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Post by UncleJager on Jul 5, 2005 10:31:05 GMT -5
Anime Cries Uncle! Vol.2 Over the weekend, I saw The Escaflowne movie, and Ghost in the Shell 2. I enjoyed watching the Escaflowne, thought I feel, that I would have been more into it if I was familiar with the series. But I think the movie stood well on it's own. The only real beef I had with it was the ending. It was sorta disconnected. The main girl, Sora was her name I think, says something about wanting to stay around, then some birds fly by she sprouts some wings, and poof she is gone. Then the camera pans upward and instead of a slow fade to the titles it just cuts to black and the titles roll. VERY BAD EDITING! Other then that I enjoyed watching the film, but I don't know if I would want to see it again, but I would watch the series to see what it offers. I have to say however, that the film did have one of the best soundtracks I've heard in a long time. It was very mature and matched the atmosphere of the film quite well. I especialy like the siren song like main theme song, the one that draws Sora over to the other world. Ghost In the Shell 2, was a mixed blessing, definatly a film that needs to be seen more then once to fully apriciate (especialy in Japanese with subtitles) There seemed to be so much information in the dialogue that it became hard to absorb it all. My main gripe about the film was that most of the 3D seemed distracting and out of place. I was also not really a fan of the Toon-shader look, and wishe they had stuck to the design of the original film. I found it to be an interesting story, and a worthy sequal, definatly something I would want to own. It seemed like this film was darker then its first instalment, but had a similiar atmosphere, but with more uncertanty to the mystery. I especialy enjoyed the relationship that the director and animator mananged to create between Bato and his dog, it felt very realistic.
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Post by UncleJager on Jul 12, 2005 9:16:57 GMT -5
Anime Cries Uncle! Vol.3 Recently I saw four Animated features (well new ones atleast) My favorite was Great Teacher Onizuka. Going in I thought this one was going to be stupid, I'm not really sure why now. Anyways I greatly enjoyed the episodes I got to see and look forward to watching the show. It was refreshing to watch an anime series that was based in real life but had a rediculesness that was far different from Simpsons or Family Guy. Watching it I always felt thrown for a loop. Next Up I saw some episodes of THe Guyver (that animated one not the live action version) what I saw was pretty much just straight forward demon slayer matterial, nothing supprising. I'm sure that when the series was new it was much more unique, especialy since many books on anime mention The Guyver when discussing the aspects of Sci-Fi anime. It was entertaining to watch once but not a series I would like to continue watching. Next on the list was Heavy Metal 2000. It was enjoyable but presented no suprises. The choice and variety of music was quite interesting though. Not only in that it was mostly not the cheezy 80's hair metal sound, but more the random segments of classical music that fit way better then any of the heavy stuff. Not something I would spend money for though. And last I watched a short work called Kite. I was already familiar with the studio (Green Bunny) that made it from another anime that I had aquired some time ago. True to Green Bunny style, or atleast the style of the director who directed both the GB films I've seen, this one was also very violent, but perhaps not as much as Mezzo Forte (the other GB film). However what threw me for a loop was tha even though Kite was maybe 45 minutes long it felt like a complete story. There were gaps but then there are gaps in almost any film. Another great thing about this film was the ending a total suprise for me. If I find a copy of this used I will certainly ad it to my collection.
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Post by UncleJager on Jul 12, 2005 18:10:10 GMT -5
Hi! Spooks had sent me a link from anime fringe about an anime called Yakitate!! Japan. It's about baking bread, and looks holarious! Anyway if you type Yakitate!! Japan into a google search you get a link labled Yakitate!! Japan@Animesuki.com where you are able to download episodes of this series in bit.torent form. I have no idea what bit torrent is and the link is restricted by company fire walls. If a bittorrent is a good thing I think it would be worth checking out to see what it be about
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Post by T. Miller on Jul 15, 2005 12:02:10 GMT -5
Saw Kite a long time ago - I liked it. I think my official review is still in the Hall Archives, should anyoen care to go look. Just keep in mind it was written almost 6 years ago.
Was up til 4 this am and watched alot of adult swim... I usually am not so big on whatever anime they show there because I prefer the original stuff instead of cleaned up and dubbed, but I like to watch every now and then to see if there's anything interesting. Aside from the fact that images of hair care products pop into my mind everytime I hear or see the name, does anyone know much about Samurai Champloo? I thought there may be some thing worthwhile there but would like to know more.
