Finished up Rinne no Lagrange. I will give the series this much in that its very polished but it didn't have much else going for it. The mechs and aliens plot felt like more of a backdrop. The main focus was more about the three heroine and their borderline lesbian friendship. Also all the other cast were under utilized. Lot of fluff and not much else.
I'm watching season 2 of Haruhi. Currently on the seventh of the eight "endless" episodes. Aaaaaaaaarrrrggghhhh but for some reason I don't want to stop. (I've been told I really could skip all but the first and last of that sequence and disregarded that perhaps-very-good advice.)
I still have yet to watch something that's objectively good.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, that's true enough. Still, I think that you can separate most B-grade hack jobs from real quality on the basis of ideas, characterization, art quality, direction, acting talent, and so on. That's sort of the goal of any media review. Obviously there's a huge gradient and most stuff falls in the middle, but people are largely going to agree on the extremes.
What I was thinking about when I was writing that was Breaking Bad. I watched the first episode of that show and could tell right away that the writer had a good ear for dialog and had created nuanced characters, that the actors were good, that the director knew how to achieve the desired effect with scenes, etc. Still wasn't getting much out of it, didn't want to watch 50 hours of it.
Do you get anything from not finishing a series? Maybe that it can't disappoint you if you don't reach the end? Sort of like music artists dying young.
Hmm, I don't think so. I'm old enough to have watched many tv shows run out of ideas and gradually decline into mediocrity, but I've made my peace with that. It seems these days that a lot of people desperately want (show x) to stop before there's any decline in quality. I'm content with creators discovering something's limits. Even on the downslope there is usually still much of value.
And if I were (for example) to stop watching Death Note, it would be because I really wanted to check out Sakamichi no Aporon and follow it live, or I was intrigued by Mirai Nikki/Future Diary which has received some good reviews. I would plan to get back to it later, and then a month or two down the line I'd be looking over my Netflix queue and realize it had been dropped. If anything I generally feel guilty that I don't finish most of what I start. That trait seems pretty compartmentalized to fictional stories, though.
There are basic mistakes that a production can make that are objectively bad (continuity errors, plot holes, coloring issues) but even the worst of the worst shows have their rabid fans, and not even in the "ironic" sense.
Depends on the show. If it's something serious and plot based, there aren't any positives besides not spending time finishing it if you didn't like it in the first place. Comedies are a tad different however. I've never watched past season 6 of Scrubs and I never will, and from what people tell me I'm a better person for it.
I think something like Scrubs is just like any non-comedy show. If the characters and plot went in a different direction, you might not want to watch. Something like SNL, which doesn't really have recurring elements, can be skipped or dropped, and jump on again years later with no problem.
Well, I finished Death Note. That was pretty great. In case anyone is curious about my opinion, I think it would have been strongest as a series if they had ended it at S1 (with some modifications). I actually got the most out of the first half of S1. So I can see where the complaints were coming from. And if they were going to do S2, I think they should have actually gone more than 13 episodes. Some of the major players and key developments got pretty short shrift. Still, it was really enjoyable.
I'm liking Space Brothers, although I'm not totally sold on it. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but few things it's done feel a bit paint-by-numbers "good show." More good comedy moments than I was expecting. The mom is actually the best character so far.
I think it would have been strongest as a series if they had ended it at S1
Newsflash. There was only 1 season.
It shows up as two seasons on Netflix. Whatever you want to call the break that happens at episode 25, anyway.
Also, Kids on the Slope's first episode was really impressive. The core of the plot is pretty cliche: a nerdy high school student learning to loosen up and enjoy life. But the directing is great and I was really feeling it.
That's just the US breaking up everything. Good example is Pokémon. Shitton of seasons in the US, even though most of the show wasn't made like that. They just hamfisted numbers on there for no good reason.
a nerdy high school student learning to loosen up and enjoy life.
The kid's also a nerd. Classical music, glasses, pukes when he gets nervous, can't fight... c'mon, they even have bullies who try to pants him.
Is anyone watching the new Watanabe show? About to check out the first episode.
I am, and I guess ehcerpA is too. I'm really feeling it to the point of watching episodes as soon as possible. Stellar directing, animation, and music. The story is high school coming of age/romance, it's incredibly sincere/heartfelt, and there are some timeworn cliches that mostly manage to feel fresh. I would definitely identify it as consonant with the whole "new sincerity" thing or whatever you want to call it. It won't be to everyone's taste.
They just hamfisted numbers on there for no good reason.
Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. Although if you were going to break up Death Note that's certainly the way to do it. Episode 26 is 2/3rds recap.
The kid's also a nerd. Classical music, glasses, pukes when he gets nervous, can't fight... c'mon, they even have bullies who try to pants him.
So you're saying I'm not a nerd? You flatter me. But all I said is that they called him rich, not nerdy. Which is factually correct.
