Spring Anime 2010

[CorporalClegg]

After Story's ending is huge copout I'd agree. Still it's better than the ultra depressing slit-your-wrists-after-watching ending it would have been without the reset. Kobayashimaru.

Not Necessarily--especially if they'd given up on that "dream world" nonsense. They could have simply ended it with:

Spoiler: After Story

Tomoya reconciling with his father and accepting his own role as such. In fact, had they just ended it with him and Ushio happy together, I think it would have been a charmingly warm and beautiful ending. If need be, they could even imply the budding relationship with Kyou to show he was "moving on".

It would have been fresh and brilliant and exactly how I thought it was going to end. And since it didn't, I'm still baffled at the point of the last five or six episodes.

 

[zakkrusz]

Personally, I like the the Clannad movie better than the series as it basically does just that only

Spoiler: stuff

Nagisa stays dead and his friends all give him a big kick in the ass to stop being a bum and be a propper father to the adorable little girl she died giving birth to.

The only downside is that Toei animation is a far cry from Kyoto Animation.

 

[SlaveOfSeven]

I seem to be immune to moe, and I'm not sure I really understand what the term is referring to. I skimmed the paper but still don't really get it. It seems to be applied so broadly that it has no discernable meaning from context. I can't help getting the feeling that people have unnecessarily crowded multiple reactions under one umbrella. But maybe it's because I'm an aspie.

 

[firehawk12]

Well, his idea is that male moe is a form of archiving of an idealization of a specific female form that is not sexualized - his section on maid cafes sort of touches on that with a real world example. It's also a form of escapist fantasy hinged on nostalgia and as he implies, some self pity.

The female form of moe is based entirely on the classic seme/uke relationship and the depiction of that power dynamic. Moe comes not from specific archetypes but from seeing a character depicted as a top or a bottom and their reactions in that role.

It's just that the definition seems to be constantly sliding... certainly he must have written this before the K-On fad hit the air anyway.

 

[clint g]

After Story's ending is huge copout I'd agree. Still it's better than the ultra depressing slit-your-wrists-after-watching ending it would have been without the reset. Kobayashimaru.

Not Necessarily--especially if they'd given up on that "dream world" nonsense. They could have simply ended it with:

Spoiler: After Story

Tomoya reconciling with his father and accepting his own role as such. In fact, had they just ended it with him and Ushio happy together, I think it would have been a charmingly warm and beautiful ending. If need be, they could even imply the budding relationship with Kyou to show he was "moving on".

It would have been fresh and brilliant and exactly how I thought it was going to end. And since it didn't, I'm still baffled at the point of the last five or six episodes.

I dunno, I don't think I could have handled all the drama Clannad threw my way without that reset button in the end

You do make a good point though. Without the reset button it would have been one of the most emotional/surprising endings I had ever seen regardless of medium.

 

[SlaveOfSeven]

It's just that the definition seems to be constantly sliding... certainly he must have written this before the K-On fad hit the air anyway.

I think that's partly what's giving me problems.

Anyway, tsundere's where it's at!

 

[omegaone]

So anyone else watch episode 60 of Full Metal Alchemist? Talk about a wtf moment (in terms of anime) gave me an Evangelion vibe...

 

[firehawk12]

It's just that the definition seems to be constantly sliding... certainly he must have written this before the K-On fad hit the air anyway.

I think that's partly what's giving me problems.

Anyway, tsundere's where it's at!

Well... just because I'm replying doesn't mean that I like you or anything! Hmph!

I guess there's nothing wrong with "old moe", but I realize that I've come to both ironically and sincerely enjoy "all girl moe" more... mostly because there are no expectations whatsoever. The character still perform for an audience, but without a guy to impress or at least act against, it's not as noticeable.

So anyone else watch episode 60 of Full Metal Alchemist? Talk about a wtf moment (in terms of anime) gave me an Evangelion vibe...

