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Spring Anime 2013 |OT -7| My Giant CG Pony Can't Possibly Read This Much Baudelaire

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7Th

Member
The subtitled releases should have followed the original airing/screening order and have Little Witch Academia last; with Trigger magic coming up first, things get really unfair for the other 3.
Ryo and Arze are bad even without comparison point, tho.
 

duckroll

Member
Death Billiards:

It had lavish backgrounds and nice, fluid character animation, but the ending was too muddied for me to feel satisfied by this. I don't mind ambiguous endings at all, but they require a certain finesse that this lacked with its violently-swinging pendulum of reversals and conflicting signals after the big twist. Over the course of the story:

- The winner of the game goes to heaven and the loser goes to hell.

-Except not! Their destinies were predetermined by their actions on earth and the young dude would have gone to hell anyway because he's an NTR-ing piece of shit.

- Except yes! Because something something change your fate so says Bartender Ginko.

- Except not! Because the PIANO WIRES OF DESTINY come to drag the young dude to hell.

- Except whatever! Because the game didn't matter to begin with because young guy redeems himself with his grand speech on HUMANITY and the UNFAIRNESS OF LIFE.

- Except what? Because the old guy is whispering into Ginko's ear and then grins malevolently as he gets in the elevator to hell as if he was evil all along and knew he was going to hell and his flashback completely skimmed over the despicable parts of his life.

It's not a thought-provoking set of events, it's just a mess and brings into question what the hell any of it was for in the first place. Even the fundamentals of the game itself were designed with elements that end up going nowhere--
the organ balls were just sort of there. Pocketing them didn't actually cause anything to happen, which would have been much more interesting if the purgatory element didn't exist and the short was an examination on human psychology. At least then, the psychosomatic effects that getting pocketed had on the young guy might have meant something more than just being a red herring to distract the viewer until the real nature of the game was revealed.
I like stories that involve hypothetical life-and-death situations because of the tension from wondering who's going to snap first and this at least partially delivered on that front, but even that aspect was the means to a greater end.

It's okay, but not among Anime Mirai's best.

That's... not how I saw the story at all. It seems you took a lot of things too literally and failed to see what the story was really trying to say. The story is much simpler than you make it out to be and if there's something convoluted about it, it's all in your head. It's easy to say something is not thought-provoking if the viewer doesn't really put much thought into it. I guess that's we can expect from a typical anime viewer though. :(

The entire short is just a dramatization of different outlooks in life.

The young man is the sort of person who believes in "luck" and taking stupid risks for short gains, only to feel injustice against himself when things don't go his way by his own recklessness. This is how he has lived his entire life and how he ultimately met his end.

The old man is a person who has lived life to the fullest and made his own luck. He has self confidence and knows how to make things go his way instead of relying on fate or feeling slighted because the world doesn't revolve for him. As his life comes to an end, he accepts it and just wants to feel alive again before moving on.

The "game" is not a competition, but a test of personality to show people who they really are. In the end the young man lost control of everything like he always had in life, and even though he might have "won" the game, he lost at being a human being. The fact that he then whines about it and blames everyone except himself shows what a fucking loser he is. When the old man intercedes on his behalf, that is the final turning point to show that the old man has consistently remained in total control and calls the shots to the end, not because someone gave him power, but because he always put himself in a better position by his own actions.

In the end it doesn't matter who goes to heaven or who goes to hell because the young man is a loser all the way to the end, and the old man moves on knowing that he is his own man all the way to the end. He smiles, and is confident, while the young man is just a total wreck. Who "won" in life is clear for all to see.
 

madp

The Light of El Cantare
That's... not how I saw the story at all. It seems you took a lot of things too literally and failed to see what the story was really trying to say. The story is much simpler than you make it out to be and if there's something convoluted about it, it's all in your head. It's easy to say something is not thought-provoking if the viewer doesn't really put much thought into it. I guess that's we can expect from a typical anime viewer though. :(

You want to have a discussion on this but then you begin by insulting my intelligence? Forget it.
 

obin_gam

Member
I started Space Bros. last summer I think, and I became instantly awestruck by the chill "aura" and sunny look the show had. The coolest thing about it I found was the excruciatingly slow pace stuff happened in, but it was never boring. Fantastic! I stopped watching somewhere around episode 9 I think, just after he arrived in Houston because of other stuff and am planning to pick it up again in the near future when I have more time to spend.

