Shigofumi [SPOILERS]

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*tries again and throws a soda can at gedavids' head*

Anime News Network transcriptShigofumi: Letters from the Departed

Alternative title:
Shigofumi: ~Stories of Last Letter~ (Japanese)
シゴフミ ～Ｓｔｏｒｉｅｓ ｏｆ Ｌａｓｔ Ｌｅｔｔｅｒ～ (Japanese)
사후편지 (Korean)

Genres: drama, psychological, supernatural

Plot Summary: Fumika and Kanaka are mail carriers- but not the typical kind. For one, Kanaka is a talking staff and for two, Fumika delivers shigofumi: letters from the dead addressed to the living. These letters are a final, true, communication derived from hate, hope, and love. The story unfolds following this pair and their uncommon job as well as Fumika's unique 'situation'.

Opening Theme:
"Kotodama (コトダマ)" by ALI PROJECT

Ending Theme:
"Chain" by Snow*

Director: Tatsuo Sato

Ahum. To those of you who have not seen this entire anime, and wish to see it one day completely without getting spoiled... Stay out of this thread.

Lets start of with the comments Scrym made upon their previewing of this series on the show. The only thing I remember of that is Scott saying that this series looks at first glance like Shinigami no Ballad. Yes, it starts equally slow, but actually goes somewhere. Unlike Shinigami no Ballad which is 6 episodes of slightly heart warming stories and nothing else. Shigofumi on the other hand has an actual main character with their own story. A bunch of likable characters, that is more than one (demon cat was win). I enjoyed it a lot, with the exception of the opening theme song, 't was just the same melody as the Rozen Maiden theme song, AND IT ISN'T DARK OR TWISTED! "Except for myself, 'cause I'm still annoyed~."

I have not much to say besides that blurb, and wish to hear the opinion of others who enjoyed this show whilst I let it all settle in. So what is your opinion on this show? Any moments that really touched you? Things you think should've been done differently? Etc...

Oh, two final notes:
1: The FTP-A fansub IS HORRIBLE! Gaaaaaah! I felt like poking my eyes out, and they only translated the first line of the ending theme from episode 10 onwards! Menclave spoiled me with great video, audio, translation and typeset quality. I mean come on, how the hell does this:

"Please take actions that will not e
mbarrass you as the students of this school."

get in the release? Yes, that's a newline after the letter e!


2: Chiaki's lover is a pedooooOOooooOOooooOOooooOOoooo~

George Patches

*tries again and throws a soda can at gedavids' head*

*dodge* Come on, the internet isn't nearly fast enough for you to ever hit me with those. :-P I didn't mean to rush you, I just didn't want to start a discussion thread til you had seen since you were one of the few who was watching it.

1. Please tell me you didn't watch FTP-A, you didn't go w.0.0.f?

2. Well we have no idea how old Chiaki was, she might have just been small. But that episode was so touching.

My thoughts, best anime of its season, pontentially the year, but the year ain't over yet. It had it's little plot which was good, but it also had these intense comments on society. It didn't pull it's punches, it was pretty intense at times. I was a bit dissappointed with the ending though as it seemed to burn itself out 5 minutes before the end. Where was the hard decision that had been rampant through out the other episodes of the series?

As I said in the other thread, I thought this had the potential to top Bebop if it ended well. It came so close, but came up short.

...

*dodge* Come on, the internet isn't nearly fast enough for you to ever hit me with those. :-P

*grumble grumble grumble* It's worth a try.

I didn't mean to rush you, I just didn't want to start a discussion thread til you had seen since you were one of the few who was watching it.

You didn't rush me, it's not like I have much to do this week, I too wanted to wrap this anime up and discuss it. And if you had to wait till Menclave was done subbing the series it could've been 2010 for all I know.

To continue the two points.

1: FTP-A for they've subbed the entire series. I tend to save the stuff I watch completely. Hence why I bothered 'rescuing' the entire season of Shuffle! from my dying HD, along with the other anime that was on that drive... I should probably delete that pos, but it's the first fansub series I watched. Gah. Back on track, I tend to prefer consistency in as much as possible, so FTP-A looked to be the 'better' choice. Such a horrible sub... I will avoid their subs from now on where possible, and have freshly discovered that w.0.0.f. is basically the part of Bakawolf and m.3.3.w saying "FUCK YOU LICENSERS!" when a show those last two are subbing gets licensed.

2: True, we have no idea how old she was, but come on! If you showed an image to random people and asked them to guess her age most would say 10-14. So she was in her 60s during the anime. I do agree that it's a very touching episode. Granny in such a young body. XD

but it also had these intense comments on society.

Eh? Care to elaborate on that, I did not notice those? If you ask me the series was merely/mostly about life and death, and how fragile life and existence is. The joys and sorrows in life and everything in that line.

I agree that the ending was a bit on the weak side. I had the same with Spice and Wolf, which slowly build up, and then just dropped. While I understand why Fumi-chan and Mika-chan were crying so loudly, it felt so alien to see Mika-chan like that, just very odd and unfitting at some level. I mean, Fumi-chan was the weak, forgiving and somewhat negative personality, whereas Mika-chan was the calm, relaxed and positive personality.

Hmmm... best of its season, I agree on that, but I've only really followed two anime from last season, would you say Shigofumi is the best anime of 2007? Hmmmm, topping Bebop? Nowhere near in my opinion. The first episode is crap. If that was the only thing I based my decision whether to watch it or not on, I probably wouldn't have watched it at all. I mean, the main guy in that episode was a throwaway character with barely any development. Unlike some of the other throwaway characters in the episodes. Fumika-chan for example. And of course, but I've said this almost a hundred times now, I HAET the opening theme.

George Patches

but it also had these intense comments on society.

Eh? Care to elaborate on that, I did not notice those? If you ask me the series was merely/mostly about life and death, and how fragile life and existence is. The joys and sorrows in life and everything in that line.

Well what sticks out in my mind is episode 6, the one about bullying, "there always has to be one." Creepy, but life and death were the obvious overtones. It was interesting to see how the Shigofumis were handled from start to finish. In the beginning the only seemed to make things worse but towards the end they seemed to bring joy to people.

I agree that the ending was a bit on the weak side. I had the same with Spice and Wolf, which slowly build up, and then just dropped. While I understand why Fumi-chan and Mika-chan were crying so loudly, it felt so alien to see Mika-chan like that, just very odd and unfitting at some level. I mean, Fumi-chan was the weak, forgiving and somewhat negative personality, whereas Mika-chan was the calm, relaxed and positive personality.

Yeah, that bothered me a lot. I think it really needed to end with one of them disappearing. There was no change! The status quo is not a good ending.

Hmmm... best of its season, I agree on that, but I've only really followed two anime from last season, would you say Shigofumi is the best anime of 2007? Hmmmm, topping Bebop? Nowhere near in my opinion. The first episode is crap. If that was the only thing I based my decision whether to watch it or not on, I probably wouldn't have watched it at all. I mean, the main guy in that episode was a throwaway character with barely any development. Unlike some of the other throwaway characters in the episodes. Fumika-chan for example. And of course, but I've said this almost a hundred times now, I HAET the opening theme.

It had my friend and I pretty well captivated. The first episode was almost a bait and switch, you thought the series was going to be one things and thn she totally knifed the kid. We both went "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!?" and had to see it next week. I thought it was nearly as good as Bebop (potentially) cause of how much it drew me in while I was watching it.