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[firehawk12]

Gintama 59

Whatever you say.

Gotta like the build up. The scene with the insert song at the end was pretty nice. Elizabethcannon?

Please watch the movie after 61!

To the first part, I would assume it's an extension of the pop cultural "rule" wherein both males and females are conditioned to see lesbians as acceptable (& hot) whereas gay male relationships are, while broadly acceptable when chaste, more yucky the more sexual they get, or are at least seen that way by the straight heterosexual male audience most media caters to.

Though I could just be talking out of my ass, given that ri-ben's some weird little country half a world a way in the middle of the ocean and all. Who the fuck knows how they think.

Honestly, I wonder if the fact that fujyoshi favour DVD over BD has something to do with it. Like, since they can't make as much money on girls, studios just make stuff for guys.

To the second part, get used to people calling anything with directorial flourishes "Dezaki-inspired" whether it's true or isn't. I think you could make a case here, but it wouldn't be by tracing a straight line of influence from A -> B.

Ugh, I'm starting to feel like Novid here. I have got to stop trying to post after imbibing.

Well, in the case of Shinbo, even Shinbo acknowledges his influence from Dezaki. He was heavily featured in a Dezaki tribute book (I think that's what it was) following his death, iirc. He talked about how the head-tilt SHAFT is known for was inspired by a shot in the last episode of Takarajima, even. Ikuhara talked about Dezaki in an interview following his death as well, I'm pretty sure.

Besides, how many people in the anime industry get tribute pieces where people talk about how much they were influenced by them after they die? Something to think about...

Yeah, but the Shinbo-ites seem more indebted to Shinbo than the previous generation of directors with Dezaki in terms of their output. Although I suppose it comes down to what the Shinbo-ites' style will be like 20 years from now when they're actually out on their own.

 

[Uchip]

Oh look, she's losing... that must be symbolic of something...

heh
im a little bit behind you, trying to actually get through Utena
the symbolism feels just as over the top as penguin drum

 

[cajunator]

Maybe I'm just not aware that it does exist.

And maybe that's for the best.

A Troll in Central Park.
Go look that up.

By the way, he did come back to excellence with Anastasia, which while not exactly historically accurate (at all) is a gorgeous little film.
Also it has a really good soundtrack

 

[Extollere]

Natsuyuki 7

You're ruining EVERYTHING ! Just get over it already !!684(€£=}!@htshosarwq

Aarrdgghhh

 

[firehawk12]

I dunno, that really just reminds me of how young directors will namedrop someone famous (usually Stanley Kubrick, because he's like really good man!!!) as a supposed influence even when it isn't at all evident in their own works. I don't think I trust artists to be frank about themselves and their work, really.

Which is not to say that the influence isn't there, but...

I guess the difference is that they worked with him. So it's not like Kevin Smith saying he was inspired by... whomever when Clerks came out or something.

I dunno, this particular line of analysis is getting too microscopic for me. I can't pretend to know anything about the buying habits of the Japanese equivalents of DTL and SDBurton.

::falls asleep on desk::

It's the way of anime nerds though.

 

[Risette]

Yeah, but the Shinbo-ites seem more indebted to Shinbo than the previous generation of directors with Dezaki in terms of their output. Although I suppose it comes down to what the Shinbo-ites' style will be like 20 years from now when they're actually out on their own.

There were also other influences on Shinbo, such as Kanada's reknown style, as well as the people inspired by him who surrounded Shinbo. Relevant.

Funny part:

Other animators at Oz included Shinbo Akiyuki (!) and Shinsaku Kozuma. They changed their name to Studio Tome (an ironic title meaning the ubiquitous "still")

This studio also worked on Urusei Yatsura episodes, so someone could draw a (vague) Oshii link to Shinbo without being a conspiracy theorist. :>

I dunno, that really just reminds me of how young directors will namedrop someone famous (usually Stanley Kubrick, because he's like really good man!!!) as a supposed influence even when it isn't at all evident in their own works. I don't think I trust artists to be frank about themselves and their work, really.

