I was really liking the beginning of Attack on Titan, but these last three episodes have really done nothing for me (episode 9 being the worst culprit so far). I'm going to give it a few more weeks to re-impress me before I lose faith in it completely.
Hmm, episodes 7 and 8 did a lot for me and might be my favorite two episodes of the season from any show. Lots of interesting commentary about suicide and giving up in 7 and I found the ending of 8 very effective and have watched it several times now. For me, this episode was just a bump in the road due to a couple of poor narrative decisions. The time still flew by. The show is definitely taking a different direction than it looked like it might have around episodes 5-6, though.
And this is why I never watch anime as it's airing.
By that logic, you should never watch any show as it's airing. That's a valid approach, but in general, I try to watch anything I like that has a significant internet following in real time, because the conversations and fan activity around the show often provide more than half of the entertainment value these days. I'm actually more likely to watch anime in real time than western shows because the fanbase is so internet-oriented and the commitment is so much shorter compared to something like Game of Thrones; even if some series fizzle, like Maou-Sama is threatening to do, I don't feel like I wasted much time.
And this is why I never watch anime as it's airing.
I do it, but very rarely.
Same here. I started watching Attack the Titan, because it seemed to be the most talked anime of now and the pictures I saw of it intrigued me.
I'm definitely going to watch it when it's done, assuming I don't read the manga first.
And this is why I never watch anime as it's airing.
By that logic, you should never watch any show as it's airing. In general, I try to watch anything I like that has a significant internet following in real time, because the conversations and fan activity around the show often provide more than half of the entertainment value.
That's not true. There are some things that are not serial, or are not very serial. It's perfectly safe to watch MLP, Adventure Time, etc. while it's airing. If it goes downhill you just stop. If a serial sucks halfway through, you wasted your time on the earlier part.
Since I feel like using the roller coaster example again, If the first half of the roller coaster is super awesome, the unfinished other half is a let down as you go flying off it to your death but at least you got that super awesome beginning experience..............Maybe this analogy is not working so well.
Since I feel like using the roller coaster example again, If the first half of the roller coaster is super awesome, the unfinished other half is a let down as you go flying off it to your death but at least you got that super awesome beginning experience..............Maybe this analogy is not working so well.
Imagine going up a tall roller-coaster. Then at the top instead of a thrilling downhill it's just flat and slow. Then you get off the coaster and use a slow elevator to go back down to the ground. The elevator isn't even glass. In the end you wish you wouldn't have even gotten on the ride in the first place. Even though the first half was the same as it is on a high quality coaster, it's shit if it doesn't finish the job.
Since I feel like using the roller coaster example again, If the first half of the roller coaster is super awesome, the unfinished other half is a let down as you go flying off it to your death but at least you got that super awesome beginning experience..............Maybe this analogy is not working so well.
Imagine going up a tall roller-coaster. Then at the top instead of a thrilling downhill it's just flat and slow. Then you get off the coaster and use a slow elevator to go back down to the ground. The elevator isn't even glass. In the end you wish you wouldn't have even gotten on the ride in the first place. Even though the first half was the same as it is on a high quality coaster, it's shit if it doesn't finish the job.
I was really liking the beginning of Attack on Titan, but these last three episodes have really done nothing for me (episode 9 being the worst culprit so far). I'm going to give it a few more weeks to re-impress me before I lose faith in it completely.
Hmm, episodes 7 and 8 did a lot for me and might be my favorite two episodes of the season from any show. Lots of interesting commentary about suicide and giving up in 7 and I found the ending of 8 very effective and have watched it several times now. For me, this episode was just a bump in the road due to a couple of poor narrative decisions. The time still flew by. The show is definitely taking a different direction than it looked like it might have around episodes 5-6, though.
I don't know, man. I can understand why people would like these most recent episodes, but they just felt like drag-central to me. Especially episode 9.
That's not true. There are some things that are not serial, or are not very serial. It's perfectly safe to watch MLP, Adventure Time, etc. while it's airing. If it goes downhill you just stop. If a serial sucks halfway through, you wasted your time on the earlier part.
See, with episodic shows like AT (or Bob's Burgers) that are kind of uneven, don't really try to hit emotionally, and don't generate a lot of grist for weekly discussion, I'm actually more likely to watch after the season and pick out recommended episodes. (MLP is kind of a weird hybrid in a lot of different domains, so I'd rather not get sidetracked discussing it.)
