As someone who knows a bunch of people with anxiety disorders, it's understandable, but at the same time it can be incredibly taxing. You never know when they'll be on or off or what's going to be serious because they've made some really grand or harmful statement for the 4th time in a month. Even if I can see Tomoko as sympathetic, it comes with that question of if she will improve, which I really don't know.
The problem with Watamote, it just doesn't reach high enough. Looking on it, I will give credit that it has really good production values because they get so elaborate with playing off the fantasy or fears in her head. But this concept or gag can only work so many times before it starts to bug me.
I would still stick with a comedy like Wilfred or Louie if I want to see the struggles of depression or anxiety in someone's life. And those shows have far more character and depth to attach onto than something like this anime.
I don't think the producers could have won on that point. They have her get entirely better by the end of the series, and it's trite. She stays about the same throughout, and it's just mocking. There's going to be critics either way.
I don't think Watamote is anywhere near slapstick. It's not preachy or pandering or really much of anything except slice-of-life where the character of focus just happens to have crippling anxiety. What I think some people may be interpreting as "punchlines" are in my opinion just a pretty good externalized representation of Tomoko's own self-deprecation.
It just is what it is. I think it's become fashionable to write these angry critiques with good intentions, but in my opinion it's ramped up navel gazing more than half the time.
The second episode of Ghost in the Shell: Arise is out now. I don't think I need to say much more than this: It's even more Ghost in the Shell, with Stand Alone Complex plots delivered with modern anime-movie quality.
Also, for the waiters, each episode is more or less stand-alone, so it's not like you'll get a four-month cliffhanger if you watch it now.
I just finished Bokurano. I think Madoka has totally eclipsed it. Not a knock on Bokurano, I just can't think of a reason to recommend it to anyone over Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
Toriko is an absurd anime set in the gourmet age where the manliest men seek out dangerous animals and rare ingredients to create new culinary delights. It's like Iron Chef and Dragonball had a baby. I can't say it's very good, but watching a few random episodes is worth it for some chuckles.
For a fighting anime (and a pretty cheesy one with the requisite on-the-fly made-up techniques and surprise special abilities saving the day), Accel World is actually fairly deep and compelling enough to keep me watching.
Where by "deep", I suppose I mean bowl of pudding instead of saucer of milk, but still pleasantly surprising.
Watched all of Silver Spoon yesterday and the show was really good.# Watching WataMote now and jesus christ that show is depressing. Next up after that is Shinsekai Yori (finally getting around to it), Samurai Flamenco, Skullman and Akagi. Also watching Hajime no Ippo: Rising and Kill La Kill as they come out.
Also, has anybody seen Gingitsune? Is that show any good?
Maybe "depressing" isn't entirely the right word. Perhaps "horrifying" is more the word I'm searching for. Or perhaps somewhere in between. Essentially the show is about a girl that has succeeded in social suicide, either by herself or through a mental disorder (more likely the later) and has mutilated both her social circle and her communication skills into oblivion, basically condemning herself into a life of misery. The sheer possibility of this happening to anybody is horrifying to me, and this is something that may very well be happening when considering the number of hikikomori in japan. And I've already seen Welcome to the NHK.
So I've been watching Samurai Flamenco, which is actually a pretty good show. However, something about one of the characters has been bothering me.
This is Joji Kaname. He is somewhat of a gag character. The archetypical "manly man". Brash, large ham, testosterone poisoning. The whole works. His character design kind of reminded me of something, but I couldn't lay my finger on it. But then it hit me:
This is a screenshot from Pani Poni Dash, a comedy that was animated in 2005 by SHAFT. The joke here is that Mesousa, basically Marvin the Paranoid Android as a mascot bunny rabbit character, was replaced by a doppelganger who is also this "manly man" archetype character. The visual cues definitely give it away. However, I am sure that this is some sort of reference to an even older character archetype, but I'm just not sure where it originated from. Anybody got a clue? I think it's Go Nagai, but maybe that's just the sideburns. Then again I can't really call myself very versed in old Robot shows.
I watched WataMote, mostly because I found the conflicting viewpoints on it intriguing. Right now the source of those conflicting viewpoints is still the most interesting aspect of the show to me; I'd like to see that pinned down.
On the whole, I think it's quite clear that that Tomoko has a mental disorder, and it's also clear that she needs help with that disorder.
In my view, the core of the show is tragic - Tomoko endures her state of affairs and struggles to improve, but fails to do so because she does not comprehend the nature of her problem, as do those around her. That said, Tomoko does appear to make at least some progress through the course of the show, and so the show as a whole is not itself a tragedy.
In any case, I think there is a strong argument to be made that, at the very least, the show doesn't do a good enough job of communicating subtext beyond the gag manga elements. Moreover, absent an underlying message or character development, Churba's criticisms hold true.