Which is not to say that the influence isn't there, but...

Nah, it's not like that at all. You can logically trace back the influences just by the people and studios they've worked with, as well as their works themselves.

Maybe it's just that Japanese humbleness causing them to be frank.

 

[Dresden]

Eureka Seven Ao - 17

1. so i was like,

Spoiler

WOW NIRVASH FUCK YEAH then i remembered it's just Naru.

2. wow bad art

3. wow convolution

4. it stopped mattering once the music kicked in and i was like FUCK YEAH AO BOOM

5. then my face was like wat and convolution happened

Spoiler

why didnt they erase naru

Conclusion:

Real men go down with the ship.

 

[Branduil]

A Troll in Central Park.
Go look that up.

By the way, he did come back to excellence with Anastasia, which while not exactly historically accurate (at all) is a gorgeous little film.
Also it has a really good soundtrack

I wouldn't call it excellence. Shoehorning a super-cliche'd Disney Villain into a movie based on historical people and events chafes at the nerves.

 

[KO Traveling Hobo]

Unless she's always had that fortune, does that mean before she got transformed into a kid she was an normal-looking child first before becoming god-tier in the future?

Momiji is Ichiko from another timeline where she never had that fortune, confirmed.

You mean, people with correct opinions?

Because Digimon is worlds better, and I like Pokemon a lot. Digimon is just a much better show.

But Digimon is unwatchable in dubbed form.

Dubbed Digimon is only Digimon.

Honestly, I wonder if the fact that fujyoshi favour DVD over BD has something to do with it. Like, since they can't make as much money on girls, studios just make stuff for guys.

Is there a reason why fujoshi favor DVD?

 

[sonicmj1]

Revolutionary Girl Utena 34

Well. That explains everything. And nothing. And it keeps me from pretending that episode 33 never happened.

This episode is so full of vital exposition that it's kind of hard to screencap it.

Spoiler

Like Penguindrum, the "Tale of the Rose" backstory puts the show in this weird place where I can't really accept everything there as literal. It's a dreamscape where symbols and characters take the place of ideals of love, eternity, life, and death. I just kind of think of the broad strokes as "real" and discard the specifics.

This is as close as I've gotten to knowing what Utena is actually fighting for, and why all of this is happening. And I suspect this will be the closest I get until the show ends. I'm still rather confused as to what the distinction is between

Spoiler

Akio as Dios "making all the girls into princesses" and Akio as End of the World doing... whatever he does

, but I'm sure the end will make it slightly clearer with some explosion of flowers and things happening in sparse, symbolic backgrounds.

 

[madp]

Yeah, but the Shinbo-ites seem more indebted to Shinbo than the previous generation of directors with Dezaki in terms of their output. Although I suppose it comes down to what the Shinbo-ites' style will be like 20 years from now when they're actually out on their own.

I have nothing intelligent to add to this discussion so I'll just be a cynical jerk and say "anime industry still existing in 20 years? ahahahaha"!

A Troll in Central Park.
Go look that up.

By the way, he did come back to excellence with Anastasia, which while not exactly historically accurate (at all) is a gorgeous little film.
Also it has a really good soundtrack

A historically-accurate version of Anastasia's life still presented as a children's film would be highly interesting to me. bwahahaha.

 

[dakkumauji]

Gintama 60

Oh you silly folks.

Besides the what happened last time and redoing the whole scene with the insert song from last episode, it was all still good.

 

[cajunator]

I wouldn't call it excellence. Shoehorning a super-cliche'd Disney Villain into a movie based on historical people and events chafes at the nerves.

Sometimes I think you guys just try to find things wrong with shows.

 

[Branduil]

Sometimes I think you guys just try to find things wrong with shows.

Why? It's a major part of the movie, and it's stupid and demeans the real people who actually existed.

 

[Femmeworth]

Sometimes I think you guys just try to find things wrong with shows.

Or maybe there are just a lot of very flawed works out there.

