Anime/Manga Aficionado's Lounge! II

[Len Ikari145]

I really hope that this will warrant a (canonical) appearance of Gogeta.

Basically, "We want to be cool and seem like we're in on something nobody else is by criticizing someone popular and acclaimed". Especially when the directly reference him as "untouchable" it really makes it come across as that.

Maybe next weak they'll tell us how the Beatles were hacks.

Yawn.

Even the Nostalgia Critic and Roger Ebert don't label Miyazaki films as "bad" or even mediocre.

Has Tsukune even lost a fight even with the power of friendship backing him up?

Before he became a Ghoul/Human/Shinzo Vampire hybrid abomination? I lost count. When he actually gained some control and started training(or just went Berserker on people's asses)? I don't think so.

[Kevin M.]

No. No. Sorry, but no.

You can argue that some Miyazaki movies are better or worse than others, but one does not simply say that Hayao Miyazaki movies are bad. That is like saying there is no anime that is good. This is where the very concepts of "good" and "bad" breaks down and become meaningless. I know you can find flaws in anything if you stare at it long enough, and I know internet reviewers aren't actually in the business of liking things. But this is taking it too far. This is where my suspension of disbelief gives up, takes its savings and runs away to Australia to start a new life.

There is no way I can take this seriously.

How much of it did you listen to?

[Sound Silence]

Has anyone here been keeping up with Soul Eater?

I haven't kept up on that one in forever.

[Dark Soul # 7]

Has anyone here been keeping up with Soul Eater?

I haven't kept up on that one in forever.

I have.

For quite some time now a huge battle has been taking place on the moon and it's currently down to the main characters duking it out with the big bad. Last two chapters have been freaking awesome in terms of action scenes. So it's moving towards its end.

[blackpariah]

Vividred Operation- Okay, so far this show has 4 separate ending animations with 4 ending songs? Just how large is this studio's budget?! I thought the anime industry wasn't in the best shape and here they are throwing money around. Looks like next episode we may be getting VividBlack? If she gets a key, I'm expecting some serious trolling of the main team.

[blackpariah]

I also watched a show this week called Another. Small town horror story about a cursed high school class. It's really good! After the first three drawn out psychological episodes, the curse kicks into high gear and it becomes Final Destination: The Anime. The deaths in this show are ridiculous. It's not necessarily overly gory, just very intense. Someone will just be walking along or talking to a friend, and then something out of the Twilight Zone happens. Blood everywhere. Even the beach episode turns for the worse! It's 12 episodes and the last two are insane. I definitely recommend it.

[Eternal Torment]

Oh, man. I remember the pie edits for Another.

[GrampaGen]

How much of it did you listen to?

Currently I'm about an hour in, and this comes off more of a contrary rant for its own sake than anything else. Here's a few points here and there I feel compelled to examine:

- Sweeping panoramic shots to create a sense of awe and sensationalist wonder

What, isn't that the point of movies, especially animation, in the first place? Yes, story and characters, unquestionably, are the primary reasons to take in stories, but to take this point and expand it to "Miyazaki is an arty Michael Bay to pretentious environmentalist hipsters", just because there's effort in the backgrounds in a visual storytelling medium in which that is the way that worldbuilding is done is chucking out the baby with the bathwater. Things to see and be awed by, how dare they!

- Sameface characters, lack of personality and can't remember any of the characters' names

Ghibli is infamous for their simplistic character designs - and IIRC the man himself has the excuse that it's like using the same actors - but minutes after going in depth into this point, they then contradict themselves by stating 'well they don't have the same type of character in each movie'.

Bam. Problem solved, in the context of an individual narrative. No two characters act alike. They look like Plain Janes, but that being the source of the derision is moronic.

Simply, this point is the result of not paying attention with a closed-minded outlook going in. They're not memorable characters to these two fools...because they consciously choose not to listen to dialogue for names or perceive the characters beyond their archetypes. They demand that characters ought to "fill a role with style", otherwise they are "banal as fuck" and lacking in individuality, drawing comparisons to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, the villains of Dragonball Z and Bleach for this sort of thing.

So these character designs and personality are burned into your memories...by spectacular indulgence.

- Princess Mononoke's environmentalist message is storyboarded and drawn on paper = HYPOCRISY.

Gee, did you fudge your shorts when you found out about Captain Planet too?

- Spirited Away

...eh, yeah, I didn't like it that much either.

Currently they're on a textbook snarky Libertarian tirade about the pitfalls of textbook snarky Liberals regarding the smug attitude over the logging industry, organic food, and feel-good pablum, complaining about self-absorbed aggrandizing assholes. *snrk*

So what's the point here? Well, the thesis isn't properly stated at the beginning of this podcast. While Ghibli's later body of work from the early 00's and currently are kind of lackluster, there's nothing here but the compulsive need to tip some sacred cows, and they didn't do a very good job.

Regardless, thanks for stirring the pot, Kevin. Wacky POV, but somewhat interesting - if not exactly enlightening.

