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amphibian, on 22 December 2010 - 05:53 PM, said:
I never liked Evangelion. It was too mired in its own mythos and pathos to catch on with me. I have no idea why it connects so strongly with people. The main character is worse than Hamlet in being paralyzed by self-doubt.
Same here. That's why I could never get overly enthusiastic about series like Evangelion or Bokura no. Too much emo-ness and overblown pathos give me stomach ache. (Although, weirdly, I always felt sympathy for Hamlet...
) Speaking of pathos and its off-turning effects, I will risk mentioning here that I probably suffered severe internal bleeding whilst fighting my way through Claymore... :s Now THAT series literally oozed with sticky weltschmerz and angst and wouldn’t have appealed to me even in the deepest, darkest era of my teenage years. I am still puzzled by the fact that it has such a fanatic following – even among some of my grown-up friends...
D`rek, on 28 December 2010 - 06:00 PM, said:
Ergo Proxy - Unlike everyone who mentioned it above, I don't recommend this show. Or, watch the first few episodes and then stop. As soon as the antagonist leaves the city the show follows him instead of the original protaganist and the tone changes completely, imo becoming much boringer. Nothing is explained in the actual episodes, so instead there's little explanation episodes that are completely disjoint from the rest of the show (one of which is the characters randomly appearing on a game show to test their knowledge of their own show, explaining everything they didn't explain in the actual episodes here, etc.)
Agree and disagree at the same time. I agree that the series (in particular the plot) suffers immensely in the second half up to the point that it becomes almost unwatchable (I like to pretend that episodes 15 and 19 were never made), but there are still some enjoyable moments in there that would be a pity to miss – like episode 16, “Dead calm”, which is IMO the most brilliant episode in the whole series and can be seen as a witty and intelligent, standalone short study of mutual (mis)perceptions that define our relationships with the opposite sex.
Also, I would not hesitate to recommend this series – probably with a warning about the sad deterioration of the plot somewhere after episode 10 – because, all weaknesses aside, this anime is a visual eye-candy, with an interesting concept, rich background universe and well developed characters, and I think those few well done episodes are still good enough to tip the scales in favour of watching the series, against all the disappointing mess that comes later on.
D`rek, on 28 December 2010 - 06:00 PM, said:
Azumanga Daioh - Unlike most of these series, which go for epic futuristic plots and events, this is more of a sitcom. It's about a bunch of high school girls, but they're all quirky or eccentric in their own way and the humour is just the right amount of random. The subtitles of the opening sequence contains the phrase "everyday the fluffy temptation of wheat", though I have no idea how accurate of a translation that is.
worrywort, on 02 January 2011 - 07:02 AM, said:
Azumanga Daioh is cuuuuuuuuuuuuuute to the nth degree, but also takes cute schoolgirly anime to some of its most bizarre extremes. It is often hilarious and occasionally quite touching along the way.
When it comes to Azumanga Daioh, I always feel like the odd-one-out among my friends. They revere the show, I hate it. :s I can’t really put my finger on what it is about the series that annoys me so much – it can’t be the silly humour or “bizarre extremes”, to quote Worry’s words, otherwise I would have to hate Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei as well, which, surprisingly, I don’t. But I really don’t get what, in that show, is supposed to be cute or funny...
Shinrei, on 31 December 2010 - 01:13 PM, said:
Studio Ghibli, just about anything is good.
To each their own, but I would argue that Gake no Ue no Ponyo was very weak, and that Gedo senki was atrocious... :s
Shinrei, on 31 December 2010 - 01:13 PM, said:
I need a new manga recommendation for japanese reading practice. Anyone?
Maybe you could try Uehashi Naoko’s Moribito series? I haven’t read the manga, but I loved the Seirei no Moribito anime series, so Mr. B brought me the novels. They are marketed as children’s books in Japan (although YA lit might be a more fitting description) and, according to Mr. B, the language they’re written in should be no problem to handle, which makes them good material for reading practice. When I manage to win the battle against my chronic lack of free time and finally get to read a few chapters, I’ll be probably able to tell you more...
This post has been edited by Dag: 02 January 2011 - 01:23 PM