 

[firehawk12]

Is there a reason why fujoshi favor DVD?

I assume they don't care about HD and DVD is cheaper. But I have no clue. It's not just fujoshi, but girls in general. A lot of shoujo only comes out on DVD (Kimi ni Todoke at first, Kaichou)

There were also other influences on Shinbo, such as Kanada's reknown style, as well as the people inspired by him who surrounded Shinbo. Relevant.

Funny part:
This studio also worked on Urusei Yatsura episodes, so someone could draw a (vague) Oshii link to Shinbo without being a conspiracy theorist. :>

Man. That's so, so nerdy. I like how in the comments someone asks how he gets the information. lol
(He should source his stuff, really!)

Nah, it's not like that at all. You can logically trace back the influences just by the people and studios they've worked with, as well as their works themselves.

Maybe it's just that Japanese humbleness causing them to be frank.

I know ADs must graduate to directors in Hollywood... but I can't say I can name a person who say, worked with Spielberg in a junior/apprentice position and then became a name on their own. I'm starting to discover that there are a lot of Zimmer and Powell-inspired soundtrack composers though. That in itself is fucking with my brain.

I have nothing intelligent to add to this discussion so I'll just be a cynical jerk and say "anime industry still existing in 20 years? ahahahaha"!

In 20 years, YuruYuri won't be faux yuri, it'll be actually hentai yuri.

Gintama 60

Oh you silly folks.

Besides the what happened last time and redoing the whole scene with the insert song from last episode, it was all still good.

Seriously dude, watch the movie!

 

[cajunator]

Why? It's a major part of the movie, and it's stupid and demeans the real people who actually existed.

I already said the show isnt historically accurate but it was a great movie.
historically anastasia just died along with everyone else which would not make a very exciting movie.

 

[firehawk12]

I just noticed - there are like ten new episodes today, if you are watching everything. That's fucking insane. Although I guess that's like the old theory with SciFi/SyFy network programming - put Stargate and BSG on at Friday, because all the cool people are out getting drunk and having sex while all the nerds are home at night with nothing to do but watch anime.

 

[Branduil]

I already said the show isnt historically accurate but it was a great movie.
historically anastasia just died along with everyone else. Not a very exciting movie.

Sure, but the circumstances of her death, at the time, were at least ambiguous enough to make her survival plausible. What isn't plausible is

Spoiler

Rasputin being an undead Disney villain with a talking bat sidekick singing about revenge.

Adding unnecessary one-dimensional villains to historical stories is the western equivalent of making Sengoku warlords into bishoujo.

It's all part of making a fake Disney film, man! Didn't you see Pocahontas??

You know, I hate Pocahontas too. And Titanic. It's one thing to write cliched stories, that just makes me think you're a hack. It's another to graft your hack writing onto historical events. That's when I feel insulted.

 

[Dresden]

nvm

 

[firehawk12]

God damnit Dresden!

 

[KO Traveling Hobo]

I assume they don't care about HD and DVD is cheaper. But I have no clue. It's not just fujoshi, but girls in general. A lot of shoujo only comes out on DVD (Kimi ni Todoke at first, Kaichou)

Huh. Weird.

 

[SDBurton]

Binbougami ga! 6

This is the first episode where the sappiness worked for me, so that was nice. Still can't stand Keita, though.

And it's really unfair that Ichiko gets to be god-tier moe in child form on top of being god-tier boner fuel in tittymonster form. A single character should not possess such power.

Truth.

I actually laughed out loud. Amazing. :lol

 

[Dresden]

Goddamn it firehawk.

 

[Branduil]

nvm

God damnit Dresden!

Speaking of rewriting history...

 

[sonicmj1]

Hahaha. I think every single person who has ever posted about this show on here has been deeply upset by this episode. Congratulations, you're one of us now!

It's kind of surprising how much that reveal got under my skin.

