Anime Apolyton

[DaShi]

I made that same joke with an Indian friend of mine a few weeks ago when we were comparing the Bible to anime.

[SnowFire]

Mm. Haven't posted on Apolyton in... forever. I apparently now have an Apolyton Hall of Fame thingy next to my name though. Neat.

Looking at both this thread (which it seems I posted in awhile back) and the other recent one Wraith linked, I'll add my support to the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzamiya. I'll only say that it is mildly distressing that the best recent show was a parody; nothing else from Haruhi's year seemed that interesting. Just watch it in the original broadcast order; while the decision was weird, that's the way the show was clearly designed to be watched, and builds up to the fifth episode properly.

Also mentioned was The Twelve Kingdoms. Anyone who enjoys fantasy novels should definitely check it out; it's like a really good fantasy novel in television form.

Nothing from this year seems particularly intriguing either. I recently downloaded Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion to give that a shot, and that seems interesting at least. A very crowded show, though - the British Empire (which seemingly rules most of the world in an alternate history? No American Revolution?) invades Japan with giant robots and renames it Area 11! But there are some rebels, including a self-hating Britannian who is also a crazy chess player (the main character)! But he has a friend from early childhood who has now joined the Britannian army! And the Britannians have a secret weapon, and Our Hero soon gains mind control powers! And helps out the resistance, though they don't know who he is! And there's high school involved too! ...the first two episodes seemed pretty good, though I'm worried about the high school elements later as well as giving all the plot elements set up in the first two episodes proper treatment. It's by Sunrise (Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Witch Hunter Robin, Gundam), so it can't be THAT bad.

Interestingly enough, my "Sunrise can't be that bad" philosophy mildly backfired earlier, as I watched an earlier production of theirs in Mai-Hime, a show that sounds preposterously bad upon hearing about it (magic girls who summon... robots? To fight generic evil thingies?). But not only was Sunrise doing it, but Yuki Kajiura was doing the soundtrack, so at least it'd be pretty and listenable. And much to my surprise, Sunrise actually makes the show basically work early on. Episodes 1-13 or so are rather blah. Episodes 14-25 are actually quite good, when they throw away the generic baddies and instead use create an interesting alternate source of conflict. Episode 26 is so amazingly awful that it makes everything before it look worse by comparison, as it sells out each and every good element the series had before it. (Its sequel series, Mai-Otome, is apparently pure fanservice.)

If you're willing to try series, the Crest/Banner of the Stars is probably your best bet.

Crest of the Stars is quite good. I didn't find the dub as offensive as Wraith did, as well. There's a fair amount of setting exploration, intrigue, and humor - a good combination.

Banner of the Stars is, well, not so good. There are about 3-4 good episodes of the 13, for sure, but the rest are meh. Banner ignores a fundamental rule of space animes, which is to find excuses to get the characters on the ground. Too much stuff with the characters standing around on ships. There are two ways to do fleet combat: One is the commander's view. Lots of third-person shots, you see the maps, you're invited into the strategies, and you "play by the rules" set down. The second is the claustrophobic captain's view, where you never see anything one ship can't see, can't see the reasons behind your orders, and so on. Think Das Boot. Banner tries to go for the first, but doesn't make tons of sense while doing so, and introduces two idiot commanders who are not one-tenth as cool as the series thinks they are. It endlessly harps about how they're wacky guys and then they never do anything wacky and are just idiots instead but somehow still pull through anyway. Right. Meanwhile, we see lots of pretty explosions, but aren't entirely sure why they're happening or how.

I saw the first three-four episodes of Banner of the Stars II, and it looked considerably better. However, after that my friend got Battlestar Galactica Season 1 for Hannukah, so we've switched to that instead (almost finished Season 2). Definitely worth watching (even if this is the wrong thread).

I saw Appleseed recently and it sucked.

Second the motion. Veeeeeeeery pretty animation. Veeeeeery stupid plot.

I just got Boogiepop Phantom

It is pretty good, though it helps to watch it in a group or with others. Some plot elements are rather... subtle.

[Wraith]

--"His latest opus, "Tachigui: The Amazing Lives of the Fast Food Grifters", intrigues me."

