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Battlechili

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Been a while.

 

I've been watching The Big O, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Sunday Without God, and The Eccentric Family, and I'm enjoying them all quite a bit. Especially The Big O. Which has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks, meaning probably another DVD release, maybe even a bluray! :D

 

Sunday Without God is interesting and dramatic, but the main character is a little girl and I don't like little girl main characters.

 

Also, I've been watching Sword Art Online as it airs on Toonami, and i don't like it. "You're a beta tester and a cheater! You're a beater!" Bad lines like that along with character deaths that are supposed to be sad that don't get much focus and die in the same episode they are introduced bugs me.

 

 

So with all that said, if anyone knows of any good anime that make good use of the ocean and undersea creatures to create threatening suspense like that, PLEASE let me know. I crave more, but I can never find it.

Blue Submarine No. 6? I don't know...

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^

Someone hasn't been past the first few episodes of Sword Art Online apparently. Sudden character introductions and deaths don't happen all the time, but I can sympathize with your feelings that they play up the drama of characters we don't have much of a connection with yet. As far as bad lines the "beater/cheater" bit, while lame, is very short lived and isn't discussed much...but I watched the subbed version of the show and didn't have to deal with the lame dubs that probably made those lines particularly painful...in fact I'm joining the camp of "Subs only" for all animes because of the problem of things being lost in translation and just the inflection difference.

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The first few episodes of SAO are the best few episodes, IMO. There are a few rocky lines and they get off to a bit of a weird start with some of the things, but the mini-arc where Kirito joins that guild was honestly the only part of the show I really enjoyed past just liking the pretty action scenes. After that, it just becomes sorta average until the second half, where it goes straight to shit :/

 

And being subs-only is fine, but please don't turn into one of those tools who thinks there can't be any good dubs ever. As a fan of good dubs, it really irks me when people treat me like a filthy casual just because I love me some English XD

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Naah...I won't look down on someone for going dubs. I just have listened to some bad enough dubs and just can't take it anymore. Besides, I turned all Otaku mode a few weeks ago and said I'd try and learn Japanese...so the Engish dubs is counterproductive for me XD

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Thought I'd mention: Besides The Big O being licensed by Sentai Filmworks, Funimation has licensed Cowboy Bebop, Code Geass, Outlaw Star, .hack//Sign, .hack//Roots, .hack//Legend of the Twilight, and .hack//GU Trilogy. Aniplex has licensed Kill La Kill.

^
Someone hasn't been past the first few episodes of Sword Art Online apparently. Sudden character introductions and deaths don't happen all the time, but I can sympathize with your feelings that they play up the drama of characters we don't have much of a connection with yet. As far as bad lines the "beater/cheater" bit, while lame, is very short lived and isn't discussed much...but I watched the subbed version of the show and didn't have to deal with the lame dubs that probably made those lines particularly painful...in fact I'm joining the camp of "Subs only" for all animes because of the problem of things being lost in translation and just the inflection difference.

I've only seen the first 3 episodes so far. It seems fun to watch, but so far its not very smart. It gets better over time? That's good to hear.

I've seen the first 2 episodes subbed and then watched them dubbed. I thought the line was already kind of bad subbed, but the dub made it just a tad worse with a slight line change and the fact that I had to hear it instead of just read it the 2nd time around.

I'll keep watching it though. Its fun at least. Oddly, I heard the writer for SAO had never played an MMO before writing SAO.

 

The first few episodes of SAO are the best few episodes, IMO. There are a few rocky lines and they get off to a bit of a weird start with some of the things, but the mini-arc where Kirito joins that guild was honestly the only part of the show I really enjoyed past just liking the pretty action scenes. After that, it just becomes sorta average until the second half, where it goes straight to shit :/

I thought the first episode was amazing, but after that I just don't know. The show has great music though. Same woman who did Madoka Magica and .hack//Sign's music did SAO. I love it. Kind of worried about that 2nd half. I hear a lot of bad things about it.

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Mmmm.. I guess I should put out a disclaimer that I tend to like "stupid" animes (like, im talking about some 90s era stuff that's pretty cheesy), so maybe I like SAO for all the reasons you may dislike it. I guess the the show gets "smarter" later on and I think it tries to approach the question of "What makes reality 'real'?" and the similarities to 'Under the Dome' scenario which I found to be interesting, but you might find it overly dramatic. All the same, I thought it fun and a bit bummed I wrapped it up last night...

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Sunday Without God

 

I've been trying to get Steve to watch this! :C But he refuses to watch anything that is still running, he doesn't like to wait. (Though I did get him to watch SAO while it was still running)

 

For the same reason he refuses to watch Attack on Titan. :C And I can't keep up with it on Crunchyroll anymore because it's blocked in Mexico. Not Crunchyroll itself, just Attack on Titan. Ugh.

