After checking out the first two episodes, I felt like everything pushed the right buttons for me with Titans as well, but the one majorly grating thing is the main character. Granted, he has a lot to be upset about in this kind of scenario, but man, his level of brashness and constant shouting just gets on my nerves. It smacks of "PEOPLE SHOUTING IS DRAMA RIGHT???" style writing.
Looks like he's going to do some growing up very soon, though, so here's hoping that improves soon. The action choreography, world building, monster designs, and animation style are all right up my alley, so I'd really like to continue with this.
Also looked at the first episode of Gargantia. Preeetttyyyyy.
Heh, people used to say the same thing about Shinji from evangelion though he was more about being apathetic and paralzyed by clinical depression. I quite disagree with the assessment of "people shouting is drama" point your posited. He's a kid. Angry and scared kids tend to shout quite a bit.
Fair enough, and like I said, the situation is extreme enough to warrant a lot of shouting. I'm probably just looking at it in the context of other anime too much. In general, there are a lot of series where the "people shouting is drama" crutch is used to excess, especially ones that have not-very-well-written male heroes. I might just be projecting my annoyance from those shows onto Titans.
I would hope that's the case; we'll see if the writing holds up well enough over the course of the show. The writing and themes of Evangelion justify making Shinji act a certain way from a storytelling perspective. For another example, the writing and themes in, say, Scott Pilgrim justify making that character an unlikable douche a lot of the time. But I haven't seen enough of Titans yet to tell if the writing will be consistently good enough to justify certain character choices yet, hence I am left with more annoyance than writing-appreciating at the moment. As context grows, that will change (hopefully for the better).
First, I saw the first ep of Attack on Titan, and that's definitely strong enough for me to want more.
I also finally saw my first ep of A Certain Magical Index, because I heard a podcast review it. It's so true that it seems like they were pushing a Railgun spin-off from the start!
And all this talk about the new anime season (in the wrong thread dohohoho) makes me realize that I haven't bothered to check out anything yet because meh. Too busy playing games.
I made a huge mistake and bought the Penguindrum blu-rays not knowing that I was stuck with a bad product. The show itself is fucking amazing and reminds me of why Utena was goddamn amazing.
However, Sentai Filmworks fucked the pooch on this release royally. It is dubtitled and dubbed by the worst ADR Director in the world: Steven Foster. He inserted his stupid internet jokes (e.g. "Panties for the win!"), odd translation choices, rewrote the characters, and more.
Now I am in the process of selling the Blu-Rays back because I don't want Foster's translation, I want a real translation. Much as I really don't want to, I now have to steal it.
I made a huge mistake and bought the Penguindrum blu-rays not knowing that I was stuck with a bad product. The show itself is fucking amazing and reminds me of why Utena was goddamn amazing.
However, Sentai Filmworks fucked the pooch on this release royally. It is dubtitled and dubbed by the worst ADR Director in the world: Steven Foster. He inserted his stupid internet jokes, odd translation choices, rewrote the characters, and more.
Now I am in the process of selling the Blu-Rays back because I don't want Foster's translation, I want a real translation. Much as I really don't want to, I now have to steal it.
I made a huge mistake and bought the Penguindrum blu-rays not knowing that I was stuck with a bad product. The show itself is fucking amazing and reminds me of why Utena was goddamn amazing.
However, Sentai Filmworks fucked the pooch on this release royally. It is dubtitled and dubbed by the worst ADR Director in the world: Steven Foster. He inserted his stupid internet jokes, odd translation choices, rewrote the characters, and more.
Now I am in the process of selling the Blu-Rays back because I don't want Foster's translation, I want a real translation. Much as I really don't want to, I now have to steal it.
Why are you watching a dub in the first place?
I was listening with the Japanese track, but the only subtitles available are for the dub (hence the term dubtitle).
I made a huge mistake and bought the Penguindrum blu-rays not knowing that I was stuck with a bad product. The show itself is fucking amazing and reminds me of why Utena was goddamn amazing.
However, Sentai Filmworks fucked the pooch on this release royally. It is dubtitled and dubbed by the worst ADR Director in the world: Steven Foster. He inserted his stupid internet jokes, odd translation choices, rewrote the characters, and more.
Now I am in the process of selling the Blu-Rays back because I don't want Foster's translation, I want a real translation. Much as I really don't want to, I now have to steal it.
Why are you watching a dub in the first place?
I was listening with the Japanese track, but the only subtitles available are for the dub (hence the term dubtitle).
Having also started watching the same Blu-rays, I am not bothered at all by the subtitling. Is it a bit off in some places and obnoxious in others? Yeah, but not to the degree you're making it out to be. Having watched the first four episodes both on this Blu-ray and fansubbed, I have to say I didn't notice an appreciable difference in characterization or intent. It's only off in very small ways when it's off, and overall I find the subs very readable and enjoyable, so I think that's probably a small trade-off to make. I'd much rather smoothly readable subs than the stiffer but more accurate fansubs I saw before. Otaking style translation all the way.
Besides, I'm told by way of ANNCast that the translation gets better on the second disc anyway, to the point where Stephen Foster stops inserting obnoxious things altogether. So that's something to look forward to if it does bother you. The end of the show won't be ruined.
Stephen Foster stops inserting obnoxious things altogether.
Should I read this as an excuse for any obnoxious things inserted altogether? "Oh, it's only at the start" is on par with "it gets better later".
Gaogaigar?
What about it? It's not obnoxious and doesn't start out like shit. The "it gets better later" excuse is used to excuse a shitty start, are you seriously saying that Gaogaigar starts out like shit? Don't be fucking stupid man.
