What are you Watching?

[greg]

Steve! I finally found Gundam Build Fighters Try on TV. Now that I have TV Tokyo, I can watch this show. I saw episode 17, IIRC. Not much happened; just a bunch of eavesdropping behind trees, and the tournament involved going into some sort of haunted mansion. It's pretty weird seeing SD Gundam kits fighting alongside regular HG kits. Apparently the "try" in the show's title is a pun because this show involves 3-on-3 battles.

[Char Aznable]

I've been rewatching Basilisk. A great anime, but I think I had enjoyed the series more the first time I watched it. Maybe since I'm extremely familiar with the story at this point, having also read The Koga Ninja Scrolls (the novel from which the anime was based), but parts of the show seem to drag this time around.

I've also just finished up all 7 episodes of Gundam Unicorn. Originally watched the first episode a couple years ago (subbed) and wasn't impressed. But now, having seen all 7 together (dubbed), I'm glad I gave Unicorn a chance. It's been, quite possibly, one of the more enjoyable anime titles I've seen in some time. Not sure if I had just seen a bad fan-sub the first time or what, but watching that initial episode was a completely different experience this time. The resolution of that last episode was a little iffy, but I think it may have been the best way they could have wrapped everything up. At times the philosophy some of the characters spouted in the show became a bit contradictory, but overall Unicorn was a nice addition to the Universal Century saga...and like the best iterations of Gundam, I became far more interested in the characters than the mobile suit battles.

Not sure what I'll be watching next. I have Karin (aka Chibi Vampire) but I don't think it's going to be my cup of tea. Maybe I'll give Steins;Gate a try instead.

[llj]

So I'm finally making my way through Tekkaman Blade and have reached the part of the series where UPN stopped their Teknoman. I had originally said that UPN aired 29 episodes, but apparently it is episode 27 where they stopped. Unless the Saban version created a few extra recap episodes I'm forgetting, I guess I simply miscounted. Oh well, I've never lived up to the stereotype of Asians being good at math anyway.

I have to say, the series before Tekkaman Evil/Saber appears really was slow and kinda dull, which is basically about the first 7 episodes or so. While rewatching this (albeit in its original form), I was actually wondering if the series was as entertaining as I thought it was back when I was 17 years old, when anime on network TV was still considered an exciting thing to me. But then I started to really get into it again by the episode where D-Boy loses control and goes "bad". That was one of the best episodes early in the series and I was just riveted by it when it was on UPN.

The edits/censors on Teknoman were typical stuff. Human blood is largely edited out, and civilians being killed onscreen or clearly dead bodies appearing were cut out, but the idea of deaths was still okay as long as they were only suggested or left ambiguous (like one of the major characters basically being killed after a nuclear bomb dropped on him was left intact). There was half an episode cut out of the UPN version presumably because it involved a murder. I distinctly recall how odd that episode of Teknoman was because it was half an episode of recap and half a "new" episode.

The bonus episode "Twin Blood" is very interesting. It's listed as an OVA, but it's only 9 and a half minutes, in widescreen, and is generally an incomplete episode. It seems like a pilot episode. In this alternate version, the Tekkaman armor isn't so much a suit as it is an organism, much like Guyver.

[SteveH]

'OVA' in the most literal sense, regarding the shorts included in the Tekkaman Blade sets. I have no real idea what the genesis is of them other than they appeared in the second release of the LD box sets long long ago. I assumed they were 'added value content' in order to drive sales of a product. Tekkaman Blade was fairly innovative for sponsor King Records/Starchild as they were releasing LDs concurrent with the running of the series on TV.

When I heard of them (the animated shorts) I had thought maybe they were 'gap fillers' for the shortened ending of the show but upon viewing they seem more like 'revisiting' some of the ideas, retakes if you will, the staff playing in the sandbox a little longer.

They're interesting, and somewhat more disturbing.

It's a good show. The penultimate episode is one of the strongest I've ever seen.

[Animusubi]

Re-watching 1993/2000 Jojo's Bizarre Adventure with my brother, since he's never seen it. Wanted to start with this one, and he can decide if he wants to watch the newer ones and read the manga. I don't know if I'm ever going to though.

As for myself, I watched Saint Young Men recently. OVAs were okay, but the movie was where it shined! I adored the movie. I was dying in some parts.

[usamimi]

Re-watching 1993/2000 Jojo's Bizarre Adventure with my brother, since he's never seen it. Wanted to start with this one, and he can decide if he wants to watch the newer ones and read the manga. I don't know if I'm ever going to though.

As for myself, I watched Saint Young Men recently. OVAs were okay, but the movie was where it shined! I adored the movie. I was dying in some parts.

I LOVE the new Jojo's anime. You can tell that everyone at David Productions (the studio doing it) are HUGE fans--they keep slipping in all these little Easter eggs into the show that are really great. I love it. (Plus Koyasu Takehito is THE BEST DIO, I'm so glad he came outta semi-retirement to do his voice! Really all the new seiyuu are fantastic, but he's prolly my favorite.)

I've only seen the Saint Young Men movie, haven't seen the OVAs, but I totally agree, it's so great itsn't it?! I wish the creator of the series wasn't against releasing it here....apparently they don't ever want it to be officially released in English because they don't want to offend anyone over the religious imagery. And I guess that's understandable, but still a bummer. ;__;

[Animusubi]

Re-watching 1993/2000 Jojo's Bizarre Adventure with my brother, since he's never seen it. Wanted to start with this one, and he can decide if he wants to watch the newer ones and read the manga. I don't know if I'm ever going to though.

