I ended up hearing about this a little late, but the Sketchbook DVDs have a release date now. They are going to be coming out September 1st (Kate's b-day). I am currently in the process of getting hyped.
They are actually including the picture dramas and some other special features stuff too (which is way more than what I was expecting when this was first announced a while back). Honestly, I find it kind of unbelievable that this is actually happening given that the show aired some eight years ago. While I do not really have a clue as to why they decided to release Sketchbook on DVD in North America, I am very grateful to Nozomi for doing it.
So, for the past few days i have been watching Yona of the Dawn
On the surface, it seems like a fairly run of the mill show: Yona, a spoiled but well meaning princess, is forced to flee the castle when her father is deposed, then she goes on a quest to reclaim the kingdom in accordance with an old prophecy, doing character development hero's journey stuff as she goes along.
What makes it really good is that it is, well, really good. The characters are very well fleshed out and three-dimensional, including the bad guys, who actually act like real people and have realistic motivations, which is nice for a change. There are plenty of heartwarming moments, the funny bits are genuinely funny, and the action bits are suitably thrilling. There is absolutely no filler, and the pacing is spot-on. a solid A imo, absolutely worth your time regardless of how your personal tastes/inclinations run.
also the setting is pretty nifty, it draws upon korean and chinese stuff but i am not knowledgeable enough to talk about it more than that really.
I should watch more shoujo stuff in general i think.
samurai champloo did have a bitchin soundtrack tho, maybe the best anime soundtrack ive ever heard?
and the aesthetic vision was very strong in general
Yeah, agreed on both those things.
I'd say Cowboy Bebop is even stronger on those fronts, frankly. I don't want to say whether you'd like it or not, but I would be interested to hear your reactions to it.
On a sort of related note to what was talked about before, what do the terms "shonen," "shoujo," "seinen," and "josei" mean to you? How much do you think we should care about them?
I feel like the "shonen" label is sort of helpful when attached to "shonen fighting show" or "shonen adventure show" since it seems like shows with those labels tend to have a lot of the same tropes and such, so the labels mean something pretty concrete. I think you could probably say something similar about "shoujo magical girl shows" too.
Outside of those contexts, it seems to me like the demographic labels are significantly less useful since the fact that a show's manga was published in a "shonen" or "seinen" magazine in Japan does not necessarily say a whole lot about its content or what kind of audience is likely to enjoy it outside of Japan. I think that is especially true for "seinen" slice of life shows like GA Art Design Class and Non Non Biyori, the equivalent of which does not really exist in most places outside of Japan.
they can be useful shorthand for "this is what a show feels like"
like, if the first thing someone says when describing a show it "it's a shonen" im gonna think "oh there is a brash young male protagonist and he has adventures and he is exceptionally talented and/or has a lot of heart"
the umbrella of shonen is much wider than that of course, but there is a certain archetype there that shows can cleave closely to
So, for the past few days i have been watching Yona of the Dawn
On the surface, it seems like a fairly run of the mill show: Yona, a spoiled but well meaning princess, is forced to flee the castle when her father is deposed, then she goes on a quest to reclaim the kingdom in accordance with an old prophecy, doing character development hero's journey stuff as she goes along.
What makes it really good is that it is, well, really good. The characters are very well fleshed out and three-dimensional, including the bad guys, who actually act like real people and have realistic motivations, which is nice for a change. There are plenty of heartwarming moments, the funny bits are genuinely funny, and the action bits are suitably thrilling. There is absolutely no filler, and the pacing is spot-on. a solid A imo, absolutely worth your time regardless of how your personal tastes/inclinations run.
also the setting is pretty nifty, it draws upon korean and chinese stuff but i am not knowledgeable enough to talk about it more than that really.