I'm wondering if there are more animes like this? About grown ups doing sort of ordinary things but with some hooks to keep you interested. And preferably no supernatural things if it can be avoided.
 

trejo

Member
No one questions your intelligence on a daily basis duckroll, only your taste. And the same applies across the board, really.
 

Tomat

Wanna hear a good joke? Waste your time helping me! LOL!
Duck if I ever insulted/questioned your intelligence, I apologize. Never meant to.
 

SDBurton

World's #1 Cosmonaut Enthusiast
Majestic Prince - 01

Dt5ovPs.png
WwQjlTv.png

Two reasons I'll continue watching.

Decent pilot episode, though the whole "get entire group in the joke" became a bit weary as the episode progressed. Like others have mentioned earlier, things really picked up near the last 5-7 minutes when the future of CG came in full force and gave an impression display of beam blasting, rocket boosting, explosive goodness.

Oh, and Suzukaze can hit me with that riding crop anytime.
 

dimb

Bjergsen is the greatest midlane in the world
That's... not how I saw the story at all. It seems you took a lot of things too literally and failed to see what the story was really trying to say. The story is much simpler than you make it out to be and if there's something convoluted about it, it's all in your head. It's easy to say something is not thought-provoking if the viewer doesn't really put much thought into it. I guess that's we can expect from a typical anime viewer though. :(
This would be overthinking something rather than being an indication of the absence of thought.
 

Tomat

Wanna hear a good joke? Waste your time helping me! LOL!
The well-endowed mechanic in the green jumpsuit was the only character in MJP that really bothered me. Her face looks weird compared to the rest of the cast. Didn't help that the expression on her face didn't seem to change at all while she was talking.
 

SDBurton

World's #1 Cosmonaut Enthusiast
The well-endowed mechanic in the green jumpsuit was the only character in MJP that really bothered me. Her face looks weird compared to the rest of the cast. Didn't help that the expression on her face didn't seem to change at all while she was talking.

All of their faces look weird. It's just that she has other features that draws my attention away from that fact. :p
 

trejo

Member
Flowers of Evil 1

Going by that interview someone posted some pages ago it seems like both the director and the original author fully intended this to be an incredibly pretentious piece of hipster garbage operating under the guise of being experimental and divisive and ART. Taking that into account I have no choice but to qualify this first episode as a resounding success.

And so, with my curiosity sated and my eyes damaged from the horrendously implemented animation techniques on display I shall now proceed to watch some JoJo in the hopes that it'll wash out some of the taste of all this shit I just ate.

By far the biggest crime here is that this is at least the second time now that Studio Pablo is featured in a show I would rather avoid like the plague. What a waste. Hopefully some kind soul will take it upon themselves to post some of the more impressive-looking backgrounds on display from time to time.
 

Risette

A Good Citizen
Flowers of Evil 1

Going by that interview someone posted some pages ago it seems like both the director and the original author fully intended this to be an incredibly pretentious piece of hipster garbage operating under the guise of being experimental and divisive and ART. Taking that into account I have no choice but to qualify this first episode as a resounding success.
This is how true art is made.
 

madp

The Light of El Cantare
Okay. It's too bad you can't be mature about it, since this thread insults my intelligence every day anyway. You don't hear me bitching like a whiner.

Anything else that I could say at this point runs the risk of a ban so, again, forget it.

I'm done with this thread.
 

duckroll

Member
Anything else that I could say at this point runs the risk of a ban so, again, forget it.

I'm done with this thread.

