for it on every single Evangelion VHS. Gasaraki does have a very striking opening sequence and cool robot designs going for it, even before you know anything about the story. Said story is...unique, let's say, but simultaneously ends up being too messy for its own good and has some ugly political implications.
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Jan 17, 2020 16:02
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Nuebot posted:The real question is, would Nadesico have been better or worse if the big reveal was that the antagonists were actually just bearded dragons the whole time? Only if they are still totally into Super Robots.
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Mar 15, 2020 03:36
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Gunbuster worked very well for me, because it was blatantly combining everything anime fans of the 1980s liked and then it added the perfect dose of bittersweet. I enjoyed Simoun, but there was an odd time skip somewhere in the middle or near the end of that show and it felt weird to me. RahXephon also had a strange time gap like that too, I think? Still really like Code Geass for a bunch of reasons, both superficial and not. It's a show aiming for excessive theatricality, which I appreciate, and somehow manages to tie it all together in the end. I am also reminded that I ordered the Ultimate Collection of Votoms and am looking forward to rewatching the original show that way, even though the various OVAs were more of a mixed bag. That said, it is true the genre does seem to be in something of a decline lately. Very few new mecha anime are coming out these days, outside of already established properties. wielder fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Aug 15, 2020 |
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Aug 15, 2020 18:21
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Pootybutt posted:I guess nobody was that into Granbelm or Majestic Prince from awhile back? Expelled from Paradise counts and I liked that fine. Majestic Prince was very good, I agree, but that was 2013...and Expelled from Paradise came only a year later. Which feels like almost a decade ago. I admit though, never saw Granbelm myself. How good was that? GorfZaplen posted:Yeah, it feels weird to say the genres dying when not only are there still shows comingmout but they're often among the best a season has to offer. Also idk if it ever really got subs but Shinkalion was very popular in Japan and went on for 76 episodes which is a long run for today's standards! I'll take your word regarding Shinkalion, although looking up information about the series makes it sound like an exception. I wouldn't say "dying", to be clear. Just reiterating how we aren't getting as many mecha shows these days and most new properties don't leave much of a mark.
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Aug 15, 2020 18:50
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