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Oooo Anime discussion. I really should explore this forum more. c: 

Hmmm as the person that introduced Srob to SAO I take pride in the fact that he's discussing it so well already.

I actually liked the second part of SAO a bit more then the first half of it. Sure the weird incest crap with his cousin/sister was weird, but Alfheim Online just seemed a bit cooler then Sword Art Online. 

Also on the topic of dubs vs subs. I tend to like Dubs of shows a bit more then subs. However when it's terrible I go and watch the subbed version instead, and on the topic of SAO Dubs vs Subs. I watched all of the subs, and the dubs that have been out. I loved all the subbed episodes. So far the dub episode actors seem to be doing an okay job and the 'beater' stuff doesn't bother me in any way. 

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My problems with the ALO arc are, in a nutshell (spoiled because, you know. Spoilers):

 

You already noted the incest aspect, but I personally don't really have a problem with that. I'd rather not start a discussion on whether or not incest is as squicky and wrong as people say it is, so I'll just leave it at the fact that incest doesn't really bug me at all. However - and this applies to the whole series, really, but it becomes really apparent in the ALO arc - Kirito is a fucking Stu to the max. I can 

kinda forgive it in the SAO arc, because he was a beta tester and all that so he did have that initial edge to pull ahead of the pack, but in ALO it just gets turned up to 11.

 

He's flying better than people who've been playing waaay longer than him, which isn't something related to his awesome stats carrying over but rather a gameplay mechanic that really should take time to get used to, and he's able to beat some of the best players in the entire game with trash equipment he bought from merchants in town. Because of his utter godmode skills, he has the leaders of the countries in the game - all of them attractive females, mind you - all over his dick and wanting a piece of him. I just can't fucking buy it.

 

Also, I get the parts of the ALO arc where Kirito is utterly opposed to the idea of dying. He's just spent the last year? More? I dunno. He's spent a goddamn long time in a game where dying actually kills you. I don't expect him to be too comfortable with dying in a game that's basically just a re-skin of SAO. But then there's the parts where other characters are dying and they play it for just as much drama as they did back when people died in SAO. It's just silly to me.

 

And to top off my rant, Asuna. I wasn't like, massively in love with her character in the SAO arc, but she was still a fairly solid, strong girl. She had some depth, too, what with her whole "Chef Asuna" thing going on, which was basically there to remind us that she was still just a girl who missed her home. To be honest, I'd probably like the SAO arc a lot more if Asuna was the main character, because she's a much better character than Kirito, IMO. But then, ALO happens, and Asuna is utterly demoted to Damsel-in-Distress mode.

 

I have no problem with damsels as characters. I have no problem with weak characters, be they male or female, and in fact I think they can be a lot more effective than people give them credit for. And, to an extent, I'm okay with putting strong characters into situations that make them powerless, since that can be an interesting contrast to their usual situations. But Asuna was, for the most part, a strong character. She was proactive, she was pretty emotionally stable despite going through hell, and she kicked ass in-game. Then comes ALO, and she gets PG-tentacle raped.

 

Granted, she has her moments of being strong, like managing to stealth her way out of her cage and steal the admin access card to drop it to Kirito, but that's basically all she was able to do. Through an entire 13 or so episodes, she was comatose IRL and getting sexually abused in-game. Even in the final fight, she basically just sat there and cried while Kirito got his ass kicked. It pissed me off. There's a right way to go about making a strong character powerless, and they did it wrong as far as I'm concerned.

 

That said, I did overall enjoy the series. Even the ALO arc was okay for the action scenes, and Kirito's performance was pretty solid. I just hate a lot of what they did as far as story goes.

 

And yeah, I'm the same way with dubs. I love me some good dub, but I have very short patience with most of them.

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Spoliers because spoilers (In response to Xort).  Oh and I liked the "turns it up to 11" reference. 

