Anime/Manga Journal

[Kevadu]

I never saw Madoka as a parody of magical girls or something.  Instead it's a deconstruction of the genre.  It takes all the common tropes (and if ever there was a genre of anything that's full of tropes it's magical girl anime...) and turns them on their heads, constantly defying the viewer's expectations.  When viewed in that light it's an absolutely brilliant work, full of commentary and criticism of the genre without ever resorting to gags while simultaneously pushing it forward.  It's the kind of show you can only expect to see once in a decade at most.

[Dice]

I thought the opening was a parody to the magical girl, it's cute, fluffy, shows Madoka adorably screwing up, etc.
The ending was a bit more in tune with the dark tones of the series.

I thought they were planning a movie?  The end of the show was sort of a cool epilogue/cliff-hanger thing...

[Mickeymac92]

They just did two compilation movies. Perhaps a sequel movie is next?

[Yggdrasil]

Oh so the movies are compilations? If that's the case I'll just watch those then, don't think I'll be missing out on anything special for not seeing the TV series right?

Also I saw one episide of "Place to Place" (or "Acchi Kocchi"). Is not terrible but it isn't anything special either for a slice-of-life show. The "story" is tha-- no wait, Wikipedia has a good summary of the story so here it is:

"The serious-minded Tsumiki and the pure-hearted Io feel they never want to be parted, but haven't become a couple yet. More than friends but less than lovers, they develop an awkward quasi-romance."

Mix that with animu jokes and your classic high school setting and you pretty much know what the series is about.

[Mickeymac92]

Oh so the movies are compilations? If that's the case I'll just watch those then, don't think I'll be missing out on anything special for not seeing the TV series right?

Also I saw one episide of "Place to Place" (or "Acchi Kocchi"). Is not terrible but it isn't anything special either for a slice-of-life show. The "story" is tha-- no wait, Wikipedia has a good summary of the story so here it is:

"The serious-minded Tsumiki and the pure-hearted Io feel they never want to be parted, but haven't become a couple yet. More than friends but less than lovers, they develop an awkward quasi-romance."

Mix that with animu jokes and your classic high school setting and you pretty much know what the series is about.

That sounds very annoying. And there is a third movie coming out, btw, and it's confirmed to be an all new story: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-11-08/madoka-magica-film-project-to-be-trilogy

[Ranadiel]

Hmm I want to join in this thread, but I really don't watch too much anime these days and there doesn't seem to be too much manga discussion going on. I guess I can comment on the one anime I am currently watching...

Gunadam Age- Dear god, why am I still watching this series? I mean I loved the show's second generation, but the whole thing has gotten so tedious during the third generation. If it wasn't clearly so close to ending I would have already stopped watching it.....oh wait I haven't actually seen the latest episode yet, I should get on that. >.>

I did recently plow through Madoka Magica and quite enjoyed it. It really caught me off guard because I had previously assumed it was just a standard magical girl anime and only checked it because I saw a very positive review and was incredibly bored.

[Mickeymac92]

You could always talk about anime you like, I guess, since you're new and all.

[Kevadu]

I watched episode 21 of Hyouka today and there's a scene where they go to an arcade and play Virtual On.  It made me so friggin happy, 'cause Virtual On is probably my favorite arcade game ever but it never seems to get any love (it's practically unheard of here, but I don't think it was especially successful in Japan either...).

[Ranadiel]

Okay watched episode 47 of Gundam AGE.....and thankfully there are only 49 episodes according to wikipedia. Just two more to suffer through. Almost done.

You could always talk about anime you like, I guess, since you're new and all.

Okay that sounds like a good idea. Three anime come to mind immediatly.

First one to come to mind is Gundam Wing because it was the anime that got me into anime. I don't think I'll ever be able to really guage its quality properly because I'll always be looking at it through the eyes of nostalgia where I'm a preteen who is seeing giant mecha fight for the first time and it is amazing. I really should rewatch it to see how it compares in my mind now to more recent mecha shows I have enjoyed such as Gundam Seed or the next show...

Code Geass! I'd probably consider this to be my favorite anime at the moment. I really love just about everything about this show from the characters, to the fights, to the mecha design, etc. I think it is a very well put together show, and I love it for that......honestly can't think of anything else to say on it.

The third anime that came to mind is a more recent one, [C] Control(I forget the rest of the title). It was an enjoyable little show from last year where people fought pretty much by using money as a weapon. It is a really interesting concept and I enjoyed the scope of the series where the characters were effectively betting their futures in battles to get ahead. OveraI can only think of three real complaints about the show. The first is that it is too short, it could have easily been twice the length and still just as interesting. The second is that the battles could of used a bit of an extension as some of them don't even occur on screen. The last one is that......I would have liked more explanation for the ending. The ending is fine, but the scale of the impact of the main character's final action is unclear. Still a good series. Looking forward to rewatching it once it gets an official US release in a few months.

[Klyde Chroma]

So I figured I would give Madoka Magica another shot, after Kevadu's last post about it, real quick before moving onto Kiba and Gokudo in the search for some satisfying fantasy.....

Kevadu, your two for two with me my man... Madoka Magica is freakin' brilliant... I can't believe I only watched the first two eps of this before and wrote it off.... how foolish of me.... I'm hoppin on the bandwagon with this one.... Madoka Magica is, without a doubt IMO, a cut above other Magical Girl stuff for precisely the reasons you expressed... I still don't like the wonky-pop-art scenes though...

[Starmongoose]

Yay, another convert. Madoka Magica is good.

[Mickeymac92]

@Ranadiel

I can pretty much guarantee you Wing won't stack up to SEED or Code Geass. Heck, as much as I like those shows, they probably wouldn't hold up well under scrutiny. I don't like analyze the shows I watch, I just sit back and enjoy, so when Gundam Wing has lots of problems that are obvious even to me, I think it's safe to say that it's not that great.

I mean, I still enjoy Gundam Wing - I've rewatched it twice in the last 12 months - but it lacks character development, most of the characters are either stupid or insane (despite glorifying them), the fights are mostly boring and lacking intensity, it lacks pretty much any attention to detail...really, I found very little to praise. It has it's moments of brilliance, but they're kinda rare. It does have a great soundtrack, though, and I love the mecha designs; Duo is still a fun character, despite nearly as crazy as everyone else, and I still love that scene where Heero blows up his Gundam, even though I still think he had plenty of other options.

It's not all bad, but if you're like me and remember it as being this really awesome show, you'd be in for a pretty rude awakening. I'm just hoping to knock down your expectations a good couple of notchs so if you ever do watch it again (it's all available for free, legal streaming on Crunchyroll right now, btw), so you won't be nearly as disappointed and bitter about it as I've seen a lot of people be.

I watched episode 21 of Hyouka today and there's a scene where they go to an arcade and play Virtual On.  It made me so friggin happy, 'cause Virtual On is probably my favorite arcade game ever but it never seems to get any love (it's practically unheard of here, but I don't think it was especially successful in Japan either...).

<3 I'm happy to hear that, too. Virtual On is fun, but despite what SEGA tries, it never really does that well as far as I know.

[Klyde Chroma]

Yay, another convert. Madoka Magica is good.

Converted indeed... "Good" is putting it mildly... I'm like totally inspired... I wanna do a Madoka tattoo right now!! LoL.... the chances of me ever finding someone to wear that one are like slim to none though... hell it took me about 4 years to find someone willing to wear a sizable Chrono piece...

Okay watched episode 47 of Gundam AGE.....and thankfully there are only 49 episodes according to wikipedia. Just two more to suffer through. Almost done.

You could always talk about anime you like, I guess, since you're new and all.

Okay that sounds like a good idea. Three anime come to mind immediatly.