I should watch more shoujo stuff in general i think.
also this show has a very strong undercurrent of like idealism vs. pragmatism that gets pretty nuanced and difficult and shit
im still fuckin mad about Bodacious Space Pirates being boring
it had such a strong opening and then it just petered out and uughgghghgghghghhhhh YOU HAD SUCH A GOOD TITLE AND A BODACIOUS SPACE PIRATE LADY YOU FUCKED IT UP U LAME PEOPLE
me -> It (Champloo) had a very strong and cohesive aesthetic vision, which very strongly disposes me towards liking a show, so why did it leave me so cold?
(*we talk about other stuff for a bit here*)
Sredni -> Also, regarding Champloo, I think it has a daring and fun aesthetic, but it is really inconsistent in terms of substance and the whole arc of the show is too episodically structured and goofy in tone to provide the final plot with the heft it needed.
me -> you are right, the whole show kinda felt like the early episodes of a show where things are kinda finding their footing before things really take off, but with more cool things happening
sredni -> Yeah, exactly. The thing is, Watanabe had done one great episodic series before, but with Cowboy Bebop everything is essential and feels united in some way - perhaps because the show had Keiko Nobumoto as head of story, and she is... well, something. And there the arc emerges out of the "standalone" episodes as much as the "plot" ones because of how the character relationships are established. But that show was way subtler.
me -> the thing is in champloo it didnt feel like there was a ln arc really. things set in motion, a bunch of shit happened, and then it got wrapped up
Sredni -> True! He made a far better series on that model in Space Dandy, but that show is just nuts and I do not know exactly how he makes it work other than that he makes everything possible and runs with it.
me -> space dandy is the same way but it feels right for that show in a way it doesnt feel right for champloo
Sredni ->It (Champloo) tries to do the Bebop thing but never really achieves plot.
me -> exactly!
Sredni -> Whereas Space Dandy does not try and manages to have stuff progress almost incidentally and, according to every trustworthy source I have, it ends very well.
that awkward feel when i don't recognize most of them and also can't much make sense of the dimensions given either
As far as I know, it's stuff that's considered important/influential in Japan, not so much something the average American weaboo would know.
Also you are GMH, and thus, do not care about anything I know about
ba-dum tssh :P
well to be fair here's what I know or can tell:
N/S axis seems to be about character focus vs. setting focus. E/W axis seems to be about fantasy vs. reality, and E side's description makes sense to me, but I'm not sure why W side says "classical methods" specifically -- not sure if that's meant to be in contrast to something.
Shows: * Honey and Clover - heard of * Kamen Rider - know somewhat * Vagabond - don't recognize * Rokudenashi Blues - don't recognize * Naruto - mainly know * A Perfect Day for Lovers - don't recognize * One Piece - know somewhat * Black Jack - heard of * Fist of the North Star - heard of * Sazae-San - heard of * Touch - don't recognize * Kochikame - don't recognize * Golgo 13 - don't recognize * Joe of Tomorrow - don't recognize * Doraemon - heard of * Jojo - heard of * Yu-Gi-Oh! - know somewhat * Dragonball - know somewhat * Mickey Mouse - wait, what? * Put It All in the Ring - don't recognize * Death Note - heard of * Akira - heard of / know somewhat * Bastard!! - heard of / don't recognize * Captain Tsubasa - heard of? / don't recognize * Kamui - either this has to do with the doujin shmup of the same name, or more likely, i don't recognize it * Cobra - don't recognize * GeGeGe no Kitaro - don't recognize * Babel II - don't recognize * the works of Yukinobu Hoshino - I looked him up and don't recognize any of his works.
...actually, come to think of it, are all these manga? because that might explain why I've never even heard of a number of them.
But yeah, what I was trying to do was, I find these sorts of charts quite interesting, so I was trying to make sense of it, but didn't fully understand the axes. So I tried using the stuff placed in the graph to make sense of it but realized that I didn't recognize most of the series.
Ah, that would make some sense with the axes as I understand them.