Spoiler

I was already getting pretty weirded out by the whole Akio romance thing in the first place, but it's the way that the framing suckers you into intimacy without letting on what's actually happening that makes the betrayal so complete. And the way Utena acts, especially with the monologue about tomorrow's lunch...

Fuck. It's a real twist of the knife.

 

[firehawk12]

Huh. Weird.

Yeah, that's why you actually need to pay attention to the DVD numbers. Otherwise you'd think shoujo never sells. lol

I find it interesting that KnT went through DVD first on S1 and 2... then they released a BD box set much later. I guess there was enough mass appeal to warrant it (since I think it came out around the live action movie DVD/BD).

Goddamn it firehawk.

THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS.

 

[madp]

I assume they don't care about HD and DVD is cheaper. But I have no clue. It's not just fujoshi, but girls in general. A lot of shoujo only comes out on DVD (Kimi ni Todoke at first, Kaichou)

Are standalone blu-ray players big in Japan or do most HD enthusiasts just use their PS3? (I don't expect anyone to actually know this, just asking )

I would imagine the chain of causation to be fujoshi don't console game as much -> fujoshi are less likely to own a device capable of playing blu-rays -> fujoshi only buy DVDs.

In 20 years, YuruYuri won't be faux yuri, it'll be actually hentai yuri.

In a decade when it's somewhere in between, maybe I'll finally be interested in watching it!

It's all part of making a fake Disney film, man! Didn't you see Pocahontas??

Didn't Grandmother Willow teach you not to care about the particulars and to just watch things with your heart?

 

[Branduil]

Didn't Grandmother Willow teach you not to care about the particulars and to just watch things with your heart?

If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.

 

[madp]

If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.

How high does a sycamore grow?

If you cut it down, then you'll never know.

 

[Uchip]

Well, yeah. That's a trademark.

a trademark that makes me roll my eyes a lot apparently

 

[firehawk12]

Are standalone blu-ray players big in Japan or do most HD enthusiasts just use their PS3? (I don't expect anyone to actually know this, just asking )

I would imagine the chain of causation to be fujoshi don't console game as much -> fujoshi are less likely to own a device capable of playing blu-rays -> fujoshi only buy DVDs.

Well, there are also all those dating sims for girls. But then again, they're all on the DS, so I dunno. (There's a KnT DS game where you play as Sawako. lol)

The other thing is that DVDs are still cheaper to stamp, so the "risk" is much lower for the studio selling DVDs for franchises where they are unable to properly gauge demand.

In a decade when it's somewhere in between, maybe I'll finally be interested in watching it!

Snap. lol

 

[dakkumauji]

Gintama 61

Nice ending to the whole arc. Action was there, everyone had their time to shine, we all learned the heart of swordsmithing, actual villains that may appear someday in the future. It had it all.

And I'll watch the movie tomorrow (or like in 10 hours) firehawk!

 

[firehawk12]

Gintama 61

Nice ending to the whole arc. Action was there, everyone had their time to shine, we all learned the heart of swordsmithing, actual villains that may appear someday in the future. It had it all.

And I'll watch the movie tomorrow (or like in 10 hours) firehawk!

Good.

 

[cajunator]

I always like to be able to draw on influences from other works when I'm watching something, but yeah, watching one or more series just in case there are any noticeable directorial similarities with a short OVA is unfeasible. I'm also aware of the good reputation of both Bubblegum Crisis and El-Hazard, so that's enough to give me confidence that Ai no Kusabi might be legitimately good as well.

Only selecting bishounen/shounen ai series that have staff associated with works outside of the genre sounds like a wise course of action if my intent is to seek out legitimately good works anyway.



Oniisama e is excellent! I credit that with Dezaki's penchant for backbiting and melodrama being able to flourish to its fullest in that kind of setting, though. Without his particular kind of flair, I would have easily been put off by stuffy rich people doing stuffy rich things.



After beginning to follow weekly Japanese releases, I was actually much more selective than I am now due to having so much less free time in college. Much like the days when I could only afford a few video games a year, I kind of miss being able to savor the experience more.