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Post by UncleJager on Jul 16, 2005 16:04:02 GMT -5
Anime Cries Uncle! Vol.4 I was three wonderfull pieces of anime over the last couple of days I don't think I will have time to write about all 3 now (lab comp is almost timed out) Anywho. Metropolis. I was turned back to this work by a AMV I saw. I was interested in it originaly but then the fact walmart sold it kinda killed most of my interest. What I really like about Metropolis was the 40's/50's style manga influence of the design. I added an interesting aspect to an otherwise well done but rather ordinary story. If I had time I would really like to check out the behind the scenes extras they had on the disc. I started watching it but then realised the time so I went to bed without diving in very deep.
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Post by UncleJager on Jul 18, 2005 9:45:46 GMT -5
Anime Cries Uncle! Vol.5 I would also like to ad the Metropolis did a very nice job integrating what little 3d they used. It was not a seemless as the Studio Ghibli stuff but still much better then some of the other works i've seen recently. Next is Memories by Koji Morimoto, Tensai Okamura, Katsuhiro Otomo. This was 3 short stories put together onto one disk. All three were distict and followed completely different storylines. Although I only found the theme of memories evident in the first story Magnetic rose. I had remembered reading about this short movie in a book on anime but I just realised that all three of these stories where atleast 10 years old. My favorite out of the 3 was the Stink Bomb the end was just a killer (xcuse the pun, for those who have seen it). Cannon Fodder had the most interesting art direction, very French/Euro cartoon style. I belive The Triplets of Bellvile use this same style in some scenes. It also reminded me a little of the character design in Pink Floyds THE WALL. Last up is Millenium Actress, a really enjoyable work. What made it for me was the two reporters being included in the flash back scenes. I had a really hard time telling appart what scenes were the woman's memories and what where scenes from her films, but I think that was the point, that her films and life became one. This was a truely mature story, focusing on a personal drama, with enough light humor to keep the viewer upbeat, and enough suttle but major plot twists to keep the viewer guessing. Overall it was a sad story, but it was not as overbearing as Grave for Fireflies that movie was utterly depressing. (although the idea of starvation and loss of hope and innocence cannot be anything else).
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Post by UncleJager on Jul 20, 2005 12:47:45 GMT -5
Anime Cries Uncle! Vol.6 I watched the new Appleseed movie last night. (I will try to overlook the fact that I thought this was the sequal to the first movie for 1988. I was really dissappointed by the movie. In some areas the plot was so thinly spread I could see the wires in the back of my monitor. I wasn't a big fan of the the toon-shader look either, some scenes where really beautiful but most felt like cut scenes for a video game. The animation was also so so, especialy when characters were just talking to each other their movements where very stiff and unnatural, and many characters had no weight and looked like they were floating over the set as opposed to in it. (It reminded me of the Sims). The animation in the action scenes was much better done and also felt much better blended. What really ruined it for me was the crapy work done on the subplots of bioroids and the general soul searching that Duennan did. Here the bad dialogue, lack of animation quality really showed. There was no belivable character development, we were just supposed to make it up ourselves and add it in ourselves. The character of Hitomi was a complete waste, she seemed very out of place and fake, like they dropped at Barbie into the movie for some reason. I'm glad I decided to watch the movie before commiting cash to buy it.
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Post by Sucosa on Jul 25, 2005 9:33:07 GMT -5
This does not really fit this topic at all but I thought I would say something here because it's old enough for us to remember it- But if any of you guys are fans of The Tick or the old Xmen cartoons- Toon Disney plays them every night at 11:00pm. I was thrilled to be able to watch the Tick again- my favorite battlecry is once again- SPOON! Also For you Aeon Flux lovers, there is a live action Aeon Flux movie coming out soon, with Charlize Theron as Aeon- This should be rather interesting to see how this one is pulled off. Wonder who is playing Trevor? Well time has come for me to slave away at my horrible job........somebody kill me now- Mondays suck.......