Haven't seen that one yet, but there's a trailer online. May have to import it if I don't hear any licensing news soon.

--"I saw Appleseed recently and it sucked."

I haven't seen it, but that's because your response is most of what I was hearing about it ^_^

--"I just got Boogiepop Phantom"

It's a pretty solid series, but it'll take your full attention. It's not a show you can just sit back and be entertained by. Most of the difficulty is the non-linear storytelling; each episode covers three different time periods, and you have to be paying pretty close attention to piece things together.
Still, if you like horror/mystery type shows, this will probably right up your alley.

--"Wish they had made a series."

He kind of did, just not animated. There's another two or three movies, live action, set in the same world.

--"This season the mecha come back with a vengeance..."

Heh, it is starting to look that way. There are a couple I might have to check out. I'll probably at least try Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula just because of the Kamichu-style character design.

--"you guys must like this then"

Well, I guess it was inevitable that this would happen sometime. Might be interesting if they do the full series and do the Torah or Qur'an next.

--"I'll only say that it is mildly distressing that the best recent show was a parody; nothing else from Haruhi's year seemed that interesting."

Quick note in case you missed it, there's a second season starting late this year.

However, I will say there were some other decent shows last year, although possibly not in genres you're interested in. Ouran High School Host Club was actually entertaining, although not with a huge rewatch value. Nana is a pretty good romance drama as long as you don't mind lots of early-twenties angstiness. Honey and Clover season 2 was quite good. Death Note turned out pretty decent, and Code Geass, which you mentioned, started last year.

--"Anyone who enjoys fantasy novels should definitely check it out; it's like a really good fantasy novel in television form."

That's exactly what it is ^_^ The novels the series is based on are being translated, and the first one is out in the US.

--"Nothing from this year seems particularly intriguing either. "

This year does seem pretty thin from the previews. There's Nodame Cantabile, which I'm watching, as probably one of my two most anticipated series of this year (the other being the second season of Haruhi). Probably not for everyone, but it is turning out rather well.
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS is another I've been kind of looking forward to. It's a solid action/adventure series (best described as a mecha series without the mecha, actually), not a thinky series, but at least fun action.
There's also a second season of Victorian Romance Emma, which should be pretty good.

There's some others I'll probably check out, like Lucky☆Star (simply because it's being done by KyoAni), but don't have huge expectations for. Claymore is off to a fairly decent start, but they've got plenty of room to mess things up still.

As far as US releases go, Haruhi, of course. There's also Satoshi Kon's Paprkia, which should at least be in a couple theaters this year. Not sure on the DVD release, though. There's also AnimEigo's release of Yawara sometime this year; love the series, but never expected it to get licensed for R1 release.

--"I recently downloaded Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion to give that a shot, and that seems interesting at least."

I watched that after a recommendation a while back, and it actually turned out quite solid. Not a top-ten anime for me, but still good and rewatchable. There's some predictability, but plenty of unforeseen turns as well. Lots of references to Arthurian legends as well (more as the series goes on). You're definitely right about it being a crowded series, and this is only the first season. It was planned for two full seasons at the start, so there's another twenty some episodes to go after the last two for this one air. They've definitely got a habit of ending episodes on cliff-hangers, so the wait for the last two episodes is somewhat annoying.

--"Episode 26 is so amazingly awful that it makes everything before it look worse by comparison"

Yeah, that pretty much covers it. Just about the worst possible ending they could have come up with other than resorting to an "it was all a dream" ending. The follow on series isn't just fanservice, but it's close enough to be not worth bothering with.

--"Meanwhile, we see lots of pretty explosions, but aren't entirely sure why they're happening or how."

There's a fair bit the anime doesn't explain (or flat out gets wrong; all the casualty numbers they show are pulled out of someone's ass, and they managed to get Sobash's gender wrong) that get fleshed out more in the novels. Which is why it's such a pity they completely botched them.

Wraith
"That's right, this is how the story moves along. In the direction most undesirable for all concerned."
-- Drosselmeyer ("Princess Tutu")

[Nostromo]

Just saw Jin-Roh. Wow. That's exactly the kind of anime I'm looking for. An anime for grown ups. a mature storyline, a complex plot.