My concern is that people (myself included) may be reading more into the show than is actually there, and, correspondingly, there isn't enough there to begin with.
Finished Shin Sekai Yori yesterday. The Series is very good. Definitely one of the best of 2013.
Also watched Arrietty. The film was nice and beautiful, but it had some plot holes, the resolution didn't make much sense in context of what was shown before, and the housekeeper practically gets no comeuppance despite being the "villain" (though the motivation for her acting so villainous is also practically none-existent). The worst though is that we never learn what happened with the boy and his heart surgery.
Also watched Arrietty. The film was nice and beautiful, but it had some plot holes, the resolution didn't make much sense in context of what was shown before, and the housekeeper practically gets no comeuppance despite being the "villain" (though the motivation for her acting so villainous is also practically none-existent). The worst though is that we never learn what happened with the boy and his heart surgery.
I too that film as, "boy this is a pretty film" rather than there being much going on plot wise.
On the whole, I'm not that interested in the dub - I pretty much always watch anime with subtitles. The stream quality seems to fall a little short, but I guess it's good enough for a stream.
It's cool that Madman is offering streams of both the sub and the dub. Isn't the dub airing on Adult Swim slightly before the Japanese broadcast, though?
I don't think so. I only remember that the Toonami airing schedule was announced before the airing dates for Japan, but I'm not sure that it would air before Japan except on a technicality with the international date line - It's a simulcast, but due to the time difference the US schedule has it occurring on the calendar day before, even though it's really simultaneous.
If the voice actors are good, I'll generally pick the dub over the sub(For example, I prefer the dub of Cowboy Bebop, because the Voice work is excellent, ditto that for GITS), but I really don't have much of a preference, for the limited amount of anime I watch, I'll watch either. Though I hear Space Dandy's dub changes an important point, though I don't know what point that is. If it's really that important when it does come up, I'll go back and watch the sub.
Also, even if you don't watch the whole thing, R Bruce Elliott is pretty fuckin' funny as the narrator.
In shows where the English dub has really good voice acting, the original tends to also have very good voice acting (usually better).
I'm not going to say the original Japanese is always better simply because it's the original, because that just isn't true, but I find it rather difficult to name an anime for which the English voice acting was actually better than the Japanese.
That said, for Space Dandy you do have a point about the narration in particular; it's probably better in the English than the Japanese.
Isn't the dub airing on Adult Swim slightly before the Japanese broadcast, though?
I don't think so. I only remember that the Toonami airing schedule was announced before the airing dates for Japan, but I'm not sure that it would air before Japan except on a technicality with the international date line - It's a simulcast, but due to the time difference the US schedule has it occurring on the calendar day before, even though it's really simultaneous.Apparently not, based on the Wikipedia page for Space Dandy -
The series premiered in the United States before Japan on January 4, 2014 at 11:30pm on Adult Swim's Toonami block. The series began airing in Japan on Tokyo MX at 11:00pm on January 5, 2014, followed by TV Osaka, TV Aichi and BS Fuji.
That would mean that it first aired in the U.S. 9.5 hours earlier than in Japan.
It still comes down to timezones - having an appropriate timeslot like 11pm is more important than simulcasting, but it could equally have aired in the U.S. at 11:30pm on January 5th rather than the 4th, so it's a fact worthy of some slight notice.
Well, fair enough. I didn't bother to work out the time zones properly, so I should have put a "probably" in there somewhere. A little surprised they gave it to the US first, but really only the tiniest amount of surprise possible, because America.
I suppose I should just be thankful that it's not Geoblocked to US only, I guess. Now that's something that wouldn't even elicit one iota of surprise.
Edit - I am definitely getting it in HD though - But it seems to vary. I had a few spots when something downloading something in the background, and it dropped out of HD.
Yeah, I think I had a similar effect too; the quality got better after I stopped some downloads. That said, even after that, some noticeable aliasing and compression artifacts do show up. I'm not sure if it's due to the algorithms or the bitrate, but I do think that my bandwidth is good enough that I ought to be able to get better quality.
Lucky bastards. Over here we have to either pay Funimation to get HD, or suffer through Hulu's ads.
EDIT: I stand corrected, Hulu's "high quality" is still not HD.
You know, it's really wierd - Crunchyroll has straight up 1080P streams, and they're meant to be for paying members only. But for some reason, I can access them at completely randomly - sometimes, it'll just say fuck it and let me see shit in 1080P, other times it refuses.
Comments
The problem with Watamote, it just doesn't reach high enough. Looking on it, I will give credit that it has really good production values because they get so elaborate with playing off the fantasy or fears in her head. But this concept or gag can only work so many times before it starts to bug me.
I would still stick with a comedy like Wilfred or Louie if I want to see the struggles of depression or anxiety in someone's life. And those shows have far more character and depth to attach onto than something like this anime.