And really, I wouldn't ascribe puking when getting nervous to be something nerdy. Everybody gets nervous after all. Now if you had said getting uncomfortable when being the centre of attention...
Is anyone watching the new Watanabe show? About to check out the first episode.
BWAHAHAHA, he seriously thinks anyone actually watches that anime. Doood, there's cute girls doing cute stuff, cute girls being lesbia--Imean--playing mahjong, cute girls being machine guns, cute girls being zombies, cute girls being classmates with a dog, cute girls being mysterious, cute girls being warlords, cute girls being ghosts, cute girls being eldritch Lovecraftian abominations preying on our entertainment, cute girls learning to become witches, and then there's cute girls with large breasts being naked most of the show. There's no fucking time to watch something as silly as kids dicking about on a slope. It's all freaking slopes in Japan. Though, I would totally watch something like Below-Sea-Level-Living Kids on the Utterly Flat...
Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. Although if you were going to break up Death Note that's certainly the way to do it. Episode 26 is 2/3rds recap.
It's certainly the point where you can, but then there's the shows that get seasonalized when there's little sense to it. A season, to me, has a start, middle and end. Things get started, things develop, some things get resolved. After which they can continue in a next season with other things, and larger things started in the previous season(s). Death Note just happens to be one of the few shows where you can just cut it in half and get a reasonable story.
Watching the original UFO Robo Grendizer from the 70's. I love me some classic super robot action. Not only that, but it's a damned good show even if it does sometimes fall a bit into the "monster of the week" scenario that many of these old shows do. They still manage to have some decent character development despite that.
No wonder it was at one point the #1 show in France (and also big in Quebec and Arab nations).
I am just gonna say the Ryoho was a bitch for using such a technique against Koga. I mean he just started discovering his power and he goes ahead and uses the "Crecent Dragon" WTF! :O
I am just gonna say the Ryoho was a bitch for using such a technique against Koga. I mean he just started discovering his power and he goes ahead and uses the "Crecent Dragon" WTF! :O
Dude, when he said "I will only be able to use this once" I was like "IT BETTER BE CRECENT DRAGON BITCH!" it's good to see they kept the classic stuff and just added the element part.
Comments
Get hotels now???
What I was thinking about when I was writing that was Breaking Bad. I watched the first episode of that show and could tell right away that the writer had a good ear for dialog and had created nuanced characters, that the actors were good, that the director knew how to achieve the desired effect with scenes, etc. Still wasn't getting much out of it, didn't want to watch 50 hours of it. Hmm, I don't think so. I'm old enough to have watched many tv shows run out of ideas and gradually decline into mediocrity, but I've made my peace with that. It seems these days that a lot of people desperately want (show x) to stop before there's any decline in quality. I'm content with creators discovering something's limits. Even on the downslope there is usually still much of value.
And if I were (for example) to stop watching Death Note, it would be because I really wanted to check out Sakamichi no Aporon and follow it live, or I was intrigued by Mirai Nikki/Future Diary which has received some good reviews. I would plan to get back to it later, and then a month or two down the line I'd be looking over my Netflix queue and realize it had been dropped. If anything I generally feel guilty that I don't finish most of what I start. That trait seems pretty compartmentalized to fictional stories, though.
There are basic mistakes that a production can make that are objectively bad (continuity errors, plot holes, coloring issues) but even the worst of the worst shows have their rabid fans, and not even in the "ironic" sense.
Also, Kids on the Slope's first episode was really impressive. The core of the plot is pretty cliche: a nerdy high school student learning to loosen up and enjoy life. But the directing is great and I was really feeling it.
And really, I wouldn't ascribe puking when getting nervous to be something nerdy. Everybody gets nervous after all. Now if you had said getting uncomfortable when being the centre of attention... BWAHAHAHA, he seriously thinks anyone actually watches that anime. Doood, there's cute girls doing cute stuff, cute girls being lesbia--Imean--playing mahjong, cute girls being machine guns, cute girls being zombies, cute girls being classmates with a dog, cute girls being mysterious, cute girls being warlords, cute girls being ghosts, cute girls being eldritch Lovecraftian abominations preying on our entertainment, cute girls learning to become witches, and then there's cute girls with large breasts being naked most of the show. There's no fucking time to watch something as silly as kids dicking about on a slope. It's all freaking slopes in Japan. Though, I would totally watch something like Below-Sea-Level-Living Kids on the Utterly Flat... It's certainly the point where you can, but then there's the shows that get seasonalized when there's little sense to it. A season, to me, has a start, middle and end. Things get started, things develop, some things get resolved. After which they can continue in a next season with other things, and larger things started in the previous season(s). Death Note just happens to be one of the few shows where you can just cut it in half and get a reasonable story.
No wonder it was at one point the #1 show in France (and also big in Quebec and Arab nations).