I would distinguish three types of anime:

- those for kids or for teens. Older folks have a hard time enjoying them. Examples: Pokemon, Gundam, Hellsing, Elfen Lied (not for kids, obviously)

- those for everyone, from 7 to 77 years old. Everyone can enjoy, for example, movies like Princess Mononoke or Spirited away, or a TV show like the Count of Monte Cristo...

- those for adults. Examples: Ghost in the shell (both movies and the TV show), Jin-Roh, Millenium Actress (but I didn't enjoy that one. Too much mushy sentimentalism for my taste).

[Q Classic]

I'll say that Nodame Cantabile's quite amusing. My one major complaint is that often times, with the instrumentation scenes, they end up falling into two categories of problems:
1. Still frames for long periods.
2. Motion-capture-like animation, which doesn't look quite right.

Still, the story's amusing enough and the music pretty enough that I'm enjoying the ride.

[DanS]

Nice to see you post a little, Snowfire.

Originally posted by SnowFire
Nothing from this year seems particularly intriguing either.

Nana. Nodame Cantabile. Both targeted at adults. Recommended, if you don't mind a little young adult angst. That's about it.

I'm following Ghost Hunt and Saiunkoku Monogatari, both of which I enjoy to various degrees at different times. YMMV quite a bit on these.

Reserving judgment on the new season. Of the new series, I'll follow at least Claymore and Heroic Age for a while. Of the returning series, if there's a new season of Haruhi, I'll watch that, of course.

I'll follow El Cazador de la Bruja, just because I like the Bee Train girls-with-guns-and-mysterious-pasts genre.

[Wraith]

--"Just saw Jin-Roh. Wow. That's exactly the kind of anime I'm looking for."

Then, yeah, Patlabor would be worth a shot as well.

Samurai X (really the Ruroni Kenshin OVAs, just a bit of trouble with the title since the TV series was licensed by another company) is pretty good, too. If you are branching out to shorter OVAs, there's some suggestions above, and I'll add Serial Experiments Lain.

--"My one major complaint is that often times, with the instrumentation scenes, they end up falling into two categories of problems:"

Well, it is rather expensive to animate musicians, so they have to be sparing with when they do it. I pretty much expected they'd have to do that, so it doesn't bother me.

Oh, and I haven't seen the first episode yet, but the opening makes Lucky☆Star look like sugar frosted crystal meth. I'm seeing it described as Azumanga Daioh with gaming otaku, so hopefully it'll at least be amusing.

Wraith
"When angels are forced out of heaven they become devils."
- Vicious (Cowboy Bebop)

[SnowFire]

DanS: Nice to see that you're still here. I should drop a line next time I'm in DC (and maybe to Black Dragon too). I'll pass on Nana, though; looks like the type of thing expressly aimed at gothy 16-25 year old girls (where I first heard of it from, actually).

I'll follow El Cazador de la Bruja, just because I like the Bee Train girls-with-guns-and-mysterious-pasts genre.

Okay, I liked Noir. A lot. But... did you see Madlax? If you haven't yet, then, uh, don't (though I suspect I'm too late from your comment). It's some kind of horrible mockery of everything that was great about Noir and worthy of multiple rants. I sincerely hope that it was a different team that made Madlax, or that some members left, or that they had to make it up the plot in one weekend while hungover, because if it was the same people, then I read some wrong things out of Noir (since some of the ideas in Noir are pretty well directly contradicted by Madlax).

The most I can say is that the Margaret half of the early episodes raises some interesting mysteries. Okay, and Carroseur (sp?) Dawn was okay. Cazador definitely merits a "wait and see."

Well, I guess it was inevitable that this would happen sometime. Might be interesting if they do the full series and do the Torah or Qur'an next.

The Quran translates horribly to story form. There are only a few stories in it, and one is Joseph's story ganked from elsewhere. Most of the suras are basically sermons and injunctions.

Now, the book of Joshua would translate quite well to a television series. Dramatic battles, sudden setbacks, trumpets taking down city walls, dealing with and slaughtering the infidels, etc. Of course, it'll never be made because the Palestinian lobby would completely freak out (and probably justifiably?).