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Post by UncleJager on Jul 25, 2005 9:52:59 GMT -5
Anime Cries Uncle! Vol.7 I watched the First Series of Record of Lodoss Wars and Samurai X over the past week. I had already seen some of the Lodoss war stuff along time ago and I own the Chronicle of Heroic Knights series (which I did not like that much). I noticed that the original series had a plot very similar to the Heroic Knights series. Although I liked the original a little better I still thought the series lacked in many ways. I think the character of Parn was what really did it in. He is such a whiney wuss, especially for a knight, and he is also very hot headed. The other thing that really bothered me about the Lodoss Wars stuff in general is that non of the battles have any sort of epic feel to them, which they should judging by their scale. And there is really no real character development to speak of, things just happen and characters just feel one way and the other about others at random. Samurai X I was hoping was the other movie, the other darker more bloody one. I like the goofy Kenshin as well so I did not mind really that it wasn't. However, this film seems to strike a path that was much darker then the Kenshin TV series. I especialy enjoyed some of the little art direction things that they did, such as the blood being neon bright in the opening scene and then being more subdued in Kenshin's memory. And how towards the end he becomes mad the neon bright colors come back, a very effective device just because of the sheer brightness of the colors just assults your eye and you remember it or are alerted by it.
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Post by UncleJager on Jul 25, 2005 9:57:57 GMT -5
Also For you Aeon Flux lovers, there is a live action Aeon Flux movie coming out soon, with Charlize Theron as Aeon- This should be rather interesting to see how this one is pulled off. I'm not holding my breath for the film. I have generally been totaly disappointed by films made out of comics/cartoons ( I have not seen Sin City). i saw some production pictures of it some time ago and it looked like a cross between Catwoman, La Femme Nakita and Charles' Angels. There didn't seem to be any reference to the art style of the animated version. I guess it's better to have low expectations and be suprised then have high ones and be disappointed.
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Post by T. Miller on Aug 1, 2005 7:42:37 GMT -5
Anime Cries Uncle! Vol.6. I'm glad I decided to watch the movie (new Appleseed) before commiting cash to buy it. We already have it - JDIII gave us a copy of it. <Shrug>
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Post by UncleJager on Aug 1, 2005 10:10:30 GMT -5
Yeah, but it's not a very good copy and it only runs on my computer.
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Post by UncleJager on Aug 2, 2005 10:35:23 GMT -5
I watched a short film yesterday called Voices of a Distant Star. I was glad it was so short, cause it was kinda boring, confusing and not the most uplifting thing to watch when you are away from people you care about. The story wasn't too well done, it skipped around too much and I found it really hard to keep track of what point in time I was in. Also the girl character seemed to live in her school uniform in her mecha while in the military in outer space. In a time of hyperspace travel and mecha battles the two lovers kept contact through text messaging on their 2002 style cell phones. The whole story revolved around how with each battle the time the messages took to arrive lengthened, think years here. One would think that with hightech stuff like star ships and hyperspace travel there could be a better for of comunication then text messaging.
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Post by UncleJager on Dec 22, 2005 20:42:42 GMT -5
<b> Anime Cries Uncle Vol. 8 </b> I's been over four months since anyone has writen in this thread so since I watche some Anime I thought I would revive it, be it only momentarily. I watched most (more on this later) She, The Ultimate Weapon or The Last Love song on this Little Planet From the title one would think this would be a pretty lame series. However I picked it up cause I liked the cover and I recognised the characters from an AMV. The series was way better then the name would imply. Done by a new comer to the genre, Mitsuko Kase I found it to be a powerful series that was also very sad. This is one of those series that demonstrates the greatness of anime by doing something that live action film or video could never do. The character development was very strong, (that is where I feel this series shines) and all episodes where engaging but a little slow. Till about episode 8 the series is relatively light focusing on the struggle of the main characters, however the last 5 episodes really lay it on and the series turns downright depressing. I don't mean that as a negative, I thought Grave of Fireflies was one of the most depressing things I have ever watched but at the same time I feel it is one of the most powerful animes ever made, and that is how I feel about this series. Unfortunatly I was not able to watch all of the series, my chinese dvd gave up and died in the last minutes of episode eleven, however I am determined to finish it and plan to order the last disc from amazon after I get done here. From review I read the last couple of episodes do lay it on some more but also give some thoughtful and even uplifting conclusions. I highly recommend it!
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Post by UncleJager on Dec 23, 2005 16:08:14 GMT -5
to add to yesterdays review: I didn't order the series on Amazon because I could not find concreet evidance that the episodes I needed were on one disc, so today I went to MediaPlay to see if they would have it (the disc was expensive on Amazon so I figured I might as well buy it in person). To my delight Media Play was having a sale so I got the disc cheaper then I was prepaired to pay. About the end: it was different then I had expected, but that's good I like being supprised. As I have read in reviews the end does have a little uplifting to it, but also leaves you thinking. I felt genuinly sad for those people. That's all, I have a hard time writing about deeper feelings so I will end it here. I hope one of you gets a chance to see it I look forward to reading what you think.
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