What are you Watching?

[llj]

I'm watching Kimi Ni Todoke right now. It's your standard shoujo "awkward main girl" stuff. Reminds me a little of a far less avant-garde version of Kare Kano, especially it being about a loner protagonist who gets a social life. The interesting thing is that it's hard to tell if Sawako is supposed to be as pretty as she's presented to the viewer, though. Obviously, the viewer is supposed to see Sawako for who she truly is, a pretty and sweet girl who's a little naive and endearingly awkward. However, she's considered to be rather creepy by most of the characters in the show but obviously for the viewers she looks like your typical cute anime girl. Her voice also fluctuates between sweetly naive to moments where the show switches to the point of view of another character (while they are interacting with Sawako) and her voice in those scenes is lower and far less feminine and attractive sounding. It's hard to tell if those are merely comedic SD moments or an actual glimpse of how she is "actually" supposed to come off as to most people in the show. I may be reading way too much into it, though, so those are probably just comic moments where her voice goes low for laughs. But if it's true that she actually isn't as pretty on the outside as she appears to be to the audience, I'd wish they play up that dichotomy more. You know, the whole "beautiful on the inside" thing would be more interesting to consider if we saw her in the same way the other characters look at her more often.

[usamimi]

I'm watching Kimi Ni Todoke right now. It's your standard shoujo "awkward main girl" stuff. Reminds me a little of a far less avant-garde version of Kare Kano, especially it being about a loner protagonist who gets a social life. The interesting thing is that it's hard to tell if Sawako is supposed to be as pretty as she's presented to the viewer, though. Obviously, the viewer is supposed to see Sawako for who she truly is, a pretty and sweet girl who's a little naive and endearingly awkward. However, she's considered to be rather creepy by most of the characters in the show but obviously for the viewers she looks like your typical cute anime girl. Her voice also fluctuates between sweetly naive to moments where the show switches to the point of view of another character (while they are interacting with Sawako) and her voice in those scenes is lower and far less feminine and attractive sounding. It's hard to tell if those are merely comedic SD moments or an actual glimpse of how she is "actually" supposed to come off as to most people in the show. I may be reading way too much into it, though, so those are probably just comic moments where her voice goes low for laughs. But if it's true that she actually isn't as pretty on the outside as she appears to be to the audience, I'd wish they play up that dichotomy more. You know, the whole "beautiful on the inside" thing would be more interesting to consider if we saw her in the same way the other characters look at her more often.

I actually thought similar things when I watched that series! I was kinda disappointed when I read the manga and it just came off as typical shoujo, though. I wonder if the series director was kinda hoping to do something like that to make it more interesting, though. KimiTodo isn't that unique or different, but the characters were enjoyable, it was one of those fluffy sort of mindless shows...kinda like junk food--good sometimes, but not all the time. XD

[greg]

Today I watched the first episode of Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight. With the very first episode, I had to make sure if I was watching the first episode or not. So we are introduced to Parn, Deedlit, and Slayn in this first episode. I really dig Deedlit's deeper voice as compared to the OVA's voice actress. She seems to hover a lot in this episode, and I was not aware of an elf's ability to fly. Weird. Anyhow, I felt that this episode was excellent fantasy anime... until the stupid "Welcome to Lodoss" SD character spaz-a-thon at the end of the episode. I'd heard that these segments are terrible and a waste of time, and I have to agree. The show really had me absorbed, but this end segment totally took me out of the show's atmosphere. Did I say "took?" I meant to say "yanked." I really wonder if this was well-received by Japanese viewers when this TV show was aired in the '90s. It's like whiplash. The beginning and ending themes, while it would be unfair to compare to the indescribably beautiful theme songs from the OVA, are really fantastic. I will just need to get used to these completely lame SD segments at the end of each episode.

I had promised myself to wait until finishing Nadesico before starting this show, but since I had the TV to myself today, and since US Manga Corps DVDs are region-free, I went ahead and watched just one episode. This'll give me incentive to hurry up and finish Nadesico first. I only have an episode or two of that show left, anyway.

[greg]

So I finally finished Martian Successor Nadesico. I bought the new box set on a whim a while back, and I began watching it back in April or May. It has some interesting episodes, but overall... I dunno. The pinnacle of brilliant SF comedy anime is Captain Tylor. Nothing can come close, in my opinion. After finally finishing Nadesico, I still cannot say it is either a good or a bad anime. There was nothing about the show that made me really anxious to see the next episode. Maybe there were budget constraints, but several times there would be large gaps between episodes and it was annoying. I may as well just watch the movie and be done with the series.

Today I've begun watching more of Lodoss War. To get the best understanding of the show, you'll need to watch the first 8 episodes of the OVA to complete the first story arc in which Emperor Beld is defeated. Then skip to the TV series. Shiris and Orson (the two mercenaries) will be re-introduced, because they were bumped up earlier in the storyline for the OVA. The TV series begins with the battles with the dragons, which is the second story arc of the OVA, IIRC.