Ouran High School Host Club

I'm not usually impressed by gay humor in anime, and the setup sounded like it'd have a lot of it. I saw posts to similar effect elsewhere. (Utena was saved by its massive pretentiousness and general unabashed weirdness, at least, and that wasn't always humor anyway. I liked your earlier comparison to variations in classical music).

[DanS]

Yes, I've already seen Madlax. I enjoyed it. Guess I didn't take the ideas in Noir or Madlax nearly as seriously as you did. Just girls-with-guns and a little bit of suspense, that's all. Maybe they wanted to make a grand statement, but it didn't register with me. Am I asking for a rant?

Re Nana, you could invest 20 minutes in an episode. If you don't like the 1st episode, you won't like the series. Not too goth. One of the protaganists is punk, the other is apple pie.

When you're in DC, let's do a Poly meet.

[Kuciwalker]

Noir was good, but each episode was only 10 minutes if you took out the flashbacks and pauses.

[Wraith]

--"I'm not usually impressed by gay humor in anime, and the setup sounded like it'd have a lot of it."

Not that much, considering. There's some unintentional stuff, in that Haruhi is female but most of "his" customers don't realize it. Keep in mind that they are, after all, running a host club, where the guys are entertaining female customers. The only blatantly gay humor is the twins, who play up a twincest shtick for their fans. It's pretty obvious (to all but the yaoi fangirls) that they aren't really quite that close...
Granted, the series is not at the Utena level. Very few shows are (although, if you haven't seen Princess Tutu, you should consider it. It has a lot of the same metafictional elements, and it makes exceptional use of BGM). But it was entertaining.

And in other news, Funimation picked up the One Piece license. They'll be doing an uncut DVD release, thankfully. Unfortunately, it sounds like the TV release will still be edited to remove drinking and smoking (that last will be fun, given that one of the characters uses smoke as his devil's fruit power).

Wraith
"I already decided I'll do it, so even if I die fighting for that cause that's fine with me."
-- Luffy D Monkey ("One Piece")

[The Mad Monk]

Blood+ is running on Adult Swim now, and it's...striking. I've never seen another anime like it.

It's pretty much straight-up horror, with very little (none, really) in the way of tension-breaking comedy that I've come to expect in anime.


It's also incredibly bloody.

The level of detail they put into into backgrounds and objects has also grabbed my attention. It's almost like they're using photographs, but it dosen't have that converted look.

[Q Classic]

Originally posted by Wraith
--"I'm not usually impressed by gay humor in anime, and the setup sounded like it'd have a lot of it."

Not that much, considering. There's some unintentional stuff, in that Haruhi is female but most of "his" customers don't realize it. Keep in mind that they are, after all, running a host club, where the guys are entertaining female customers. The only blatantly gay humor is the twins, who play up a twincest shtick for their fans. It's pretty obvious (to all but the yaoi fangirls) that they aren't really quite that close...
Granted, the series is not at the Utena level. Very few shows are (although, if you haven't seen Princess Tutu, you should consider it. It has a lot of the same metafictional elements, and it makes exceptional use of BGM). But it was entertaining.

I enjoyed Ouran; it's sufficiently goofy, wonderfully mindless. As far as the blatantly gay humor goes, to be honest, I didn't find it that frequent/that bad, but then again...

Regarding Mai-Hime and Mai-Otome; the first one was actually surprisingly decent, though the first few episodes drag. The same could be said about the second series, though it never seems to come out of the utter lameness of its existence.

One thing that makes me happy is that they've finally realized that making a whole series out of Kuji-An sucked balls, and now they're going to make another season of Genshiken.

Nodame Cantabile isn't disappointing me yet, though Nodame's voice is starting to grate a little; I'm hoping they progress the story further than where the Live Action ended, but I'm getting the sensation that they may not.

[Nostromo]

An interview with Mamoru Oshii about his latest 'Tachigui'

http://www.productionig.com/contents/works_sp/35_/s08_/000612.html

[Nostromo]

I saw the first DVD of 'Fullmetal Alchemist' the other day. Not bad, but its for kids.