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Wraith
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Austin, Texas, USA
Aug 1999
time: 23:22
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--"This is an interesting site: "
Ran across that one a few weeks ago. Seems fairly accurate, although not amazingly so. It is still in the early test stages, though.
--"Anybody seen Spirited Away yet?"
Not the dub, but I've seen it subbed (thanks to the R2 DVD). Excellent movie. Lots of Japanese myths and legends are invoked, but it should still be very watchable without knowing about them.
Also, call the theater if you are interested in seeing this. There are some showing running subtitled prints instead of the dub. I've also heard that the dub is actually quite good.
--"I downloaded the first couple of episodes from the donkey"
They're on DVD in the US you know (*nudge nudge*).
--"I just rented the Lodoss War 2-disc series set from Lackluster and wasn't very impressed."
Not sure you really fit their target demographic, which would be fantasy RPGers. The series is based on some books which were based on actual RPG sessions. For people who played a lot of games like AD&D it's a fun trip.
--"Dammit, I haven't heard of any of these!"
Interesting. Several family movies there.
Whisper of the Heart is an excellent movie, about a young girl who pretty much accidentally finds an antique shop near where her father works. She spends some more time there and encounters a young boy (his grandfather runs the shop) who's studying to make violins. The story goes a lot further than this, but you really should watch it if you get the chance rather than have me spoil the plot. Might be hard, there's no R1 release yet.
Spirited Away is in theaters now so you can go watch it 
Ruronin Kenshin OVA is pretty good. Story of a warrior in feudal Japan who is one of the top swordsmen around who gets mixed up in some of the politics, then tries to get out of it. Again, this description doesn't do justice to the story, but do avoid this dub.
You'll find this listed as Samurai X in stores and so on. Another company got the TV series, so there was some conflict on who could use what title. Guess who lost?
Laputa is one of the ones I haven't seen yet.
Voice of a Distant Star is actually an indie anime. One guy did the entire anime on his home PC, and he and his wife did the voice acting. It was later picked up by a studio, who redubbed it. It's quite a good story, best described as mecha shoujo concentrate (think Gunbusters condensed to one episode and you won't be too far off). The animation quality is great, too. From the backgrounds and characters to the mecha movements (even firing reverse thrusters) and warp effects. Good stuff. ADV licensed it for R1, so it'll be around sooner or later.
Wraith
"Every time I look at your scar I wonder what the person being slain has seen."
-- Tomoe
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SnowFire
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New York City, NY
Jan 1970
time: 00:22
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Hmm.. Miyazaki films seem to take these lists. Before I realized that I forgot to rate it, Naussica was on the list (not a bad guess, but wrong.). I've got a nice mirror with my 4 Miyazaki films I've seen; Nausicca was a failed experiment, while Princess Mononoke was Nasuicca done right; Laputa was a terrible movie from the depths of the Abyss, while My Neighbor Totoro was its complete opposite, being awesome.
Whisper of the Heart (Mimi wo Sumaseba)
Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi)
Porco Rosso (Kurenai no Buta)
His and Her Circumstances (Kare Kano no Jijou)
Banner of the Stars
And btw, being that dubs came up before... the other dub that I think is clearly better than the sub is Ranma. I mean, my roommate watched it subbed, and it's just not funny. They translated the jokes properly in the dub, so maybe Kuno was quoting famous Japanese poets or something, but it just doesn't work unless he's doing random Shakespearean style. And the voice actors are all great too.
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Wraith
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Austin, Texas, USA
Aug 1999
time: 23:22
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--"loinburger and I must have very similar tastes..."
Looks that way.
Banner of the Stars is another one I haven't seen. It should be out on DVD in R1 soon, and I will be getting it. I've seen the first season of this series, Crest of the Stars, and it's quite good science-fiction.
--"Perfect Blue, Princess Mononoke, Cowboy Bebop, and Lain"
Hmm. Well, Princess Mononoke explains the three other Miyazaki movies ^_^ Not quite sure how they got Kenshin out of that, althought it is good (and violent).
Spirited Away, btw, is also to some extent ****ed up. Sort of Arisu in Wonderland.
--"Miyazaki films seem to take these lists"
Well, you like one, you probably like at least some of the others.
--"Porco Rosso"
I quite enjoyed this one. Have the R2 DVD. Miyazaki again, this time the main character is a seaplane pilot in the Adriatic who's now working as basically a bounty hunter (set around WWI I think). He just happens to have been cursed to look like a pig.