Yeah. I've been reading the manga (4 days until the ending!!!!) so I was spoiled, but that ending was certainly out there. I'll just say that it might be the peak of the madness, unless the final chapter pulls out something entirely insane.

Another random note about FMA is that the show was extended by 1 episode and will end on July 4th now. They probably were storyboarding the final chapter and realized that they couldn't fit everything into a single episode.

I guess the advantage of animation is that you're only limited by your animators and not actor availability (well, assuming your voice actors are still around). It's kind of neat that they can just decide to add on an extra episode so close to the ending any how.

 

[zakkrusz]

So anyone else watch episode 60 of Full Metal Alchemist? Talk about a wtf moment (in terms of anime) gave me an Evangelion vibe...

I gave up following the subed version for the series when it came on Cartoon Network's AS block here, as I much prefer the dub cast for FMA.

 

[firehawk12]

Funny enough I don't really like the American Ed.

The Cantonese dub is just hilarious though. I've been going through it because it's funny to hear someone who sounds like woman try to play a young boy.

 

[zakkrusz]

Well, unlike the Japanese version, he's not played by a woman. It's a little more believable when someone of same gender plays a character for me. Not really a fan of Romi Paku in particular either.

 

[firehawk12]

Yeah, I know. Here Ed sounds like an old man. :lol
It's the Bart Simpson thing I guess. I know he's probably old enough to have his voice break or whatever, but I'm so used to the Japanese voice that the American one just sounds strange.

 

[zakkrusz]

A lot of people mention that particular effect, but in all the subbed anime that I've watched I can't say I get attached to the Japanese cast much to the point where I can't adapt to the English version. It doesn't have the same effect on me as say when Bleach changed Chad's English VA and I didn't like it. Maybe I just don't notice or care about suttilties of a foreign language I don't speak. In fact sometimes the dub is saving grace because as I mentioned above there are certain voices that just annoy the crap out me for some reason another example would be Lulouche's Japanese voice from Code Geass.

 

[CorporalClegg]

another example would be Lulouche's Japanese voice from Code Geass.

He isn't that bad. On the other hand, there isn't anything JYB doesn't make awesome.

 

[zakkrusz]

His band isn't awesome, but in the field of voice acting I agree.

 

[firehawk12]

Maybe it's the weird dissonance of not being fluent in a language and therefore not hearing verbal ticks/cues/accents that would annoy native speakers. Something like Planetes and Haruhi I just can't stand in English - and I watched the English versions first. Then you have something like Lucky Star, where the characters suddenly sound like they were from The OC.
Even something super American like the Halo anime annoyed me to no end in English. I'm just not sure if it's because it's in English or if it's because of the voice actors. Certainly it doesn't bother me as much when I play video games.

I'd say that the Bang Zoom factor is also a big deal... because JYB and Stephanie Sheh are in everything... but then I realize that Shinbo has used Hiroshi Kamiya for every show he's done since SZS so that can't be it.

 

[zakkrusz]

Might as well post this here:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-06-08/u.s-japanese-publishers-unite-against-manga-scan-sites

Looks manga scan sites are about to have a can of whoop ass opened on them. I don't follow any manga scans so this really doesn't effect me. I once followed Gunslinger Girl by scans though after ADV Manga died, but now that's been rescued by Seven Seas though so I stopped doing that.

 

[firehawk12]

The language is a bit odd because they mention aggregators once but then drop that later on. I'm assuming they're going after those people and not actual scanlators.

I'm kind of mixed on this. I don't use them all that often, but when a new anime comes out based on some obscure manga, it's nice to be able to check out the original source material.

I mean, it's not like anyone's interested in bringing over B Gata H Kei.

 

[zakkrusz]

There is actually one series I'd consider reading online, now that I think about it, Tsukihime. It's been too long since the domestic company released anything and all their stuff is out of storck everywhere and their site is not replying to me and it hasn't been updated in years. I'm pretty sure that they're dead but I can't get confirmation either way.

 

[firehawk12]

With the way the industry here has been, I wouldn't be surprised if they were just gone.