I suppose I'll post my personal anime fandom timeline and other people can follow with theirs:

~1990: unnkowingly watched dubbed versions of 70s children's programming as a toddler, notably Fushigi na Koala Blinky (The Noozles) and Mitsubachi Maya no Bouken (Maya the Bee)

- 1998: watched the original English-language run of Pokemon, parents warn me about the corrupting influence of "Japanimation"

~ 2001: watch other anime that air on KidsWB, including Yu-Gi-Oh!, Cardcaptors, and Sailor Moon (until my parents barred me from watching Sailor Moon for fear it would turn me gay)

~ 2003: watched the first wave of anime to premiere on FoxBox, including Kinnikuman Nisei (Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacy), Kakutou Ryouri Densetsu Bistro Recipe (Fighting Foodons), and the infamous 4kids-butchered One Piece.

- 2004: cable company finally adds Cartoon Network to the lineup, and I experience Toonami for the first time. This was my first exposure to anime for teenagers such as Rurouni Kenshin, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, and some other stuff.

- 2004: begin sneaking in viewings of [adult swim], where I'm exposed to scattered episodes of Wolf's Rain, Inuyasha, and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Anime with blood where they say damn and hell and ass? AWESOME.

- 2004: catch an airing of Spirited Away on the Disney Channel. Mind is blown, discover Miyazaki on the internet, immediately get Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind from the public library.

- 2005: begin watching [adult swim] in earnest. I watch Fullmetal Alchemist as it airs in the US for the first time alongside repeats of Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Big O, Evangelion, and new series like Paranoia Agent, Scryed, Samurai Champloo, and Eureka Seven.

- 2006: enter full-on "I wish I was Japanese" weeaboo phase, wardrobe is half anime shirts, I get into Naruto for a while, start buying DVDs (they all end up being bootleg though. Fuck you ebay!), purchase terrible quality figurines made specifically for the US market and sold at Hot Topic, obnoxious poser otakuism consumes my life for a while.

- 2006: watch anime not broadcast on US television for the first time, beginning with Gankutsuou. Last Exile and Chobits become the first two anime I drop due to not enjoying, the former because I hated the ugly CG. I've had a vendetta against this shit from way back!

2006: Death Note becomes the first anime that I watch weekly alongside its Japanese release. I guess it's tied Le Chevalier d'Eon as that was from the same season, but I dropped that after a few episodes.

My journey into animu was sort of like this:

~1989-91 - as a child I watched Nickelodeon daily and like Madpierrot that's where I saw actual anime for the first time. I didn't know it was anime because Saban took all traces of Japanese anything out of it. It wasnt until MUCH later that I discovered most these badass super cute old cartoons were in fact anime. Some of them were also really great French and Canadian productions as well as some other countries.

~1994-1995 - discovered Iria:zeiram the animation because of this advertisement on SciFi: http://www.retrojunk.com/content/commercial/32047/index/.

1996-1998 - started finding out friends had some OVA tapes and began watching stuff like Eva, Iczelion, Master of Mosquiton, Burn up W, Blue Seed, Plastic Little, Sukeban Deka. Parents dont seem to mind it. They bring me to friends houses to go watch it because they're awesome. Somewhere around there Dic started airing Sailor moon on cartoon network. By this time I knew which Senshis I had a crush on so I was excited for this, later to be pissed off when I discovered how much they totally butchered the final episodes of season one.

1999-2000 - Got into college and joined anime club. Someone had Love Hina subs. this was the first time I saw anime in that particular style and not just dubbed. It was pretty exotic seeming. I was hooked. I joined the college anime club the following year and started absorbing the stuff like mana from heaven.

2000- 2001 - Started my collection. I used to go to Suncoast every week to preorder stuff. I was actually working part time as both a cinema worker and an assistant at my current employer. I had plenty of money. The logical thing to do was spend it on anime. I went for art boxes with volume 1. thats how they used to sell stuff. then each month or two afterward they would release the next volume. The wait was excrutiating.