Don't knock your head on the way out. You might also want to take shit less seriously if this really bothers you. Seems like a personal problem to me!
 

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
[Death Billiards]
I really liked this short up until the point where Young Dude started
giving his grand speech about the unfairness of life and social upbringing being the difference in everyone's worth
. I get the point, but the delivery here didn't get me. Life or death situations (
or heaven or hell ones
) don't exactly seem
suitable for anyone to give a discourse on the reality of human life, let alone when Young Dude was not in the calmest state of mind
.

I'm okay with the ambiguous ending, though. It's not satisfying, but I think it ties up with the themes of
the uncertainty of life after death and what one can do to change the final destination. To spell it out to the audience would rob the outcome of the unknown of the ethereal. Death Billiards is not trying to give a message of morality and what one should do in order to go to heaven/avoid hell, and to clear the mystery for the sake of the audience would have felt far too moralistic for my tastes.

Great animation, superb music, yadda yadda. People more in touch with the fine details of cartoon-making will have much more to say about that. It was a thrilling thirty-minutes or so, and the storytelling was very impressive in how efficiently it developed its characters in the allotted time. Four out of five jellyfishes, Little Witch Academia is still the anime to beat this year.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Cuticle Detective Inaba 2

Is it wrong that Yuta is my favorite character? And somehow he's the sanest one there.


I love the rampant insanity, funniest show I've seen since Excel Saga.
 

Soma

Member
First Aku no Hana and now Death Billiards is tearing this community apart.

Jexhius was right, anime does suck. Time to find a new hobby.
 

LordCanti

Member
Death Pool:

So....the old man was
evil
right? Or am I reading too much into him getting
into the elevator with the demon mask above it and then wickedly smiling?
 
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure end


ksda;fsndgp4380725inmhlkfvgnvb;.'/nm;lup[yup[y76r5]asdg;jk;jk55454874yu78/to7/887hl4j87kl

I can't form any coherent thoughts right now, but I shall make a post later about my thoughts on the finale and series as a whole.
 

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
Death Pool:

So....the old man was
evil
right? Or am I reading too much into him getting
into the elevator with the demon mask above it and then wickedly smiling?
It's up for the viewer's opinion. I'm gonna side with ducky here and say
whether they went to heaven or hell doesn't matter as much as how they confront death and how they look back at their own lives.
 

kayos90

Tragic victim of fan death
Anything else that I could say at this point runs the risk of a ban so, again, forget it.

I'm done with this thread.

I really hope you come back.

Don't knock your head on the way out. You might also want to take shit less seriously if this really bothers you. Seems like a personal problem to me!

Come on. Was this comment really necessary? You can try to be somewhat sensitive mang.

In all honesty I think pierrot read too much into duckroll's comment about the intelligence of the viewer. I didn't read it like that at all but I can definitely see how it could be read as such. Having said that I don't think it was that serious of a comment judging by how I read it as well. Maybe it's just me.

Still, I did think it was a rather jabby comment and while some sort of reaction was warranted I don't think leaving the thread is really the response. If it makes you feel better pierrot, I enjoyed your contribution to the thread as well as the many offerings you bring to the table.


Okay.
 

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
Death Billiards

Why did they just start fighting all of a sudden, they could took it out on the pool table
The entire point is that
Young Dude never had any confidence in his own actions. He couldn't trust himself to win the game, hence why he panicked and resorted to beat the man at a game he was actually superior to him aka fisticuffs because old people are fragile and weak (except, as proven later, no)
.
 

LordCanti

Member
You watch the thing?

It wasn't that bad.

I mean, I expected Take on Me to play at some point, but still.

The entire point is that
Young Dude never had any confidence in his own actions. He couldn't trust himself to win the game, hence why he panicked and resorted to beat the man at a game he was actually superior to him aka fisticuffs because old people are fragile and weak (except, as proven later, no)
.

I would have beat that old man senseless if I thought the alternative was
being turned into a marionette.
 
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