I'm especially intrigued by the E/W axis if it represents what I think it does. I have a feeling that it's not quite that simple but I'm not yet sure how to break it down into multiple components. Maybe mechanical focus vs. symbolicness, and then optimism vs. cynicism?
anyway... *saves the image to ask a manga-knowledgeable friend about it*
i just tried looking up "a perfect day for lovers" and i'm getting very, very few search results for either '"a perfect day for lovers" anime' or '"a perfect day for lovers" manga', actually
i'm guessing it's something that's more commonly known by its japanese name?
that awkward feel when i don't recognize most of them and also can't much make sense of the dimensions given either
As far as I know, it's stuff that's considered important/influential in Japan, not so much something the average American weaboo would know.
Also you are GMH, and thus, do not care about anything I know about
ba-dum tssh :P
well to be fair here's what I know or can tell:
N/S axis seems to be about character focus vs. setting focus. E/W axis seems to be about fantasy vs. reality, and E side's description makes sense to me, but I'm not sure why W side says "classical methods" specifically -- not sure if that's meant to be in contrast to something.
Shows: * Honey and Clover - heard of * Kamen Rider - know somewhat * Vagabond - don't recognize * Rokudenashi Blues - don't recognize * Naruto - mainly know * A Perfect Day for Lovers - don't recognize * One Piece - know somewhat * Black Jack - heard of * Fist of the North Star - heard of * Sazae-San - heard of * Touch - don't recognize * Kochikame - don't recognize * Golgo 13 - don't recognize * Joe of Tomorrow - don't recognize * Doraemon - heard of * Jojo - heard of * Yu-Gi-Oh! - know somewhat * Dragonball - know somewhat * Mickey Mouse - wait, what? * Put It All in the Ring - don't recognize * Death Note - heard of * Akira - heard of / know somewhat * Bastard!! - heard of / don't recognize * Captain Tsubasa - heard of? / don't recognize * Kamui - either this has to do with the doujin shmup of the same name, or more likely, i don't recognize it * Cobra - don't recognize * GeGeGe no Kitaro - don't recognize * Babel II - don't recognize * the works of Yukinobu Hoshino - I looked him up and don't recognize any of his works.
...actually, come to think of it, are all these manga? because that might explain why I've never even heard of a number of them.
But yeah, what I was trying to do was, I find these sorts of charts quite interesting, so I was trying to make sense of it, but didn't fully understand the axes. So I tried using the stuff placed in the graph to make sense of it but realized that I didn't recognize most of the series.
Vagabond is a manga about Miyamoto Mushashi, one of Japan's most famous swordsman who founded the Niten Ichi-ryū school of japanese swordsmanship. The story for the manga is based on Eiji Yoshikawa's novel Musashi, which is a fictionalized account of Musash's life, following him as he grows up from kind of a punk who goes around challenging people for fame into a formidable swordsman and respected warrior. Also, it has some of my favorite artwork in manga and in general.
Rokudenashi Blues is delinquent themed boxing manga about a delinquent who wants to become the world champion in boxing. Haven't read it yet.
Touch is manga about baseball. On my to read list.
Kochikame is apparently a comedy manga, but the only thing I know about it is that it has over 1800 chapters and 195 collected volumes.
Golgo 13 is about an assassin for hire. That's all I know about it.
Joe of Tomorrow is another boxing manga about troubled young man who learns about boxing while in a juvenile prison and then follows his career as a boxer outside of prison.
Put It All in the Ring is another boxing manga.
Captain Tsubasa -soccer manga. Don't know anything about is though
GeGeGe no Kitaro is a manga by Shigeru Mizuki, who has done incredibly of amount of manga, but I mainly know him for his work on horror manga. Kitaro is the main character of the manga who is a yokai who was raised for a time by human parents before his actual father finds and raises him. It follows his misadventures in the human world. I remember it being pretty fun to read.
I wonder if the reason why Madoka and co. are in it is because the company making the game and the company that has the rights to the Madoka series' are owned by the same parent company (Aniplex).