As for myself, I watched Saint Young Men recently. OVAs were okay, but the movie was where it shined! I adored the movie. I was dying in some parts.

I LOVE the new Jojo's anime. You can tell that everyone at David Productions (the studio doing it) are HUGE fans--they keep slipping in all these little Easter eggs into the show that are really great. I love it. (Plus Koyasu Takehito is THE BEST DIO, I'm so glad he came outta semi-retirement to do his voice! Really all the new seiyuu are fantastic, but he's prolly my favorite.)

I've only seen the Saint Young Men movie, haven't seen the OVAs, but I totally agree, it's so great itsn't it?! I wish the creator of the series wasn't against releasing it here....apparently they don't ever want it to be officially released in English because they don't want to offend anyone over the religious imagery. And I guess that's understandable, but still a bummer. ;__;

Yeah, I think it's for the best though. I can imagine if it did get a release here that people would give the creators a hard time or it would get some crazy nutjobs to put some bad press out there about it. It's kind of a hidden gem right now, so I don't mind that.

[usamimi]

YEAH, could you imagine? Even if it was just on DVD and wasn't widely distributed, I bet someone would STILL throw a hissy-fit...I remember there was a time when some Christian group made a big stink about Vampire Princess Miyu....lol, of all the random things to get upset over, right?

Recent things I've been watching:

The Parasyte anime continues to be a weirdly mixed bag. Some episodes will be great, others spend all their time constantly pointing out how much we're supposed to notice that the main character is "DIFFERENT" now!..."YOU ACT SO DIFFERENT NOW, SHINICHI!!" should be the subtitle of the show, lol. It's not terrible, but it's missing a lot of the subtlety of the manga.

Yatterman Night is still interesting enough to keep me going....a weird mix of serious and funny. The animation quality dips sometimes, but it's not like the original Yatterman was a piece of art, so I'm ok with it. XD

Death Parade is pretty good so far. Animation's been consistently good so far, excellent soundtrack, and the premise is simple but interesting--basically, when 2 people die at the same time, they get taken to a limbo in the form of a bar where the bartender makes them play a random game to decide which person gets reincarnated and which person doesn't.

Nitro and I are also watching the new Sailor Moon blu-rays to check out the dub...it's a mixed bag, but for the most part I think it's pretty good for a dub. They tried to find a good balance of trying to keep a little of the "flavor" of the DiC dub (in subtle, not-horrible aspects, thank goodness) while being true to the source material. What I like most about it is that even though it's much closer to the original Japanese version, it's still very accessible to children. How often we forget that first and foremost, the original Sailor Moon anime was meant for kids...I'm glad that kids will be able to enjoy it in English again now! (I have several friends that are watching it with their kids now for the first time and they're loving it! Yay!)

Edit: Oh, I forgot the other thing I've been watching, which is Ikuhara's (the guy who made Utena) new series Yurikuma....I'm not a huge fan of the character designs, but since I like Ikuhara I'm giving it a shot, naturally. So far it's kinda hard to tell, because Ikuhara shows are notorious for starting out as one thing and turning into something completely different by the end. I've noticed that there's a lot of visual references to horror movies in this series (so far I've seen call-backs to Psycho, Suspiria, and The Shining), so that's enough to keep me watching...I'm curious to what it'll all lead up to, regardless of the heavy amount of weird fanservice in this one.

[ParaParaJMo]

I don't think I can 100% accept Koyasu Takehito as Dio. Chiba Isshin, who voiced him in the old Capcom fighter is always going to be Dio to me. Especially how he yells muda muda muda muda muda muda and wrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Other than that, I am watching Nurse Angel Ririka SOS, Garo Honoo no Kokuin, Reconguista in G, and still Sailor Moon Crystal (and the new Jojo)

[usamimi]

I don't think I can 100% accept Koyasu Takehito as Dio. Chiba Isshin, who voiced him in the old Capcom fighter is always going to be Dio to me. Especially how he yells muda muda muda muda muda muda and wrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Other than that, I am watching Nurse Angel Ririka SOS, Garo Honoo no Kokuin, Reconguista in G, and still Sailor Moon Crystal (and the new Jojo)

Haha, I agree that Isshin was pretty great! I dunno, I just really love Takehito as Dio, though! I think the thing that sells it for me is that Dio's always been described as having a "seductive" power over people, and I think Takehito kinda brings more of that to his sound? But you're right that Isshin's fighting cries were top-notch. Have you played the new Jojos game? I thought Takehito did a good job in it, too, as well as the rest of the cast. (It makes me excited to see more of the series animated...hopefully!!)

Ahhhh Nurse Angel Ririka!! I loved that one back in the VHS fansub days. I wanna re-watch it someday. That opening theme was really cool, almost made me think of like...a dance club track.

I'm still watching SMC as well but I've fallen behind...need to watch the most recent 2 or 3 episodes. Animation quality is still kinda meh but I'm still curious to see how they handle the Black Moon arc. I still need to watch more Garo as well, I've only seen the first 2 or 3 eps but it was pretty neat.