And even then, what's more interesting tends to be the planning and strategy that goes into the battle, rather than the battle itself. Contrast, say, Subaru's personal battle in Nanoha StrikerS with Teana's. Subaru's battle is all about action -- constant direct clashes with her opponent, interspersed with some dialogue. Teana's battle happens in spurts and involves lots of running around, diversions and illusions, and tactical planning. I found Teana's battle far more satisfying than Subaru's.
All I remember about Nanoha was all the people on TVT going on about how the two female leads were either totally awesome, or how the fact that they were ambiguously gay (at least at first) made their junk happy. :P I admit it kind of made me not want to watch it.
@Glenn: Or the scenes in the witch labyrinths of Madoka Magica, which really are just a feast for the eyes. Apparently Hunter x Hunter has some great strategic moments, or so the beau informs me, but I can't vouch for that personally.
Hmm. You might really like RahXephon, actually. Also curious as to what your reactions to Mushi-Shi and Natsume's Book of Friends might be.
RahXephon has been on the edge of my to-watch list for a while. I think I've seen the first episode or half-episode. Seemed reminiscent of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which I also enjoyed.
I'm just often not necessarily in the mood for something. Like, I have had Spice and Wolf on my to-watch list for a while but I just haven't really felt like watching it for some reason.
Re Nanoha: yeah, it was a big thing on TVT, and apparently much bigger there than outside it -- as I learned when I tried to talk to other anime fans about it.
The one thing that bugs me most about part of the Nanoha fandom is that subset of individuals who complained that Nanoha and Fate grew up and were no longer lolis. Those people may kindly dismiss themselves away from the rest of us Nanoha fans, thank you very much.
From what I can tell, RahXephon has less in common with Evangelion than Eureka Seven in tone and themes, although I have seen neither of the latter so I cannot confirm this. Chiaki Konaka was one of the chief writers on the show, but I think it was mainly a director-led effort, and the director in question hasn't done a lot else. There's still a quiet, introspective vibe to the show with some seriously dark moments, but it's less unsettling and alien than Konaka's collaborations with Ryutaro Nakamura - closer to his work on the earlier episodes of Digimon Tamers, actually.
I've seen suggestive art of Nanoha and Fate as the little girls they were in the first series. It made me want to scrub my brain out with Double Clorox. ._.
And yes, they did grow up, and they're very pretty as adults. I kind of wish they were more lovey-dovey, but then, there's always things like Wife and Wife if I want to see that.
Apparently Hunter x Hunter has some great strategic moments, or so the beau informs me, but I can't vouch for that personally.
Speaking of, I like the way Hunter X Hunter toys with the shonen cliche of "massively overpowered villain" to make it so that attacking the enemy stronghold feels like storming the beach at Normandy, at least at the point I'm on.
Drawing up complicated battleplans to minimize the enemy's strengths, realizing that no plan is going to survive contact with the enemy intact, realizing that death is a strong possibility, but judging that accomplishing the goal is worth the risk of getting torn to shreds by an overpowered behemoth.
do you really expect them to be romantic exhibitionists?
Hmm, good point. (My grandparents on my mom's side were Army, and "cute" is not the right word to describe their relationship, not by a long shot. Alcohol was involved. :P)
Then again, Nanoha and Fate adopted a daughter together, and I figure that's cute enough.
Yeah, you tend to do that like a whole lot, and then also act like the almost-strawmen like inferior stuff out of some weird sense of contrarianism.
I can vouch for the Hunter x Hunter fight scenes being exactly like what Odradek and naney have described them as, too, though I'm only 12 episodes in.
Yeah, you tend to do that like a whole lot, and then also act like the almost-strawmen like inferior stuff out of some weird sense of contrarianism.
I don't actually think that the stuff I like is necessarily better. I just think it's different, I guess.
And not very well-represented, but this notion is based on the fact that stuff tends not to catch my fancy very often -- whereas I see people going bonkers with glee over the next show by Studio Deen or the next show starring Nana Mizuki or the next show by Gainax or whatever.