I don't think Watamote is anywhere near slapstick. It's not preachy or pandering or really much of anything except slice-of-life where the character of focus just happens to have crippling anxiety. What I think some people may be interpreting as "punchlines" are in my opinion just a pretty good externalized representation of Tomoko's own self-deprecation.
It just is what it is. I think it's become fashionable to write these angry critiques with good intentions, but in my opinion it's ramped up navel gazing more than half the time.
Also, for the waiters, each episode is more or less stand-alone, so it's not like you'll get a four-month cliffhanger if you watch it now.
It's like Iron Chef and Dragonball had a baby. I can't say it's very good, but watching a few random episodes is worth it for some chuckles.
Where by "deep", I suppose I mean bowl of pudding instead of saucer of milk, but still pleasantly surprising.
Watching WataMote now and jesus christ that show is depressing.
Next up after that is Shinsekai Yori (finally getting around to it), Samurai Flamenco, Skullman and Akagi.
Also watching Hajime no Ippo: Rising and Kill La Kill as they come out.
Also, has anybody seen Gingitsune? Is that show any good?
This is Joji Kaname. He is somewhat of a gag character. The archetypical "manly man". Brash, large ham, testosterone poisoning. The whole works. His character design kind of reminded me of something, but I couldn't lay my finger on it. But then it hit me:
This is a screenshot from Pani Poni Dash, a comedy that was animated in 2005 by SHAFT. The joke here is that Mesousa, basically Marvin the Paranoid Android as a mascot bunny rabbit character, was replaced by a doppelganger who is also this "manly man" archetype character. The visual cues definitely give it away. However, I am sure that this is some sort of reference to an even older character archetype, but I'm just not sure where it originated from. Anybody got a clue? I think it's Go Nagai, but maybe that's just the sideburns. Then again I can't really call myself very versed in old Robot shows.
On the whole, I think it's quite clear that that Tomoko has a mental disorder, and it's also clear that she needs help with that disorder.
In my view, the core of the show is tragic - Tomoko endures her state of affairs and struggles to improve, but fails to do so because she does not comprehend the nature of her problem, as do those around her. That said, Tomoko does appear to make at least some progress through the course of the show, and so the show as a whole is not itself a tragedy.
In any case, I think there is a strong argument to be made that, at the very least, the show doesn't do a good enough job of communicating subtext beyond the gag manga elements. Moreover, absent an underlying message or character development, Churba's criticisms hold true.
My concern is that people (myself included) may be reading more into the show than is actually there, and, correspondingly, there isn't enough there to begin with.
My brother showed up with a bunch of his friends during the scene in the first episode where he shoots the thugs. They were hooked.
Also watched Arrietty. The film was nice and beautiful, but it had some plot holes, the resolution didn't make much sense in context of what was shown before, and the housekeeper practically gets no comeuppance despite being the "villain" (though the motivation for her acting so villainous is also practically none-existent). The worst though is that we never learn what happened with the boy and his heart surgery.
YEAH THAT'S HOW THAT FEELS YOU FUCKERS.
http://www.funimation.com/shows/space-dandy/videos/official/live-with-the-flow-baby/anime
and those who have Adult Swim via a cable subscription can (I think) watch the dub here:
http://video.adultswim.com/space-dandy/live-with-the-flow-baby.html
On the whole, I'm not that interested in the dub - I pretty much always watch anime with subtitles. The stream quality seems to fall a little short, but I guess it's good enough for a stream.
If the voice actors are good, I'll generally pick the dub over the sub(For example, I prefer the dub of Cowboy Bebop, because the Voice work is excellent, ditto that for GITS), but I really don't have much of a preference, for the limited amount of anime I watch, I'll watch either. Though I hear Space Dandy's dub changes an important point, though I don't know what point that is. If it's really that important when it does come up, I'll go back and watch the sub.
Also, even if you don't watch the whole thing, R Bruce Elliott is pretty fuckin' funny as the narrator.
I'm not going to say the original Japanese is always better simply because it's the original, because that just isn't true, but I find it rather difficult to name an anime for which the English voice acting was actually better than the Japanese.
That said, for Space Dandy you do have a point about the narration in particular; it's probably better in the English than the Japanese.
It still comes down to timezones - having an appropriate timeslot like 11pm is more important than simulcasting, but it could equally have aired in the U.S. at 11:30pm on January 5th rather than the 4th, so it's a fact worthy of some slight notice.
I suppose I should just be thankful that it's not Geoblocked to US only, I guess. Now that's something that wouldn't even elicit one iota of surprise.
Edit - I am definitely getting it in HD though - But it seems to vary. I had a few spots when something downloading something in the background, and it dropped out of HD.
EDIT: I stand corrected, Hulu's "high quality" is still not HD.