Stephen Foster stops inserting obnoxious things altogether.
Should I read this as an excuse for any obnoxious things inserted altogether? "Oh, it's only at the start" is on par with "it gets better later".
Gaogaigar?
What about it? It's not obnoxious and doesn't start out like shit. The "it gets better later" excuse is used to excuse a shitty start, are you seriously saying that Gaogaigar starts out like shit? Don't be fucking stupid man.
I'm not saying it is shit, I'm saying it isn't as epic as it is when it gets to the later point. The early part of the show is the weakest part of an otherwise incredibly strong show.
I should clarify further: what obnoxious things there were were not obnoxious on a level I would consider noteworthy personally. I wasn't even really that bothered by the "panties for the win" line that Geo and a couple ANNcast types have remarked on. So this may be a Your Mileage May Vary thing. If that phrase really bothers you, you will probably find more of the script obnoxious. If it's just something you kind of shrug and go "eh" at, then the script probably won't bother you much, if at all, and it will probably continue to get better from there.
For some reason I'm following this season much more closely than the last two. I have to add to the chorus saying Gargantia has been great so far. I've watched the first two episodes as soon as they've gone up, which is a very rare thing for me. Really hope this series delivers on its promise. I also want to recommend the young animator project one-off Little Witch Academia, which is available free on Youtube. It's a fun, charming half hour of high fantasy Harry Potter-esque shenanigans.
As for the other shows, Flowers of Evil is very interesting, although downer shows generally aren't my cup of tea and I've had a hard time relating to any of the characters. It's still a much needed change of pace in the anime world. I'm also kinda waiting to see how reviews pan out for Attack on Titan (thin characters?) and The Devil is a Part-Timer (is the premise enough to support a full season?) before I spring for a *second* subscription so I can watch them legally.
I am still watching Saint Seiya Omega. I am very please of what I have seen so far and I am glad the anime is moving towards a more classic Saint Seiya focus.
Er, by the way, I screwed up the info slightly on Little Witch Academia. Although it was produced as part of the Young Animator project with government money, it actually has Trigger Studio behind it. Trigger is a relatively new Gainax breakoff headed by two of the guys who did FLCL, Gurren Lagann, and Panty and Stocking. So far they seem to be cash-poor, to judge from the production values in Inferno Cop, but if they can get enough interest they want to make LWA into a series, probably roughly FLCL-length.
The production values in Inferno Cop are intentional, don't you think?
I think they were going for a low-rent feel, yes, but I don't think they would have had the budget to do a much more polished production if they had wanted to. They've been around as a studio for ~18 months now and they're just doing their first full-length series this fall.
So I saw that Attack on Titan thingamabob that has been getting a lot of buzz lately. I must say I am very impressed. I'm really digging the concept of the the show and I think the characters are well-written to begin with. One thing that really stands out for me is the art style. It has a very interesting and dynamic manga stylization that makes the characters and the environment interesting to look at. Also the first episode gives off the hint of "Shit is gonna get crazy son" strongly.
All I can say is that I'll be watching it as it comes out. It'll hold me over as I'm foaming at the bit for the new Sailor Moon and Gatchaman show.
Comments
Looks like he's going to do some growing up very soon, though, so here's hoping that improves soon. The action choreography, world building, monster designs, and animation style are all right up my alley, so I'd really like to continue with this.
Also looked at the first episode of Gargantia. Preeetttyyyyy.
I would hope that's the case; we'll see if the writing holds up well enough over the course of the show. The writing and themes of Evangelion justify making Shinji act a certain way from a storytelling perspective. For another example, the writing and themes in, say, Scott Pilgrim justify making that character an unlikable douche a lot of the time. But I haven't seen enough of Titans yet to tell if the writing will be consistently good enough to justify certain character choices yet, hence I am left with more annoyance than writing-appreciating at the moment. As context grows, that will change (hopefully for the better).
I also finally saw my first ep of A Certain Magical Index, because I heard a podcast review it. It's so true that it seems like they were pushing a Railgun spin-off from the start!
And all this talk about the new anime season (in the wrong thread dohohoho) makes me realize that I haven't bothered to check out anything yet because meh. Too busy playing games.
However, Sentai Filmworks fucked the pooch on this release royally. It is dubtitled and dubbed by the worst ADR Director in the world: Steven Foster. He inserted his stupid internet jokes (e.g. "Panties for the win!"), odd translation choices, rewrote the characters, and more.
Now I am in the process of selling the Blu-Rays back because I don't want Foster's translation, I want a real translation. Much as I really don't want to, I now have to steal it.
Besides, I'm told by way of ANNCast that the translation gets better on the second disc anyway, to the point where Stephen Foster stops inserting obnoxious things altogether. So that's something to look forward to if it does bother you. The end of the show won't be ruined.
As for the other shows, Flowers of Evil is very interesting, although downer shows generally aren't my cup of tea and I've had a hard time relating to any of the characters. It's still a much needed change of pace in the anime world. I'm also kinda waiting to see how reviews pan out for Attack on Titan (thin characters?) and The Devil is a Part-Timer (is the premise enough to support a full season?) before I spring for a *second* subscription so I can watch them legally.
I am very please of what I have seen so far and I am glad the anime is moving towards a more classic Saint Seiya focus.
By pure coincidence, I watched the trailer for Little Witch, not 5 minutes ago. Looks alright. I hope it'll do well.
All I can say is that I'll be watching it as it comes out. It'll hold me over as I'm foaming at the bit for the new Sailor Moon and Gatchaman show.