I can buy most of your arguments honestly except for the issues with Kirito's god-mode.  Since you are 'ok' with the reason why he is so much better in SAO i'll just prod at the ALO arc.  I believe much of the SAO franchise was attempting to blur a line between real life and fantasy, asking where one begins and where one ends.  At the beginning of episode 16, the ALO arc, we see Kirito/Kazuto having a sparring match with Leafa/Suguha (or for that matter when Kazuto stops Sugo at the hospital) where he is able to apply sword play skills he learned in his 2+ years of being in SAO.  He used an unconventional fighting style that he learned in game, and used it rather well....Or in the Sugo bit, he just curb stomped him after realizing he could stop him just as easily in real life as he did in the game because of the person that Sugo is (both in real life and in game, Kirito/Kazuto mentions basically how dishonorable and cowardly Sugo is, which is apparently more damning than one's in-game stats is personal character strength).  When Kazuto entered ALO, he had his in-game skills, as well as his acquired skills personal skills.  Even before he went into ALO we were informed that the game was largely based on skill of the player instead of stats (though I am confused why they kept referencing stats anyways...perhaps its a translation issue).  So I feel like they wanted to point out that his skill points saved from SAO, on top of his personal skills made him very powerful for ALO - not just some hand waving of "oh well he is the hero so obviously he is just inherently better for no well explored reason".  That being said, I will admit that maybe he learned to fly too quickly and seemed to overpower other ALfheim characters a bit too easy without much development on his part...but unfortunately for the time constraints of the story, it just wasn't possible to allow him that time.  

 

As far as dramatic deaths in ALO, I think the only time it was dramatic is if it stopped the progress of Kirito through the game.  That would be dramatic, as it would basically end his quest to save Asuna since it would take too long to get back.  I can't quite recall any other character deaths that seemed very important or overly dramatic like in SAO, but I am a bit scatter brained at the moment and am only recalling the silly drama behind trying to stop the Salamanders from destroying the Caith Sith and Sylphs that you had mentioned.

 

The creepy rape-fest going on with Asuna...yeah that was just kind of weird.  I think I would be more ok with the incest thing between Suguha and Kazuto more so than watching that bit of the last episode.  

 

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Just watched .hack//Sign episode 1. I really love CyberConnect2's work. I enjoyed it a lot!

Dat background music.

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Just watched .hack//Sign episode 1. I really love CyberConnect2's work. I enjoyed it a lot!

Dat background music.

'>

SAO approaches that question? I didn't know it did that and I'm looking forward to that! Speaking of which, episode 4 of SAO airs tonight on Toonami!

Also, I like some of the dumber cheesier anime out there myself. Think Mobile Fighter G Gundam or Tenchi Universe.

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Yuki Kajiura is a huge composer hot-shot. She's worked on soo much and not just anime, she did the music for the second and third Xenosaga games, taking over from a fantastic composer. If you listen to her stuff enough, you start to pick up that it's her composing. :-P

 

ETA: I was listening to her stuff on Youtube and one of the comments reminded me that she did Madoka Magica, too, she gets around.

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 If you listen to her stuff enough, you start to pick up that it's her composing. :-P

 

ETA: I was listening to her stuff on Youtube and one of the comments reminded me that she did Madoka Magica, too, she gets around.

 

You don't even necessarily have to listen to her stuff a lot. Some of it is just instantly recognizable. I was listening to the soundtrack for Kara no Kyoukai, which she composed, and the piano bits were so obviously Kajiura that it felt almost like I was listening to the Madoka soundtrack again, which is the only other soundtrack of hers that I've heard so far. So fucking good.

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Kajiura Yuki is one of my favourite composers of all time. Everything is always so lovely to listen to.

 

Been watching Free! and Genei wo Kakeru Taiyo. Been enjoying both honestly.

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I'm REALLY enjoying the Eva movie right now.

Watching online comments, surprised to see the number of people who don't like Asuka.

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Well, from what I remember of NGE, she is kind of a massive bitch. Understandable, considering her circumstances, but still enough to turn plenty of people off of her XD

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So I just watched Neon Genesis Evangelion, as well as End of Evangelion.

 

I don't really have anything to say about it that hasn't been said a bazillion and a half times before, but be assured, I quite liked it. 

 

Now working though Full Metal Alchemist. I've only seen the first two episodes yet, but it looks like it could be interesting.

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I've decided I need to watch the rest of the Lupin III anime series. But as it turns out I need to finish Lupin III part II since Adult Swim apparently only aired 26 episodes of the 155 episode series, but there's another series before that, then there's a 50 episode series called Lupin III part III after that, then Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine after THAT. This not counting the original series simply called Lupin III.

 

So much anime I must watch, where will I find the time?

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I've decided I need to watch the rest of the Lupin III anime series. But as it turns out I need to finish Lupin III part II since Adult Swim apparently only aired 26 episodes of the 155 episode series, but there's another series before that, then there's a 50 episode series called Lupin III part III after that, then Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine after THAT. This not counting the original series simply called Lupin III.

 

So much anime I must watch, where will I find the time?

There's also the crossover movie, Lupin the 3rd vs Detective Conan, where he meets the main characters from Case Closed.

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There's a few other movies as well, such as The Castle of Caliogstro.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pH54GsH-0M


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qgQ6k6eC2g


If she dies, I'm gonna be pissed...
I can't wait to see who her English VA will be when this gets dubbed.

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