Further RahXephon observations: Even setting aside the heavy involvement of the director, one can see the show's tone as almost a golden mean of the primary script writer's styles - these being the men behind serial experiments: lain, Noein, Planetes and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Which is certainly no slouch team. But it makes sense and it feels extremely tonally cohesive.
Not related to the above show: I am trying to find ludicrously obscure anime shows still worth watching. So far Ashita no Nadja and the original version of MAPS look somewhat promising.
Not related to the above show: I am trying to find ludicrously obscure anime shows still worth watching. So far Ashita no Nadja and the original version of MAPS look somewhat promising.
Dunno about obscure, but I think you'd enjoy Level E. I haven't watched the anime, but I very much enjoyed the manga. Plus, it's only 13 episodes, so it's pretty short.
^^^ Hmmm. Not sure if it's my thing, and the director and series composer have done little else - the latter was the show-runner for Junjou Romantica (which is supposedly unusually tolerable for yaoi) and scripted much of Ginga Densetsu Weed (like Watership Down, but with feral dogs! huzzah!) but that's it - but the involvement of JAXA and other elements are intriguing. Maybe.
That was an odd ending. I think I'm going to need to mull over this, but my brain feels tired. The stinger at the very end, while expected, was quite satisfying, and I do like what they seemed to be saying overall, but there are a lot of plot details that I need to let fall into place. The pieces fit, but they're all over the table.
Anyway, I'm going to watch Wolf's Rain now, because for some reason I am really liking symbolism right now. And wolves. I like wolves. Yeah...
Although I already understood the part that touches on those themes. I'm more puzzled about [why Mr. Bodyhopper was exiled or sent out by the Mu, and what exactly Maya's intentions were]. I mean, I have theories as to what was going on there, but I'm going to have to think about it.
i have no idea. it seemed like a part of the plot that wasn't too relevant to the point of the show but gets gone over in the supplemental material for nerds. like evangelion's great ancestral race.
The first episode of Tokyo Ghoul was good. I hope the protagonist gets less wimpy.
Mind you, all his reactions in the latter half of the episode were understandable given his circumstances, but his timidity was a bit annoying in the first half, before shit hits the fan.
I mean, it's Keiko Nobumoto's baby - she was head of story on Cowboy Bebop, and her writing was arguably just as important to its tone as Watanabe's direction - so it's not like that's a surprise, but really, go watch this. It is not only in the same league in writing, but this is BONES at the top of their game in the animation as well.
And I still have about twenty episodes to go. That's pleasing rather than daunting.
So I'm watching episode six of Wolf's Rain and Tsume's been kind of a dick for a while but then there are more and more of these moments where you see something more there and then finally the moment comes around and all I want to say is, "FUCK YEAH, TSUME. FINALLY."
Comments
well i guess it wasn't that bad
anyway, Sredni Vashtar, I wrote some responses to your reply to me
I'm just often not necessarily in the mood for something. Like, I have had Spice and Wolf on my to-watch list for a while but I just haven't really felt like watching it for some reason.
Re Nanoha: yeah, it was a big thing on TVT, and apparently much bigger there than outside it -- as I learned when I tried to talk to other anime fans about it.
The one thing that bugs me most about part of the Nanoha fandom is that subset of individuals who complained that Nanoha and Fate grew up and were no longer lolis. Those people may kindly dismiss themselves away from the rest of us Nanoha fans, thank you very much.
a dime a dozen
and i wouldn't even give a dime
but they're military officials
do you really expect them to be romantic exhibitionists?
Drawing up complicated battleplans to minimize the enemy's strengths, realizing that no plan is going to survive contact with the enemy intact, realizing that death is a strong possibility, but judging that accomplishing the goal is worth the risk of getting torn to shreds by an overpowered behemoth.
has the anime fandom successfully combined sexual demeaning with racism yet
It was vaguely intriguing, I think.
"?!"
Nui crazy is not the same as Daily Lives of High School Boys crazy.
And not very well-represented, but this notion is based on the fact that stuff tends not to catch my fancy very often -- whereas I see people going bonkers with glee over the next show by Studio Deen or the next show starring Nana Mizuki or the next show by Gainax or whatever.
I guess I just don't understand that feel...
(Quality is not guaranteed; hilarity is)