The anime thread sequel (it's still not as good as the Manga though),

I really wonder why Madoka has become such a cult hit in such a short amount of time, especially nowadays when the likes of K-On and Haruhi clones are quite the norm.

Is it because it turned the magical girl genre on it's head. Did that have some sort of shock appeal?

Did it mix the 'financially safe' idea of cute and moe well with some newer, darker elements. Let's face it, it was pretty unforgiving with it's characters. Did it succeed because it took risks?

Because it had the same director as Bakemonogatari and so already had a lot of support?

Or a mix of the above?

What do you guys think, it genuinely makes me wonder.

I thought it was OK when i watched it, i should probably run through it again sometime, it's not like it's a long series.
 
Last edited:
Personally I think there were high expectations for it given the directors pedigree ... that's what brought people in. And because it was Shaft.

What kept them though was the cute characters and the dark story ... it was something different and shocking as a break away from the usual magical girl genre. The art style is interesting although not to my taste at times.

Personally I thought it was ok ... but only ok. It's a nice looking limited edition set but I can't just don't think it's worth it for me. I'll be happy with the regular edition and use the difference to buy other series. After all with what you get extra ... well I'd probably look at the printed material once, rip the CD into iTunes (although the music was that great for me) and watch the BD however many times ... so I can get 90% of my enjoyment with the lower version.

--

Been watching a couple of things ...

Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai ... I.e. the series whose name I just copied and pasted from Wikipedia. I like the series and found it just as emotional on the re-watch like my first watch of it. I like the characters and I like the simple story.

K-On! BD 4 ... last episode plus two extras of season 1. Good fun stuff and, as has been normal with the US releases, a butchered dubbed song extra ... although this one isn't quite as bad as the early ones (which means it's just terrible instead of stick-a-pen-through-your-eardrums bad).
 
Watched Children Who Chase Lost Voices ... earlier. In case anyone doesn't know what it is it's the latest film from Makoto Shinkai (5cm/s, Place Promised ...). The film was released recently in Japan on BD (with English subtitles).

The film is about a young girl who meets a strange boy and ends up travelling to a fantasy world. To say more would spoil it to much really.

The film looks very good and the sound track is really nice too. The film is more Ghibli in feel than his previous films. People who like Ghibli films and didn't like 5cm/s then they are likely to like this. It looks like a Ghibli film, it feels like a Ghibli film.

I thought it was a nice film. The only criticism I would have was that the ending felt a bit incomplete (could have done with another 10mins to wrap things up).
 
I've not had chance to watch much, I'm only up to about episode 4 of Chevalier D'Eon. Did get a chance to watch Kara no Kyoukai 2 earlier though.

In terms of overplot; the shows still heavily ambigious and running on a need to know basis, however the second show in the series does give you some character exposition on how Shiki and the main guy (I always forget his name because he looks just like Shiki in Tsukihime) met, even then it leaves some bits and pieces open. I remember the previous 'outro' mentioned this was a part one, so I'm guessing this section of story might be returned to later.

In terms of animation, still extremely impressive, the attention to detail on things like lighting looks truly phenomenal, and some of the background shots are verging on close to lifelike because of this.

Even if I dont get a huge amount out of this OVA series, it'll certainly have been a pretty watch. The dripfeed nature of information on the characters and overall plot does make me tempted to hit up wiki but avoiding that as long as possible :D
 
memyselfandi said:
Watched Children Who Chase Lost Voices ... earlier. In case anyone doesn't know what it is it's the latest film from Makoto Shinkai (5cm/s, Place Promised ...). The film was released recently in Japan on BD (with English subtitles).

The film is about a young girl who meets a strange boy and ends up travelling to a fantasy world. To say more would spoil it to much really.

The film looks very good and the sound track is really nice too. The film is more Ghibli in feel than his previous films. People who like Ghibli films and didn't like 5cm/s then they are likely to like this. It looks like a Ghibli film, it feels like a Ghibli film.

I thought it was a nice film. The only criticism I would have was that the ending felt a bit incomplete (could have done with another 10mins to wrap things up).
Click to expand...

I just finished watching this myself.

Overall, i quite enjoyed the film.

Visuals 10/10

I could watch a Makoto Shinkai film just for the visuals alone, the scenery in this film is animated perfection.

Music 9/10

I really liked the soundtrack, it had a similar sound and feel to previous outings. I really liked the ending song.

Characters 6/10

Not much to say really, they don't exactly get fleshed out, they're just the plot devices to deliver the message of accepting loss and moving on which is what the film is all about.

Story 8/10

For the most part i liked it, it was very sentimental and it had one or two teary eyed moments. The driving force of the film was a nice premise as you'd expect. It went along at an enjoyable pace for the most part. I do agree with the ending though, it should have had more to it. Japanese storylines are notoriously bad at giving a solid ending tbh.

It's a very sentimental film, as you'd expect from the Japanese style. If you go into it with that sort of mindset (or most japanese films for that matter) you should come away with a positive experience. If you want the sort of film thats set in stone with a solid start, middle and end then people shoud look elsewhere.