I plan to watch Non Non Biyori Repeat. The first season is one of my favorite slice of life shows and it does not look like the low key, country atmosphere of the show is going to change, so I will probably enjoy season 2 too. I sort of hope that the main cast is in their next year of school, but I would not be too surprised if they decided to keep things as they are given that "Repeat" is in the title.
I am going to be watching My Monster Secret because I like the manga it's based off of, even if the marketing has made me a bit wary so far, as well as the third season of WORKING!!
I plan to watch Non Non Biyori Repeat. The first season is one of my favorite slice of life shows and it does not look like the low key, country atmosphere of the show is going to change, so I will probably enjoy season 2 too. I sort of hope that the main cast is in their next year of school, but I would not be too surprised if they decided to keep things as they are given that "Repeat" is in the title.
Durarara!! x2 Ten (I've been enjoying Durarara!! and Durarara!! Shou a great deal so far), probably check out Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou, Code Geass: Boukoku no Akito 4 (if I catch up on the prior parts), Akatauki no Yona (if I catch up on the series proper and enjoy it, which looks up my alley), and Gangsta from a quick skimming. I recognize close to all of them, though I'm only tentatively interested in a select few at the moment. This might change as I find out more information on the lineup.
I wonder if the reason why Madoka and co. are in it is because the company making the game and the company that has the rights to the Madoka series' are owned by the same parent company (Aniplex).
I was wondering what that was.
Someone showed me the link, and I didn't make sense of it other than "this appears to feature MadoMagi characters".
Comments
i dont remember the name
They are actually including the picture dramas and some other special features stuff too (which is way more than what I was expecting when this was first announced a while back). Honestly, I find it kind of unbelievable that this is actually happening given that the show aired some eight years ago. While I do not really have a clue as to why they decided to release Sketchbook on DVD in North America, I am very grateful to Nozomi for doing it.
Is that silly of me? :v
Also you are GMH, and thus, do not care about anything I know about
I'd say Cowboy Bebop is even stronger on those fronts, frankly. I don't want to say whether you'd like it or not, but I would be interested to hear your reactions to it.
I feel like the "shonen" label is sort of helpful when attached to "shonen fighting show" or "shonen adventure show" since it seems like shows with those labels tend to have a lot of the same tropes and such, so the labels mean something pretty concrete. I think you could probably say something similar about "shoujo magical girl shows" too.
Outside of those contexts, it seems to me like the demographic labels are significantly less useful since the fact that a show's manga was published in a "shonen" or "seinen" magazine in Japan does not necessarily say a whole lot about its content or what kind of audience is likely to enjoy it outside of Japan. I think that is especially true for "seinen" slice of life shows like GA Art Design Class and Non Non Biyori, the equivalent of which does not really exist in most places outside of Japan.
(*we talk about other stuff for a bit here*)
Sredni -> Also, regarding Champloo, I think it has a daring and fun aesthetic, but it is really inconsistent in terms of substance and the whole arc of the show is too episodically structured and goofy in tone to provide the final plot with the heft it needed.
me -> you are right, the whole show kinda felt like the early episodes of a show where things are kinda finding their footing before things really take off, but with more cool things happening
sredni -> Yeah, exactly. The thing is, Watanabe had done one great episodic series before, but with Cowboy Bebop everything is essential and feels united in some way - perhaps because the show had Keiko Nobumoto as head of story, and she is... well, something. And there the arc emerges out of the "standalone" episodes as much as the "plot" ones because of how the character relationships are established. But that show was way subtler.
me -> the thing is in champloo it didnt feel like there was a ln arc really. things set in motion, a bunch of shit happened, and then it got wrapped up
Sredni -> True! He made a far better series on that model in Space Dandy, but that show is just nuts and I do not know exactly how he makes it work other than that he makes everything possible and runs with it.
me -> space dandy is the same way but it feels right for that show in a way it doesnt feel right for champloo
Sredni ->It (Champloo) tries to do the Bebop thing but never really achieves plot.
me -> exactly!