This TV series follows the novels, whereas the OVA departed. The third story arc of the OVA, in which Wagnard abducts Deedlit in order to resurrect the Kardis, the god of destruction, is actually not with Parn and Deedlit but instead Wagnard abducts Neese, the daughter of Slayn and Leiylia, and a young knight named Spark rescues her. The OVA is great, but it does seem a bit rushed. The TV series paces itself over a period of many years. Spark is introduced as a young boy in episode 3 or so of the TV series, and later in the show he will be a young man on his own adventure.

[llj]

I think what I liked better about the Lodoss OVA series is that it didn't "feel" like a typical anime but rather a recreation of D&D tropes in animation form. The problem I have with the TV series is that it "feels" much more like a typical anime. Spark also sticks out like a sore thumb with his generic anime character design and blue hair.

I actually have to admit some of the SD segments for TV series did make me laugh. I guess they were an early version of omakes for a TV series. I wonder if these segments only appeared in the home release, or did they air on TV as well? Previously they were more common in OVAs. Like Gunbuster. I think the episodes usually ran a few minutes shorter than your average anime, so maybe? Greg, I guess next time you could check the running time of the actual episode prior to the SD omake to verify.

I agree that Captain Tylor is the best sci-fi anime comedy I've ever seen, though. I don't dislike Nadesico--it's generally "OK" to me--but it's pretty forgettable overall. Still, I keep the series around for reference purposes since it's a big deal to a lot of people. There were actually a lot of anime during that period of 1995-2000 that were really popular but I never got into. Slayers is another--I like Lina Inverse the character, but I find the show overall to be kind of average. Cowboy Bebop was a show I was more excited *for* its popularity rather than something I really personally liked. I admire it, but again I didn't fall in love with it quite the same way as other anime fans did. Same with Escaflowne--admired it but didn't "love" it.

[llj]

Finished AnoHana. Not quite as good as I'd hoped it would be. This is a sort of 21st century pee-wee version of The Big Chill, without any sort of generational attachments whatsoever (other than Pokémon references). As I had feared, the show's decision to use teenagers instead of adults sort of kills some of the poignancy of the show. You just can't buy the changes in these characters from 9-10 year olds to 15 year olds to such a dramatic degree, considering only 5 years have passed. If they had made it even 7 or 10 or better yet, 15 years later, it might have worked better. And while I don't mind weepies, having the last two episodes where every character is basically crying and screaming (usually at the same time) may have did the show a disservice. I didn't dislike the show--I was interested in where it was going--but it boiled down to a lot of clichés when all is said and done. Menma herself is pure otaku fantasy, as well.

And like The Big Chill, all the characters turn out to be pretty petty and self absorbed when all is said and done, without much awareness of the world around them or the feelings of anybody else but their own.

I was actually considering splurging on the Premium Edition when it first came out, but now that I've watched the show from the library, I'm kind of glad I didn't. Although I probably could have got good money for it on ebay, since it sold out really fast.

[greg]

I actually have to admit some of the SD segments for TV series did make me laugh. I guess they were an early version of omakes for a TV series. I wonder if these segments only appeared in the home release, or did they air on TV as well? Previously they were more common in OVAs. Like Gunbuster. I think the episodes usually ran a few minutes shorter than your average anime, so maybe? Greg, I guess next time you could check the running time of the actual episode prior to the SD omake to verify.

I can verify without having to check again. Each episode is about 25 minutes or so, so I am sure that the SD parts were broadcast with the original TV shows. There are some interesting bits of information that are revealed in these segments, like the fact that Deedlit is 160 years old. I still don't care for these segments, but I am just glad that they are completely separate from the actual show. If they would burst into SD characters during the actual show, like Fushigi Yuugi or something, then it would have really ruined the show for me.

I was going to watch more last night before retiring to bed, but I ended up watching Buck Rogers instead.

[llj]

Oh, so 25 minutes with the SD segments? So the regular episode would be about 20-21 minutes + 3-4 minute SD segments?

FOr some reason I had this memory that the episodes lasted around 17-18 minutes, and then 3-4 minutes would be devoted to the SD segment to get it up to the standard 21-22 minute running time.

[llj]

Sword Art Online. What I find hilarious about this series so far is that when the game "reveals" everyone's "real-life" appearance, we find that half the people playing this MMO are actually stereotypical anime lolis and moe girls. As if! Clearly this show is not aiming to make any truthful commentary on real-life gamers.

That said, the high concept hook has me sticking with this just to see how it all shakes out at the end.

[yusaku]

Sword Art Online. What I find hilarious about this series so far is that when the game "reveals" everyone's "real-life" appearance, we find that half the people playing this MMO are actually stereotypical anime lolis and moe girls. As if! Clearly this show is not aiming to make any truthful commentary on real-life gamers.

That said, the high concept hook has me sticking with this just to see how it all shakes out at the end.

I watched Sword Art Online and Titan four episodes at a time! You will not be disappointed! I am going to see what else I can find on Netflix.