The entire film did feel similar to Ghibli right down to the design of the monsters which were suitably creepy as you'd expect. If you took something like Princess Mononoke or Tales of Earthsea and added Shinkai's use of music and visuals, this would be the result.

I still rank The Girl Who Leapt Through Time as the benchmark for creating a solid story with the sentimental emotion that Japanese films pull off so well.

I'm unsure of where I'd rank it alongside The Place Promised in Our Early Days & 5cm/s tbh.

Speaking of teary eyed moments, Asuna saying goodbye to the cat and then the cat dying almost brought some manly tears. Nobody likes to see a small animal die :(
 
Last edited:
I very much agree with you spoiler comment, and the rest of what you say.

I though that the architecture in general and the last of the larger monsters they encountered (the bipedal one) reminded me very much of Laputa in their styling.
 
I'm not sure I'd directly compare Children Who Chase ... with 5cm's or even Place Promised ... it's to different in style. If I had to compare it with anything it would have to be something from the Ghibli stable like those films mentioned.

I'd say that in general it compares very well with a Ghibli and has all the elements needed to be a good film of that type. The only weakness is the ending which is like 5-10mins have been chopped off the end

So the guys leave her at the pool to make her way back, but the next time we see anything is during the credits and she's happily at home with her mother. Surely we should have seen something about her journey back (seeing as the route down involved dropping all that distance through the "water"), what about the Arch Angel guys who surely would be waiting outside at the top and she'd have had a tearful reunion with her mother given she must have realised she was missing by now (not to mention that she and her teacher were missing at the same time and only she came back) ...

--

So watched the last set of Revolutionary Girl Utena over the weekend, (well the TV series, I haven't got around to watching the film yet).

So after the three sets and 39 episodes what do I think of the series ... hmmm ... well the art style is, well, rather different. Whether you get along or not with it will be a matter of taste, to me it was really a bit off in styling. The characters were not particularly likeable ... even the lead. The soundtrack, was fine, but a bit repetitive, particularly with the piece played each time the duelling area was entered.

Overall, I found that the series was very repetitive overall ... at times it was getting pretty boring with the same sort of things again and again. The level of surreality at times just left things being confusing ... combined with the art style and the generally unlikeable characters I'd struggle to recommend the series.
 
Last edited:
Watched Kara no Kyoukai 3 today. Similar thoughts to the last 2, beautiful in it's way to look at, and it's attention to detail, the overall plot the OVAs are following is still quite ambiguous.

From the preview of the next episode, they're going back to finish off the events of the 2nd OVA however, so I'm guessing things are soon going to start slotting into place.
 
Finished off Hanasaku iroha today,enjoyed that one,just my sort of series,hope for a second series but they pretty much wrapped it up at the end
So had something different for this evening to watch...the second Gantz LA film Perfect Answer.I found this one better than the first personally.
I like the films better than the Animé i would have to say
 
Afternoon all :)


I watched Eden of the East: Paradise Lost last night which I thought was very good, although I was a bit disappointed in some says, but the ending was pretty good.
Although Saki and Takizawa didn't get to stay together, Takizawa did retain his memories at the end, and it's open enough that after the end credits they may meet up again. The meeting between him and "the outsider" was good, with a quite unexpected bit.


I'm about to crumble and place an order with TRSI for their 12 days sale....
 
my finger slipped.
About 25 times....

Fortunately that included the entry of my CC details.

I ordered Nanako 6/17, Fumoffu blu (it's AB coded from what I can make out), Sorcerer Hunters and Diamon Daydreams.

I may place an order for FMP Blu but I'm not sure, so far I've been pretty good though:)
 
Haha, as I got FMP, I'm managing to resist atm. Most of the better deals are on DVDs not Blu, and I'd prefer to hold out for BD variants where possible.

Still tempted by a few, especially as I have some money from my birthday whispering in my ear :)
 
I've gotten all of my money for this month buttoned up (some for pre-orders) so I can resist getting anything from rightstufs 12 days of anime sale this year (I did fold last year and got the (now out of print) ouran highschool host club blu-ray collection) and the girls bravo complete collection).
 
ROD is one that I would possibly buy again, but despite really liking it, I haven't actually watched it again in ages :(

I also caved in and ordered FMP the first series from Amazon.com, as it was only about £16 all in for the blu set, but that is the last anime order this year
unless something really good pops up and my will power fades.
 
I have *so far* managed to resist buying anything on the RS sales (because I bought FMP from Amazon :p). That said I think my brother wants me to halves on todays Soul Eater offer. So...errr...not sure if it'll last, as I was thinking of getting it to check out anyway (and ~35 inc for both sets on BD isnt bad at all)

And don't tell me R.O.D is good, I skipped it on MVMs deal of the week a few weeks back because it wasn't one I'd heard of :( lol

(This week it's Tower of Druaga which I've heard isn't bad, but just not that good)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom