Anime/Manga Journal

[Yggdrasil]

Naw that could be it.  You can't expect everything to be good.  I mean, really, with all the stuff on TV you really only hone in on a very small percent of it.

Different strokes fer different folks

Some people say that the value of entertainment is subjective. I've never had a clear opinion about that, but I guess for some people that's true.

[Aeolus]

I'm surrounded by old jaded old farts. :v

However I think much of the way you guys feels comes from consuming too much media more than being "old" (even though being old has something to do with it).

Read this post in a "kind of a serious tone but not really" manner. Thanks for your understanding.*

That said, sayonara grandpas! :3

To be fair though, it's actually a good thing to expose yourself to a lot of media if you're willing to diversify as there's a lot of really good stuff out there that blows like 99.9999% of anything manga, anime, & video games have ever done completely out of the water. People who say that FFT or Cowboy Bebop is the greatest thing evar are not only completely full of shit but are fucking ignorant clods. And that's because there is no one "Geetest Thang EVAR!!!" because there are a ton of things out there that have at least some merit to them (and plenty of things that have absolutely no merit to them whatsoever *cough*Brickleberry*cough*) and that nothing can honestly be considered to be flawless (yes, even Shakesphere).

And then of course, is personal interpretation which is a :can: of worms that I do not want to touch.

But yeah, not being serious here, just pointing it out.

[Chronix112]

I'm surrounded by old jaded old farts. :v

However I think much of the way you guys feels comes from consuming too much media more than being "old" (even though being old has something to do with it).

Read this post in a "kind of a serious tone but not really" manner. Thanks for your understanding.*

That said, sayonara grandpas! :3

To be fair though, it's actually a good thing to expose yourself to a lot of media if you're willing to diversify as there's a lot of really good stuff out there that blows like 99.9999% of anything manga, anime, & video games have ever done completely out of the water. People who say that FFT or Cowboy Bebop is the greatest thing evar are not only completely full of shit but are fucking ignorant clods. And that's because there is no one "Geetest Thang EVAR!!!" because there are a ton of things out there that have at least some merit to them (and plenty of things that have absolutely no merit to them whatsoever *cough*Brickleberry*cough*) and that nothing can honestly be considered to be flawless (yes, even Shakesphere).

And then of course, is personal interpretation which is a :can: of worms that I do not want to touch.

But yeah, not being serious here, just pointing it out.

Yeah, it helps to diversify A bit. When you do it though try to block out  any  preconceived prejudices and biases of genre that have rubbed you the wrong way in the past.

[Mickeymac92]

Personally there's a lot out for this season that interest me. I think all of them will have their first episode out by the end of the week, so maybe I'll give some impressions for those once I've seen them all?

[Bytor]

Nadia, Secret of Blue Water is....OK I guess, just hasn't "wowed" me, although Little Lady likes it a lot so OK. Really found my self hooked on Big Wind-Up! Big Time, lol

[Mickeymac92]

Nadia, Secret of Blue Water is....OK I guess, just hasn't "wowed" me, although Little Lady likes it a lot so OK. Really found my self hooked on Big Wind-Up! Big Time, lol

I really enjoyed Nadia more than I probably should've. :P And I keep hearing Big Wind-Up is great, and though I'm not much of a baseball fan, I'm tempted to watch it someday. That and, like, 5 other baseball anime...

[Aeolus]

Nadia, Secret of Blue Water is....OK I guess, just hasn't "wowed" me, although Little Lady likes it a lot so OK. Really found my self hooked on Big Wind-Up! Big Time, lol

I really enjoyed Nadia more than I probably should've. :P And I keep hearing Big Wind-Up is great, and though I'm not much of a baseball fan, I'm tempted to watch it someday. That and, like, 5 other baseball anime...

That said, fuck the island.

[Bytor]

Yeah, it got stupid around there for me...and seriously, how long were they on that island? Nemos hair grew a freaking foot!

[Aeolus]

Kill la Kill ep 2: Oh god damn this show is silly as fuck. If you were worried about the over the top fanservice to the point of almost being creepy, then never fear, there's some manservice in there too for the ladies (and gentlemen of particular disposition). If there's a straight man in this show, I haven't found him/her yet.

Majestic Prince eps 1 & 2: So I decided to pick this up to go along with Kill la Kill and so far it's a little bit humorous, functional, and perfectly serviceable for giant robot series. Nothing substantial yet but it does feel like a Super Robot series in the guise of a Real Robot series.

[Kevadu]

Log Horizon: I just don't get this show.  I know a lot of people are calling it a SAO clone, but I think that's kind of BS.  SAO didn't exactly invent the whole stuck-in-a-videogame thing, and that tone could not be more different.  One thing I did genuinely like about SAO is how it actually tried to come up with a rational explanation for it's premise.  And the core of the story (well, at least the first half...) was all about coming to grips with and overcoming their situation.

At least so far Log Horizon doesn't even seem concerned about coming up with an explanation.  Of course we're only two episodes in, but since they arrived at absolutely no conclusion about how they all got there in the first episode you think they would still at least be curious about it in the second.  Yet it never comes up again.  Nobody even discusses their overall predicament, and instead they worry about beating up PKers and shit (even though unlike SAO you don't actually die when you're defeated in this world, you respawn just like in a game).  And then you have people like Akatsuki who, despite finding herself mysteriously trapped in a videogame with no idea if she'll see the real world again, never once breaks character.  That's some hardcore roleplaying there.  But seriously, wouldn't people normally have bigger concerns?

I may sound kind of harsh on the show, but actually if you just take it as a somewhat campy fantasy roleplaying adventure then it is actually fairly amsuing.  Actually, if I had to compare the feel of Log Horizon to anything it would be a faily popular Korean manhwa called Yureka.  The thing is, they're not trapped in the game in Yureka.  The author just decided to write a story about people playing a virtual reality MMORPG.  A story about people just playing a game may not sound that interesting at first, but it works (well, it kind of jumps the shark in the second half but at least the first half is pretty good).  Actually, if you think about it there are tons of animes and mangas about people playing games: They're called sports series.  You don't have to have some world-changing catastrophe to tell a good story.

And when I look at Log Horizon I can't help but ask myself, was the whole being trapped in the game aspect really even necessary for the story the author wanted to tell?  Did he just think there wouldn't be any tension if it was only people playing a game?  Because at least so far it doesn't feel like it is...

[Aeolus]

Hell, even dotHack//Sign had Tsubasa mopping around endlessly for over half the show about being stuck in an MMO. Although not mopping around for half a series isn't such a bad alternative even if it doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense. Besides, they could be going for a Monkey Paw angle kinda like Groundhog's Day where after a while, you just get sick of the fantastical yet limited fake reality that you originally desired for yourself.

Or it could just be bad writing.


And speaking of bad writing, after checking out the Copperlion manga (i.e. that School Girls immune to radiation series; lmao), I think I've spotted a new standard for gratuitous abuse of Fridge Logic.

[Kevadu]

Ah, Coppelion.  I was going to write a  long, rambling post about that one too but I decided to go to sleep instead...

The premise is sort of interesting, but the implementation is just...WTF.  The second episode had so many shitty cliches packed it that it was ready to burst.  They obviously wanted to ramp up the drama but failed to give sufficient time or attention to develop anything that was happening, and instead relied on cliches to carry the entire episode.  I mean, for christ sake even the weather was along for the ride.  The episode started out perfectly sunny before it inexplicably started raining right before the 'dramatic' confrontation at the end (which took place in an abandoned building that had been standing for years but nevertheless suddenly decided that now was the time to start collapsing...), and then in literally the next scene it's suddenly sunny again.  It's so over-the-top it's almost comical, but they're clearly trying to be serious here...

[Mickeymac92]

Yeah, the trailer for Coppelion made it look like it was just trying to be over-the-top action, so I went into it expecting it to not take itself seriously. Now that I've seen that it's actually trying to be serious, I'm more than a little put-off by it. Granted, just because it takes itself seriously doesn't mean I have to, so I may still get some joy out of it, but it's no longer a priority.

[Aeolus]

Yeah, the trailer for Coppelion made it look like it was just trying to be over-the-top action, so I went into it expecting it to not take itself seriously. Now that I've seen that it's actually trying to be serious, I'm more than a little put-off by it. Granted, just because it takes itself seriously doesn't mean I have to, so I may still get some joy out of it, but it's no longer a priority.

There's also not a lot of action. It's mostly crap like "This pile of bones is super nukeular.", and "We better find this old guy quick before he can off himself by hiding in a super nukeular zone and waiting out his anti-nukeular nicotine patch's time limit to expire.", or "Look out! A stealth bomber flying through the air at the speed of a crop duster is trying to shoot out our jeep for reasons.". I am fully serious when I say that I will be disappointed with this series if there isn't even one person who doesn't at least try to hide from the nukeular radiation by ducking into a lead lined refrigerator.

Ninja Edit: Oh and yeah, expect plenty more angst in regards to the girl's artificial-ness, the "What has science wrought?" factor, and of course, the classic "How could anybody treat Tokyo so disrespectfully?" environmental message. Also, conspiracies, since you know nobody would actively shit on Tokyo without some ludicrously circuitous ponzie-scheme for the :moreevil:.

[Kevadu]

I still can't get over the fact that they're wearing school uniforms...

OK, they're genetically engineered to be resistant to the whatever (do they ever actually say it's radiation?) so they don't need hazmat suits.  I don't know how plausible that is, really, but I can suspend my disbelief there.  Even so, they're still alone in this dirty, hostile environment in some physically strenuous situations having to deal with weather and other hazards.  Is the most logical thing to be wearing really blazers and miniskirts?  But no, it's either hazmat suits or school girl uniforms.  There is no in between.