2002 - Some shit called Inuyasha came out. I started buying it because I like Rumiko Takahashi stuff. It ends up being entertaining for a couple seasons before I drop it. I keep collecting other stuff.

2003-2004 - I started really making friends in the community through anime and discovering more and more shows. By this point my collection was getting large but I wanted Card Captor Sakura. But holy shit it was so many discs, and they never had all of the volumes.

2005-2008 - Somewhere in here I started buying figurines. The local convention Mechacon started around 2006 or 2007. I got involved in helping plan it and later got pissed at everybody because of the drama, but it allowed me to finally find out what these animu conventions are like. I was hooked. Also, Geneon went out of business. I was devastated. I went on a mad Geneon buying spree which worked out well because I got about 90% of what I wanted before they went OOP.

2009-2011 - started working full time. went a bit crazy with a new wave of anime and figure collecting. I signed up to Gaf and discovered you guys <3

2012 - I worked a lot of extra shifts and bought way more shit than I probably should have, but am now extremely entrenched in anime culture. At least I can afford it I suppose.

God, I have been into this stuff (knowingly) for 18 years >_>

 

[madp]

Well, there are also all those dating sims for girls. But then again, they're all on the DS, so I dunno. (There's a KnT DS game where you play as Sawako. lol)

The other thing is that DVDs are still cheaper to stamp, so the "risk" is much lower for the studio selling DVDs for franchises where they are unable to properly gauge demand.

Still, you'd think that there would have been some kind of fujoshi killer app for PS3 by now which would have made the market a little more comfortable with the idea of producing BD copies of some of these shows! Some game like Hakuouki or Vitamin X HD can't be that risky, yeah?

 

[Jintor]

Also,

Digimon>Pokemon

Righteous, bro.

In animes, anyway

 

[Haly]

Random chinese all up in this.

 

[KO Traveling Hobo]

My first subbed anime were two Inuyasha movies that my girlfriend in middle school bought for me. (2003ish?)

At some point during high school(2006ish), I stopped watching anime altogether except for rewatches of NGE/EoE.

Madoka(2011) was my first subbed series, the first that I followed as it aired, and the trigger for my anime-watching relapse.

I'm babby-tier.

Righteous, bro.

In animes, anyway

> All the Pokeman games

 

[Chet Rippo]

Joshiraku 5

Economy 101 with Mari-kun

A good episode. The first part was crazy fun, while the next 2 parts were more normal in comparison. Best girls are still best girls.

moeblob~

 

[Articalys]

I'm not even going to try to think about my personal anime history. Can't remember much of it anyway.

 

[Haly]

Just some guy playing weeaboo fightmans.

Ni de zhong wen bi wuo hao.

 

[kayos90]

Interesting article. Saw the anime one and I laughed a bit.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sidesho...ay-spongebob-teletubbie-losers-204737552.html

 

[KO Traveling Hobo]

Interesting article. Saw the anime one and I laughed a bit.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sidesho...ay-spongebob-teletubbie-losers-204737552.html

South Park: "reincarnation propaganda"

what

 

[Dresden]

Teletubbies: "Deliberately aims to create subnormal (men), who spend all day in front of the television with their mouths open swallowing all types of information," and promotes the "psychology of losers."

should've been the description for anime.

 

[madp]

Did The Onion get a site redesign? It looks almost identical to Yahoo now.

what

Out of all of the content in the show, they take issue with that and that alone? The entire show is a nonstop onslaught against conservative values and sensibilities. olololol

 

[Uchip]

Random chinese all up in this.

it symbolizes my lust for asian culture
also puberty

 

[Neo C.]

To Love-Ru Darkness OVA 1: Pretty sure the TV serie is going to be very bright and we can't see shit.

 

[cajunator]

To Love-Ru Darkness OVA 1: Pretty sure the TV serie is going to be very bright and we can't see shit.

Yup.
There is NO way that they can get away with showing about 95% of that OVA lol.

 

[Chet Rippo]

Rays of light for everyone!