First one to come to mind is Gundam Wing because it was the anime that got me into anime. I don't think I'll ever be able to really guage its quality properly because I'll always be looking at it through the eyes of nostalgia where I'm a preteen who is seeing giant mecha fight for the first time and it is amazing. I really should rewatch it to see how it compares in my mind now to more recent mecha shows I have enjoyed such as Gundam Seed or the next show...

Code Geass! I'd probably consider this to be my favorite anime at the moment. I really love just about everything about this show from the characters, to the fights, to the mecha design, etc. I think it is a very well put together show, and I love it for that......honestly can't think of anything else to say on it.

The third anime that came to mind is a more recent one, [C] Control(I forget the rest of the title). It was an enjoyable little show from last year where people fought pretty much by using money as a weapon. It is a really interesting concept and I enjoyed the scope of the series where the characters were effectively betting their futures in battles to get ahead. OveraI can only think of three real complaints about the show. The first is that it is too short, it could have easily been twice the length and still just as interesting. The second is that the battles could of used a bit of an extension as some of them don't even occur on screen. The last one is that......I would have liked more explanation for the ending. The ending is fine, but the scale of the impact of the main character's final action is unclear. Still a good series. Looking forward to rewatching it once it gets an official US release in a few months.

I really wish I could get into some Mecha stuff.... I mean there is soooo much of it, I'm sure boat loads of it would really do it for me but all the ones I have seen I can't stand.... Code Geas and Gundam both fall into that category (though admitingly I've only seen a pinch of Gundam)... I loved Evangelion though... do you have any suggestions in that respect (meaning, more psychological and story driven and less "tech-ee" stuff)??

[Mickeymac92]

I really wish I could get into some Mecha stuff.... I mean there is soooo much of it, I'm sure boat loads of it would really do it for me but all the ones I have seen I can't stand.... Code Geas and Gundam both fall into that category (though admitingly I've only seen a pinch of Gundam)... I loved Evangelion though... do you have any suggestions in that respect (meaning, more psychological and story driven and less "tech-ee" stuff)??

Raxephon (I'm not spelling that right) - I'll admit, I've only seen a little so far, but what I have seen was Evangelion done right, or at least done significantly better.

You might also like Aura Battler Dunbine and Escaflowne, considering your love of fantasy settings.

Most Mecha I've seen are story-driven, though, including nearly every Gundam, Dougram, VOTOMS, Layzner, maybe even Macross and Nadesico since I really dug the plots in those, though I'm really questioning Macross now. I'd say Code Geass is character-driven, though. Maybe it's just the ones I've watched, though.

And I'm not sure what you mean by "Tech-y". I'm guessing you mean stuff like in star trek where they're try to focus on the technology, throwing out terminology and explainations and stuff. But I don't think most mecha shows do a lot of that, unless I'm just forgetting a lot of stuff. Like, I've watched the original Gundam a thousand times, and outside of a few name-drops and a few references to the central scientific principle that sets apart the Gundam world, Minovsky Particles, they never really gave much of a focus to the tech stuff. I had to go to the glossary on Gundam Official to get most of that stuff...

[Kevadu]

I don't know specifically what Klyde was referring to, but I'll tell you what bothers me about mecha shows.  There are a lot of mecha shows in which all battles are automatically won by whoever has the newest robots.  Strategy, numbers, logistics, training, etc. don't seem to mean a thing.  It drives me nuts to the point where I just can't enjoy these shows.  Unit A could attack an exhausted nearly-out-of-supplies unit B by surprise with 10 times the numbers, but if unit B has cooler robots than unit A they don't stand a chance.  They might as well save themselves the trouble and just run away from the start.

Maybe that's why I was actually able to enjoy Turn-A Gundam.  There actually was a massive technology gap there.  One side had futuristic giant robots and the other side had basically 1920s tech.  It made sense that the 1920s tech would lose!  Of course then they introduce the ancient-buried-but-apparently-better-than-anything-current robot macguffin, so nevermind that...