--"His and Her Circumstances"
I've seen part of this. It was quite good, although I understand they catch up with the manga towards the end, at which point the quality goes down and they don't really get a resolution. However, it's rather unique among anime romance stories simply because the characters get together early on, and the rest of the show is about them coping with a releationship. Interesting characters.
--"I saw an ad in the Chronicle that it comes somewhere in the Houston area next Friday."
Yeah, this one's actually getting a little publicity. Like Mononoke, it isn't breaking any box office records, but it's doing incredibly on per-screen sales.
I'm trying to update my profile on that predictor right now. Half the things it had for recommendations were things I've seen Y(=^_^=) It's just running slow.
Edit:
Wow, that took a while. He's added quite a number of titles since I last looked.
Banner of the Stars
- Makes sense, I did quite enjoy Crest of the Stars and I have some other sci-fi shows very highly rated (Infinite Ryvius, which was on the recommended list until I updated it as watched)
Ocean Waves (Umi ga Kikoeru / I Can Hear the Sea)
Laputa: The Castle in the Sky (Tenkuu no Shiro Rapyuta)
Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (Kaze no Tani no Naushika)
- These are all Studio Ghibli works, which again makes since, since all the ones I've seen got high marks.
Memories: Magnetic Rose
- Never even heard of this one. It seems to be one part of a thee-piece compilation, although the three pieces don't seem to have anything to do with each other. It does sound interesting.
Wraith
"Go ahead...do it....drink me."
-- Inaho ("Master of Mosquiton")
Last edited by Wraith on 26-09-2002 at 09:46
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SnowFire
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New York City, NY
Jan 1970
time: 00:22
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Well, you like one, you probably like at least some of the others.
Well, two. PM & MNT.
As for Memories, it's a group of 3 smaller features, and Magnetic Rose is the first (and best) one of them. Magnetic Rose is a bit of a slow starter, but it gets better, even if it is ultimately a Star Trek (TOS) episode. The second mini-movie in Memories is so hideously awful (to my tastes at least) that I could not stand to watch it all, I left 3/4 of the way through. Let's just say that comically inept villians are fine, and comically inept heroes a la Inspector Gadget are fine, but mega-stupidly inept characters that the show thinks is a hero but is in fact a mass-murdering villian don't work for me, thanks (Haha! All the tanks trying to save Tokyo from destruction blew up because Nobuo's a moron! Again! Ha! Ha!). The third part of Memories I didn't see (obviously), but I'm told it's nothing special. A picture of a society based completely around war, basically, kind of a blandified 1984.
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SnowFire
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New York City, NY
Jan 1970
time: 00:22
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DanS: Fanservice is the term for, er, gratuitous nudity pretty much. When you have two average shows competing amongst each other, one can often get the edge by being racier, alas. Generally the worse the show, the more they add fanservice to try and make up for it (although there are certainly bad shows without it, too). Also, it afflicts some genres worse than others, for obvious reasons. And some shows have a good excuse for their content, too. But it's not too hard to tell when that latest skirt blowing up was pointless.
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Wraith
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Austin, Texas, USA
Aug 1999
time: 23:22
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--"Yeh, I know."
Medetashi medetashi
--"Just to confirm, the Japanese version has English subs?"
Yes. All the Studio Ghibli R2 DVDs seem to. All the ones I've seen, anyway.
Edit:
Decided I'd be more specific. I know for sure that the Spirited Away DVD does, so as long as you buy from a legitamite retailer you'll be fine. I've been using AMO Tokyo for R2 DVDs.
--"What is "fanservice"?"
Technically, it's anything done to please the fans of the show. This ranges from the little references (like seeing a stuffed Totoro on someone's shelf in the show) to the kind of nudity SnowFire mentions. Most of the time it's used to refer to the flesh-factor, although this ranges from panty shots or tight outfits up to nudity.
This is, understandably, rather more prevailent in shows targeted at teenage boys.
--"especially since some of the titles listed are (borderline) Hentai"
A couple of them aren't borderline at all.
Wraith
"I like you. Want to be my guinea pig?"
-- Washu
Last edited by Wraith on 27-09-2002 at 03:23
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Wraith
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Austin, Texas, USA
Aug 1999
time: 23:22
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--"I'm seeing Spirited Away this Thursday at a special sneak preview."
Going to give us a mini-review?
--"I just finished the first five episodes, and damn. Dark is right."