[Dark Soul # 7]

I have to say that I'm really enjoying Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru for its oddly complex harem love story, engaging characters and genuinely touching character moments. The humor and beautiful animation also helps.

[Kevin M.]

Currently I'm about an hour in, and this comes off more of a contrary rant for its own sake than anything else. Here's a few points here and there I feel compelled to examine:

- Sweeping panoramic shots to create a sense of awe and sensationalist wonder

What, isn't that the point of movies, especially animation, in the first place? Yes, story and characters, unquestionably, are the primary reasons to take in stories, but to take this point and expand it to "Miyazaki is an arty Michael Bay to pretentious environmentalist hipsters", just because there's effort in the backgrounds in a visual storytelling medium in which that is the way that worldbuilding is done is chucking out the baby with the bathwater. Things to see and be awed by, how dare they!

- Sameface characters, lack of personality and can't remember any of the characters' names

Ghibli is infamous for their simplistic character designs - and IIRC the man himself has the excuse that it's like using the same actors - but minutes after going in depth into this point, they then contradict themselves by stating 'well they don't have the same type of character in each movie'.

Bam. Problem solved, in the context of an individual narrative. No two characters act alike. They look like Plain Janes, but that being the source of the derision is moronic.

Simply, this point is the result of not paying attention with a closed-minded outlook going in. They're not memorable characters to these two fools...because they consciously choose not to listen to dialogue for names or perceive the characters beyond their archetypes. They demand that characters ought to "fill a role with style", otherwise they are "banal as fuck" and lacking in individuality, drawing comparisons to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, the villains of Dragonball Z and Bleach for this sort of thing.

So these character designs and personality are burned into your memories...by spectacular indulgence.

- Princess Mononoke's environmentalist message is storyboarded and drawn on paper = HYPOCRISY.

Gee, did you fudge your shorts when you found out about Captain Planet too?

- Spirited Away

...eh, yeah, I didn't like it that much either.

Currently they're on a textbook snarky Libertarian tirade about the pitfalls of textbook snarky Liberals regarding the smug attitude over the logging industry, organic food, and feel-good pablum, complaining about self-absorbed aggrandizing assholes. *snrk*

So what's the point here? Well, the thesis isn't properly stated at the beginning of this podcast. While Ghibli's later body of work from the early 00's and currently are kind of lackluster, there's nothing here but the compulsive need to tip some sacred cows, and they didn't do a very good job.

Regardless, thanks for stirring the pot, Kevin. Wacky POV, but somewhat interesting - if not exactly enlightening.

No problem.


Max, and Cody usually are a magnet for controversy on that site but do have some some interesting points, or champion the less popular opinion with normally good talking points. That's not to say that some of the stuff they've said has caused me to tilt my head, and wonder why from time to time. I would recommend checking out some of their other podcasts. You may not agree with them, but they will make you think...or at the very least, get an reaction from you.

[Kevin M.]

A friend suggested that Icheck out Bokurano.

I think I'll give a whirl latter tonight.

[Guy1]

I have.

For quite some time now a huge battle has been taking place on the moon and it's currently down to the main characters duking it out with the big bad. Last two chapters have been freaking awesome in terms of action scenes. So it's moving towards its end.

Have they punched him in the face yet?

[Hazard]

Medaka Box:

Well, that's certainly a Fresh ending.

It also explains what happened to the other protagonists. The guy killed them.

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai:

Sena, you're becoming a wonderful child molester.

Yozora, another step on the path of yandere.

And these are supposed to be the main heroines...

Rika break under the might of the Black Dragon and Yukimura was a reverse trap all along instead of a trap.

[Dark Soul # 7]

Have they punched him in the face yet?

They have not yet had the chance since Chrona ate him and he just assumed control at the end of last chapters.

[Nik Hasta]

I haven't listened to it but this point piqued my interested a little.

- Sweeping panoramic shots to create a sense of awe and sensationalist wonder

What, isn't that the point of movies, especially animation, in the first place? Yes, story and characters, unquestionably, are the primary reasons to take in stories, but to take this point and expand it to "Miyazaki is an arty Michael Bay to pretentious environmentalist hipsters", just because there's effort in the backgrounds in a visual storytelling medium in which that is the way that worldbuilding is done is chucking out the baby with the bathwater. Things to see and be awed by, how dare they!

Without even touching the frankly disingenuous idea that it's somehow wrong to have impressive visuals in a cinematic medium; these guys would presumably hate the works of Makoto Shinkai. Miyazaki has nice backgrounds and good art design, sometimes even incredibly beautiful stuff - the shot of that random house on the island in the sea that is a purely incidental shot in Spirited Away for example - Studio Ghibli know how to make stuff look good.

However, Shinkai's work is on an entirely different level. The sense of colour and the sheer depth of the shots in a Shinkai film far outstrips most of the Ghibli canon. It's hard to communicate through text...



If you haven't watched 5 Centimetres Per Second before, I would recommend it highly. As noted, it is an intensely beautiful film.