Sredni -> Whereas Space Dandy does not try and manages to have stuff progress almost incidentally and, according to every trustworthy source I have, it ends very well.
well to be fair here's what I know or can tell:
N/S axis seems to be about character focus vs. setting focus.
E/W axis seems to be about fantasy vs. reality, and E side's description makes sense to me, but I'm not sure why W side says "classical methods" specifically -- not sure if that's meant to be in contrast to something.
Shows:
* Honey and Clover - heard of
* Kamen Rider - know somewhat
* Vagabond - don't recognize
* Rokudenashi Blues - don't recognize
* Naruto - mainly know
* A Perfect Day for Lovers - don't recognize
* One Piece - know somewhat
* Black Jack - heard of
* Fist of the North Star - heard of
* Sazae-San - heard of
* Touch - don't recognize
* Kochikame - don't recognize
* Golgo 13 - don't recognize
* Joe of Tomorrow - don't recognize
* Doraemon - heard of
* Jojo - heard of
* Yu-Gi-Oh! - know somewhat
* Dragonball - know somewhat
* Mickey Mouse - wait, what?
* Put It All in the Ring - don't recognize
* Death Note - heard of
* Akira - heard of / know somewhat
* Bastard!! - heard of / don't recognize
* Captain Tsubasa - heard of? / don't recognize
* Kamui - either this has to do with the doujin shmup of the same name, or more likely, i don't recognize it
* Cobra - don't recognize
* GeGeGe no Kitaro - don't recognize
* Babel II - don't recognize
* the works of Yukinobu Hoshino - I looked him up and don't recognize any of his works.
...actually, come to think of it, are all these manga? because that might explain why I've never even heard of a number of them.
But yeah, what I was trying to do was, I find these sorts of charts quite interesting, so I was trying to make sense of it, but didn't fully understand the axes. So I tried using the stuff placed in the graph to make sense of it but realized that I didn't recognize most of the series.
I'm especially intrigued by the E/W axis if it represents what I think it does. I have a feeling that it's not quite that simple but I'm not yet sure how to break it down into multiple components. Maybe mechanical focus vs. symbolicness, and then optimism vs. cynicism?
anyway... *saves the image to ask a manga-knowledgeable friend about it*
i'm guessing it's something that's more commonly known by its japanese name?
Rokudenashi Blues is delinquent themed boxing manga about a delinquent who wants to become the world champion in boxing. Haven't read it yet.
Touch is manga about baseball. On my to read list.
Kochikame is apparently a comedy manga, but the only thing I know about it is that it has over 1800 chapters and 195 collected volumes.
Golgo 13 is about an assassin for hire. That's all I know about it.
Joe of Tomorrow is another boxing manga about troubled young man who learns about boxing while in a juvenile prison and then follows his career as a boxer outside of prison.
Put It All in the Ring is another boxing manga.
Captain Tsubasa -soccer manga. Don't know anything about is though
GeGeGe no Kitaro is a manga by Shigeru Mizuki, who has done incredibly of amount of manga, but I mainly know him for his work on horror manga. Kitaro is the main character of the manga who is a yokai who was raised for a time by human parents before his actual father finds and raises him. It follows his misadventures in the human world. I remember it being pretty fun to read.
Can't help you on the others.
stardust crusaders was not as good as battle tendency
Diamond is Unbreakable is more fun, because it's practically slice of life, but with superpower battles here and there.
I wonder if the reason why Madoka and co. are in it is because the company making the game and the company that has the rights to the Madoka series' are owned by the same parent company (Aniplex).
I plan to watch Non Non Biyori Repeat. The first season is one of my favorite slice of life shows and it does not look like the low key, country atmosphere of the show is going to change, so I will probably enjoy season 2 too. I sort of hope that the main cast is in their next year of school, but I would not be too surprised if they decided to keep things as they are given that "Repeat" is in the title.
Someone showed me the link, and I didn't make sense of it other than "this appears to feature MadoMagi characters".