GeekNights 061025 - Pumpkin Scissors

Rym

Tonight on GeekNights, we tell you everything you'll ever need to know about Gonzo's Pumpkin Scissors. In the news, Anime News Network's recent poll lauds Death Note, and Trogdor apparently makes an appearance in Guitar Hero II. We're still compressorless, but not for much longer.

Johannes Uglyfred II

I haven't listened to the episode yet, but all I will say is that boobkini looks really creepy.

Cramit

I watched the video clip and wondered what the point was; but I guess it could be useful in the US to show how pointless indecency laws are.

Corbin

omg where did you find that thundercats blooper hahaha that was awesome i laughed so hard i had to pause the podcast

baltmatrix

The dog in Pumpkin Scissors is teh AWESOME.

Brineshrimp

I love how you guys say cute all the time. I found myself slightly insecure whenever I watched stuff like Love Hina and Peach Girl :-P

Andrew

I have personally seen the "boobkini" being sold in American stores. The store I saw selling them was on the boardwalk at a beach (I forget which beach seeing as how it was a long time ago, 4-5 years).

Mana Wannabe

The Boobkini is just a NuBra, an adhesive strapless bra that is waterproof. The video is just demostrating its waterproofness, it's not really supposed to be worn as a bikini.

Symmetry

Actually, I'd say that GONZO has exactly one series to its name that was awesome from front to back: Last Exile.

But yeah, everything else that I've watched of theirs has started sucking at some point.

Pumpkin Scissors: Yeah, its pretty shallow. I might want more if I want to watch something with the substance of a cream puff.

Kanon: Is actually sort of cool. I try very hard not to think about the fact that it was originally based on a H-game, all the girls are drawn really young. On the other hand, the characters are pretty cute in an "Awww~" sort of way, and there was a successful PG version of the game as well, making me think that there has to have been some substance to it. On the gripping hand, the show is being made by Kyoto animation and I've had a very consistently good experience with their other shows like FMP: Fumoffu, FMP: TSR, and SHnY.

Fullmetal Panic: The first series was indeed quite blah, but the rugby episode in Fumoffu was one of the funniest things I've ever seen, and the rest of it was pretty good too. And The Second Raid was quite good as well. I'd advise people to watch the first series to the end of the kidnapping arc and then just go strait to Fumoffu and TSR.

Mahoromatic: I actually thought this one was much better than any anime about a robotic maid had a right to be. There was certainly quite a bit of fan-service and the teacher was really annoying, but the drama was actually pretty good except for the last episode which sort of retroactively ruined a lot of otherwise cool characters.

Legend of the Overfiend in a Group: My dorm had a tradition of getting a group together to watch hentai every reg day, and I wouldn't want to watch it any other way. I guess there must be some people who find hentai arousing, but I only really enjoy it when in a group making fun of it.

Rym

Actually, I'd say that GONZO has exactly one series to its name that was awesome from front to back: Last Exile.

But yeah, everything else that I've watched of theirs has started sucking at some point.

Last Exile was awesome until the last 7 minutes of the series ^_~

Symmetry

Actually, I loved the last 7 minutes, but only because I figured all the important stuff out in episode 16 - that is: what the nature of the world everyone was living in was, who the guild were, and what they were doing. If you hadn't wasted a lot of your life reading classic SF then I suppose what ended up happening might have been pretty hard to figure out.

I never did figure out why Alvis was the key to everything though. If the creators had foreseen the circumstances of the TV series I'd figure there'd be an easier way to get around them. Oh well. See Wikipedia for a pretty good explanation of everything if you've seen the show and are still confused.

One of the things I like but which can also annoy me about anime and manga is that they can presume a certain amount of literacy about certain ideas on the part of the viewer. There's Last Exile's potentially under-explained ending, there's me not really understanding the Appleseed manga until I read Brave New World, and so on.

Another thing I sometimes like about anime is the way that the creators aren't afraid to leave everything mysterious in the beginning. When you get to the end and find out there was actually a coherent explanation for what had happened it ends up being really rewarding, but if a lot of it still doesn't make sense or the explanation is unsatisfying it can be frustrating. And then there are the shows where all the important bits are actually explained in the manga or game like Higurashi no Nako Koro ni, Narutaru, Utawarerumono, Chrono Crusade, etc.

La Petit Mort

Well the unexplained ending if pulled off right can create a dramatic and unexpected ending with many doors to interpretation. Take two of my favorite titles for example: utena and Lain. You watch utena once, it's a story, but after the "confessions on top off certain high place" scene it changes and if you watch the series again then it's entirely different.

I think Serial experiments: Lain is self explanatory.

Katsu

Ah, Full Metal Panic, one of my favorites series. In Fumoffu, I also found the rugby episode to be great, in my opinion only beaten out by two other episodes in the Fumoffu series; the unaired episode with the gang trying to threaten Sousuke via Chidori, and the episode where Sousuke trains the Yakuza in a Bonta-kun outfit.

baltmatrix

You know i just realized something. The last words in the opening song for Pumpkin Scissors are "I will protect you." Now in anime, most times when on character says that to another one that is a cue to the audience that the second character is going to die horribly. So by this logic then EVERYONE in Pumpkin Scissors will die. YAY!

Symmetry

Wired: I haven't seen Utena, but after Lain I had the impression that all the pieces generally fell into place and the whole thing started making sense, which is to my mind the ending explaining everything. If they had reached the end of Lain and we still didn't have a clue as to how Yomoda Chisa was emailing people despite being, you know, dead it would have been very unsatisfying.

La Petit Mort

Well, how can you explain the "waiting on bridge 5 years later as a little child" scene in the end.

Rym

My problem with the end of Last Exile had more to do with the fact that they rushed it, and for no good reason un-killed a character. For such a wonderful show, it had a very lack luster ending. I still loved Last Exile, but only for the journey. The destination came up a bit short.

Symmetry

Wired: I actually don't remember Lain all that well. They might very well have introduced stuff at the end and not explained it, I just have the impression that they managed to explain all the mysteries they used to hook me in. The explanation wasn't all that satisfying, but it wasn't horrible either. Mostly I just enjoyed the show for all the MIT references.

Rym: Yeah, it was a bit rushed but I don't think there was anything wrong with that character still being alive. I wouldn't have been surprised if someone had survived an identical circumstance in real life even if common anime tropes seem to dictate that people in such circumstances die..

nlatimer

As to cute, intended to sell merchandise endings, how could you guys forget Excel Saga.

Even I bought a Menchi plush when it went on sale.