Well, five eps in this should be pretty obvious, but it does get darker.
There are some other good dark shows on the way, too. Infinite Ryvius and Saishuuheiki Kanojou (My Girlfriend, the Ultimate Weapon) are the top two, although I don't think the latter has been licensed yet.
Edit:
Almost forgot to mention this, but US Manga still hasn't said anything official about the End of Evangelion DVD problems. Early hints from them make it look like they'll be doing replacements through the retailers, but only for the miss-pressed discs. Looks like, as usual, they'll refuse to acknowledge their encoding problems.
Wraith
"Because ten billion year's time is so fragile, so ephemeral... it arouses such a bittersweet, almost heartbreaking fondness."
-- ("Now and Then, Here and There")
Last edited by Wraith on 03-10-2002 at 19:15
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DanS
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Kickball Capital of the World
Jan 1970
time: 00:22
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Yesterday, I got my Evangelion box set, but I'm somewhat confused, since they don't seem to match up with what I rented through Netflix or even what I dl'ed on the internet.
Three discs for something like 30 eps (instead of 5/disc like Netflix). Region 0. Dolby Surround (Netflix's was a stereo mix). Subs were subtely different (better) in a couple of places. I think there were even some very slight modifications on music, although that could have been the mix. Not worse or better, just different.
Sound quality and picture quality are the same, except the menu on the box set, which sounds flakey--almost like somebody recorded the music using a cheapo sound card through analog.
The box itself was almost entirely in Japanese, but the reservation of rights was in English. Oddly, it didn't say anything about who the copyright holder was. The box seemed genuine, although not really that impressive.
Is this a ripoff?
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loinburger
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Sweet Sauce Jones
Jul 1999
time: 00:22
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quote:
Originally posted by Wraith
Well, five eps in this should be pretty obvious, but it does get darker. |
I finished the remaining episodes tonight, and didn't really see it getting much darker. That's pretty much a judgment call, though -- in my book, rape is much worse than kidnapping (of course with the implied rape involved, but that directly results from the explicit rape already played out, whatever), but really it all kinda blends together near the end. Bottom line, though, is that it certainly doesn't get any cheerier...
Shouldn't have had a six-pack before watching the last episodes. Pleh.
I'd still say that Cowboy Bebop is more depressing, though. Lain and N&T,H&T both build you up to the moderately depressing ending (what other kind could you possibly have?), but Bebop is more along the lines of "Oh hey, here's some light-hearted episodes about bounty hunters on horses or whatever have you" followed by "Oh yeah, this show is still depressing as all hell, sorry to get your hopes up." It doesn't prepare you at all.
Next on the list is "Key." Just gotta get paid for landscaping first.
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Wraith
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Austin, Texas, USA
Aug 1999
time: 23:22
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--"I wasn't able to go."
Too bad. It's a great movie, and worth going to see even if you are alone. Hope you get a chance to see it before Disney stops running it (once again, they're not really putting any effort into promotion).
--"Shouldn't have had a six-pack before watching the last episodes. Pleh."
Heh.
--"I'd still say that Cowboy Bebop is more depressing, though."
Really? I didn't find the end to that one depressing at all. This was closer to cathartic than depressing, and it definitely doesn't come out of nowhere.
--"Next on the list is "Key." Just gotta get paid for landscaping first."
Another good one. The second-to-last episode is a bit long-winded, but other than that it's a good series. One of the creepiest villians you'll ever see, too. Fits the dark trend you seem to be in, as well.
Another title you might want to check out would be Boogiepop Phantom. Odd title, interesting use of non-linear storytelling, good show.
Or, if you're in a fantasy mood, Berserk. Quite bleak, although what's been made so far doesn't finish off the story (just a story arc, more or less). Another season is supposed to be in production, though.
For a different (less gory) fantasy mood, check out Shamanic Princess. 6 eps (single DVD), although you have to like the Clamp character designs (heavy on the big eyes).
For movies, check out Jin-Roh if you haven't already. One of my favorites. It's got a lot of influence from the pre-Grimm Brothers version of Little Red Riding Hood (and if you know about the pre-Disney, much less pre-Grimm, fairy tale then you'll understand why it'd be dark).
You might also want to keep an eye out for news on Saishuuheiki Kanojou...
Wraith
"Why do they even live if they all die anyway?"
-- Moto Tonomura ("Boogiepop Phantom")
 Attachment: saikano.jpg
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26-09-2002 02:07
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