With serialized stuff, I guess my attitude is that if I was getting something out of it, then it was worth starting. Honestly, I feel like I sometimes get as much juice out of discussing why something has derailed and what should have been done differently as I would have from a good but unexceptional conclusion. I don't feel any more frustrated that an author blew a story than I did when, say, I realized The Simpsons had gone off the rails for good. Maybe I'm just weird; I probably finish less than 20% of the books I start and find it genuinely remarkable when I give a shit about any of the characters.
Anyway, I can't help but notice many of you guys are watching Game of Thrones even though it's unfinished. From everything GRRM is saying, I think there's a good chance a lot of people are going to be frustrated with the conclusion... and that's assuming his age and/or weight don't catch up with him before he finishes the last two books.
Well not saying this applies to Attack on Titan, but so far I have watched the first 5 eps. If I stop there any not watch anymore. I would say the show was super awesome. If lets say in 5 eps, it gets crappy and I watch those. I'll still have had a really awesome experience with the first part of the story. I mean the crazy stuff that happens in eps 5, is not like going up the coaster. It was more like doing the first drop and being unsure if the rest of the roller coaster is any good but really liking that first part so far.
Exactly, I think you have it right. Scott's analogy is of a ride that has tremendous buildup and no payoff. Your analogy, the one that fits this show better, is a coaster that has already had several hills and loops (buildups and payoffs) already. So even if there are no more payoffs after that point (which I doubt, but go with it), you did still come out having had at least some payoff before you got off the ride.
I've actually been getting sick of the manga at late. It's descended into landscape shots and chase shots of the Yellow RX-7 VS I think an NSX, interspersed with about a paragraph of text that sounds like it's straight from "zen and the art of really slowly telling a story about illegal touge racing." It's straight up filler.
They're on the race after that now; That race was the last one shown in the anime and did drag there as well, although it was helped a bit by Eurobeat.
They're on the race after that now; That race was the last one shown in the anime and did drag there as well, although it was helped a bit by Eurobeat.
When I say descended, I mean "Has been essentially nothing but since October last year." It doesn't just drag, it's fucking tedious. If this is the way Initial D is going, I'm fucking glad they're putting an end on it before too long.
On the "not currently airing" side, I'm watching "Brother, Dear Brother" (or "Dear Brother" as Viki calls it) and "Rose Of Versailles" Both were adapted from Riyoko Ikeda manga and both were directed by Osamu Dezaki, so I feel it's a good double-introduction to a pair of prolific auteurs. On the airing side, "Hunter X Hunter" Remains a comfortable choice, having raised its stakes significantly in recent episodes. One could readily contend the best of the Spring season as being "Attack On Titan" for its invigorating stimulus and familiar, yet innovated, villain, but one could also contend "Gargantia On The Verdurous Planet" for its smooth pace and character development. Admittedly I've also been keeping with several less-than-stellar series (Red Data Girl, Date A Live, Karneval) if only for the sake of polishing my analytical skills.
Okay. I can't really deny this anymore. The newest season of Scientific Railgun is actually good and completely worth watching, so far. It hits all the right story and character beats, and the animation is really solid. It might go off the rails once this current arc finishes inside the next few episodes, but until that point it's worth spending a lazy afternoon on.
Okay. I can't really deny this anymore. The newest season of Scientific Railgun is actually good and completely worth watching, so far. It hits all the right story and character beats, and the animation is really solid. It might go off the rails once this current arc finishes inside the next few episodes, but until that point it's worth spending a lazy afternoon on.
I love the way the Index author writes powers, but other than that the story is frequently super generic. Although the later books at least leads to plots that are somewhat more complex, that is also as much because he just obscures character motivations and intentions.
Also in the later books he introduces a character who's pretty redundant and annoying, and it's a bit irritating.
I love the way the Index author writes powers, but other than that the story is frequently super generic. Although the later books at least leads to plots that are somewhat more complex, that is also as much because he just obscures character motivations and intentions.
Also in the later books he introduces a character who's pretty redundant and annoying, and it's a bit irritating.
I suppose it doesn't surprise me. As long as there's a market for easy entertainment, Raildex won't have much of a problem sustaining itself. Sword Art Online is another good example of what can happen when that market is tapped effectively. I don't mean to sound insulting; light novels are intended to be easy entertainment, are they not? Thus the name 'light' novel.
