What are you Watching?

[Heero]

I watched the first episode of "The Flowers of Evil" last night, just to see what all the fuss was about (I've heard the fans of the manga are sort of in an uproar because the anime doesn't look like the manga, as they rotoscoped real people to use for the animation).

I haven't read the manga and had no preconceived notions going in, but I did not like "Flowers of Evil". I'll grant that it was at least 50% because it is glacially slow and I'm not into a really dark "mood piece", but I also hated the rotoscope thing. I think Rotoscope CAN be done... ok I guess, but that was pretty bad. And I hear that the director initially turned it down and wanted to do it "live action" (read info about it after watching the first episode), which makes sense because the whole time I was watching all I could think was "why didn't they just make this as a live action show?!?"

[usamimi]

I think it could've easily been made into a live-action show, too, but I figure I'll at least watch one or two more episodes before I decide on continuing or not...the first ep. was definitely slow, but a lot of shows start out slow, so I can't hold that against it, heh.

It really is a weird story, I haven't read all the manga that's out now, but what I have read is...a bit bizarre. So I'm kind of curious to see where they're going with it.

[Path]

I saw the manga-to-anime comparions for The Flowers of Evil, it did look pretty drastic.

Free time last night, so I watched that new One Piece x Toriko x Dragonball Z special that aired last week. It was pretty pointless, but I guess since the movie came out had to do it.

Also watched an old 80s OVA called Birth. I've heard it called the "Dead Leaves of the 80s" and I can see why, the movement is very fluid. The story was okay, but the action scenes were fun. Will keep this one to rewatch eventually.

[greg]

I just finished watching the first two episodes of Black Rock Shooter. I rented the DVD from Tsutaya. I couldn't understand it much without subtitles. Apparently a girl named Kuroi fancies herself as some sort of indestructible superhero, the title character, and absorbs herself in these fantasies that represent what is going on in her life. She befriends a quiet, shy girl at her school, only to discover that this girl is forced to spend all of her free time with her little sister (I believe that's who it is) and this little sister is pretty psychotically overbearing and possessive to the point where she even insists on mutilating her.

Even without understanding what the heck was going on, the surreal fantasy world is fantastically gorgeous, deep with colors. It's some sort of Alice In Wonderland world with heavy caliber guns and such.

I knew nothing about this show, other than it has something to do with a Hatsune Miku song, and that the BRS character design is extremely cool and sexy. Ever since I saw a figure of BRS, I wanted to get one, even without even knowing what the anime is about. I still don't know what the anime is about, but I'd like to get a BRS figure someday.

[usamimi]

Watched the first 2 eps of Attack on Titan, since Crunchyroll updated with them. Pretty intense, and the animation is really nice...I definitely want to watch more of it.

[greg]

Oh my gosh. I had to leave the room just now. My daughter insisted on watching Panda Ko Panda dubbed in English while we ate dinner. It was okay until the papa panda opened his mouth. I was thinking, "Gee, this dub isn't so bad." And then the Panda started speaking in this terrible, phoney, fictitious accent from the Planet Macek and I started dying inside. My wife agreed that it was crap, too. The funny part was when Mimiko stuck the bamboo through the window and the papa panda exclaimed, "BAMBOO!" It was so terrible we had to back it up and watch that part again. To make it worse, they totally redid the music soundtrack. Where the heck did Diskotek get this buttcrap dub from, anyway? Listening to this panda is like listening to some dumb guy who won't shut up with some stupid way of talking, and he doesn't realize that nobody else but himself thinks it is funny.

[usamimi]

I believe Pioneer/Geneon did the dub for it originally? Not that surprised that it's bad, though I didn't know they redid the soundtrack for the dub. Wtf? o.O

[llj]

It could *possibly* be an older dub from way back. You'd be surprised how many old anime films were dubbed in the 70s and 80s and then fell into obscurity.

Does the audio sound old and worn, Greg, or does it sound more like it was done with newer audio equipment?

It's been a while since I saw the Pioneer/Geneon dub. I do recall it being a bit silly.

[greg]

I've no idea if it sounds older or newer. My new TV (which I actually bought used) doesn't sound as clear as it should. Then again, back in the USA I had everything going through a stereo receiver ---including the cable box--- and TV sounded very clear. The music was completely redone, except for the main title song. My wife was the first to notice this.

It reminded me of the Kiki's Delivery Service dub with Kirstin Dunst, and how they added Disney-ish music to it. Like when Kiki's face first appears, they added some chime that was more fitting to a Disney princess or something. Plus they added some bland piano music in the background to the quieter scenes. It's the whole "Unless somebody is speaking or some noise is made every three seconds in a cartoons, American kids are going to projectile vomit all over the television and flee the room, and likely to run out into traffic and get run over by a bus on fire" mentality.

[usamimi]

ugh, that is something I will never like about Disney's Ghibli releases...they constantly have to add lines to the "quiet" scenes, and it just sounds awkward and tacked on.