I just watched Penguin's Memory - Shiawase Monogateri ("Happy Story," according to Google Translate). This is the movie where the Suntory beer penguins go to war (a war which looks a lot like Vietnam), and then live with the emotional aftermath.
To the best of my knowledge, there's no translation of this film available, so I watched it in Japanese, which I don't understand. Even that was kinda hard to find, mostly because I didn't have the name at first, just a memory of Mike Toole showing a clip in Anime Hell a couple years ago.
This article has a summary of the plot, which contains a ton of spoilers, as well as a comment which mentions that you can find the whole thing on Veoh (which is where I got it yesterday).
Something I noticed: Towards the end of the film, when Mike's girlfriend has received a letter from him, the letter is written in English although it's spoken in his Japanese voice. I wonder if he's supposed to be gaijin? He clearly was welcomed *home* after the war. So I'm not sure what signal is sent by the letter having been written in English.
I'll also note that the Japanese (presumably original) dub was badly done in at least one aspect: There was no lip-sync at all (beak-sync?).
I did not go into this movie expecting feels; I expected so-bad-its-good 1980s kitch, probably because of the Anime Hell context for my introduction to the film. But actually I found it quite moving. There's something about cute chubby cuddly penguins in battle, getting shot and dying, and suffering other effects of war that just hit a different spot in the psyche than any other war film I'd seen.
If you don't understand spoken Japanese, you could probably just watch the first 30 minutes, then the last 30 minutes, and get most of the gist of it (at least, most of whatever-fraction of the gist you'd get by watching the whole thing). I could follow the basic curves of the plot through the middle part, but it was very talky so I figure I missed a ton of detail.
This film will never be commercially released of course. But I wish there were at least a fansub. It's worth watching IMHO.
I, too, just watched Penguin's Memory - Shiawase Monogateri and I have to say it's very good even if (like me) you don't speak a word of Japanese. The combination of the brutal depiction of combat and the vet's PTSD and the cute penguins is jarring in a really effective way. Maybe it's easier to identify with the penguins because they are so cute (and sometimes indistinguishable). It's a must watch for me.
Comments
With serialized stuff, I guess my attitude is that if I was getting something out of it, then it was worth starting. Honestly, I feel like I sometimes get as much juice out of discussing why something has derailed and what should have been done differently as I would have from a good but unexceptional conclusion. I don't feel any more frustrated that an author blew a story than I did when, say, I realized The Simpsons had gone off the rails for good. Maybe I'm just weird; I probably finish less than 20% of the books I start and find it genuinely remarkable when I give a shit about any of the characters.
Anyway, I can't help but notice many of you guys are watching Game of Thrones even though it's unfinished. From everything GRRM is saying, I think there's a good chance a lot of people are going to be frustrated with the conclusion... and that's assuming his age and/or weight don't catch up with him before he finishes the last two books.
Also in the later books he introduces a character who's pretty redundant and annoying, and it's a bit irritating.
To the best of my knowledge, there's no translation of this film available, so I watched it in Japanese, which I don't understand. Even that was kinda hard to find, mostly because I didn't have the name at first, just a memory of Mike Toole showing a clip in Anime Hell a couple years ago.
This article has a summary of the plot, which contains a ton of spoilers, as well as a comment which mentions that you can find the whole thing on Veoh (which is where I got it yesterday).
Something I noticed: Towards the end of the film, when Mike's girlfriend has received a letter from him, the letter is written in English although it's spoken in his Japanese voice. I wonder if he's supposed to be gaijin? He clearly was welcomed *home* after the war. So I'm not sure what signal is sent by the letter having been written in English.
I'll also note that the Japanese (presumably original) dub was badly done in at least one aspect: There was no lip-sync at all (beak-sync?).
I did not go into this movie expecting feels; I expected so-bad-its-good 1980s kitch, probably because of the Anime Hell context for my introduction to the film. But actually I found it quite moving. There's something about cute chubby cuddly penguins in battle, getting shot and dying, and suffering other effects of war that just hit a different spot in the psyche than any other war film I'd seen.
If you don't understand spoken Japanese, you could probably just watch the first 30 minutes, then the last 30 minutes, and get most of the gist of it (at least, most of whatever-fraction of the gist you'd get by watching the whole thing). I could follow the basic curves of the plot through the middle part, but it was very talky so I figure I missed a ton of detail.
This film will never be commercially released of course. But I wish there were at least a fansub. It's worth watching IMHO.