Topic: Anime & Manga Megathread II: Smug Female Characters!
Blayne Bradley
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New megathread for new year of 2011.
Currently presenting the following series for consideration:
Skip Beat! (AKA ACTING FOR DUMMIES) Which is one of the "Newb is actually a genius at something and learns to apply it" kind of shows, in this case Kyoko Mogami was in love with showbiz Star who callously dumped her after using her as a stepping stone for his own success, declaring that there is no way for Kyoko to possibly get back at him unless she "joins showbiz and becomes as famous as he."
Famous last words, Kyoko joins a talent agency and turns out to be pretty good and actually enjoys acting.
Since her motivation is revenge this puts her at odds with rising accomplished star Ren Tsuruga (her Senpai) who to him acting is Serious Business and dislikes her drive though comes to respect her talent.
Interesting in that the chibi comedic effect art style it art shifts into when it wants to exaggerate emotion is fairly 'unique' (as in I've never seen it drawn that way before) and smooth looking and actually seemed very humorous.
Whether its a serious drama that happens to have comedy or a hilarious comedy that happens to have a serious plot is up to the view, the anime is 25 episodes long but the manga continues the story.
It's well worth a look because it does for Acting and Show business what Hikaru no Go does for go/weiqi, and what Genshikan does for Otaku subculture.
Fairly informative, very funny, and well rounded character driven story.
Interesting fact once you get to the "Dark Moon" arc it actually pulls the odd trick of making me just about as interested in the show within the show as the show itself without at the same time losing interest in the main show.
Y'know?
That and I love how they seem to deliberately pull off the ensemble dark horse trope deliberately.
Heroman: Is a anime by Studio Bones and in cooperatation with Marvel suger daddy and Hugh Hefner wannabe Stan Lee in an attempt at exporting American style superhero comics to the Japanese in an blatantly obvious but doomed to failure attempt at rectifying the US-Japanese trade imbalance.
Oddly enough its actually hard to tell if its Americanized Anime or an Anime-ized American Marvel Cartoon, it actually melds the two pretty well together. It has the plot, setup, and setting as say Spiderman but giant robo (not a mecha) instead of radioactive spider and at the same time the anime influence on the character archetypes is clear (although with American features like the cheerleader love interest) such as the influence on mannerisms (such as the eccentric professor).
Probably one of the few shows that I would be confident would do well as a dub as long as they know properly who they are marketing too and don't let 4Kids get their hands on it.
Very much thus far a reconstruction of the superhero genre, bright eyed idealist kid with his toy robot defending the American war from evil space communis- erm I mean aliens.
Hilarious as it is the logical conclusion of prolific voice acting Crispin Freeman's fears regarding, his very interesting take on, how dubbing while not hurting anime per se was having the worrying effect of giving incentive to Japanese producers to make their shows more and more generic and less "Japanese" to more easily appeal to American audiences.
And here we go, the logical conclusion is an Anime set entirely in the United States using thus far fairly accurate backdrops, clothing, etc.
If you want a fun anime thats very much within your North American comic book hero comfort zone, here it is.
Essentially if you liked, loved or otherwise even mildly enjoyed Big Guy and Rusty the Kid Robot, bingo.
Also there's the predictable but still awesome unassuming Stan lee cameo.
Dragon Crisis: Following on from above clearly the Japanese weren't just satisfied with stealing our comicbook collection but also decided to rummage through our old Dungeons and Dragons collection as well but got themselves drunk peered through their sake addled eyes spotted the 'D' section saw Chromatic Dragons and decided that a dragon themed anime was a good idea.
And here we go, the only television show that actually not only is using Western Dragons but Western obviously D&D inspired chromatic Color coded for your convenience Dragons or Red, White, Blue, Black and Green.
That can also transform back and forth to human and big scaly dragon form and can sprout wings for flight even when in human form (though curiously enough are born from an egg AS human children and then when they are old enough can turn into a dragon or back again).
Not seeking to end their grave robbery there although this is typical of anime the dragon characters are fully sentient and come across as very arrogant possessive humans who desire the McGuffin's of the series the "Lost Precious" which are basically any magic item that happen to exist in the world each of which has a nifty power that only special people called "Breakers" can use.
There appear to be two rival organizations "The Society" that wishes to collect and research these artifacts 'FOR SCIENCE!' and some other shadowy organization led by a Black Dragon 'Fang' that wishes to collect them all, probably to destroy humanity but it is hard to tell.
As we can see it took its D&D inspiration and ran off with it into Anime territory as far as it could reasonably could.
And you know what I thoroughly enjoy this series to the point I'm currently trying to figure out if the Light Novels are in english yet as it is clearly setting itself up to the plot to kick into high gear for a second season and the characters interest me enough that I want to know more.
The draconic fanservice, the adventure action, the character development, good voice work by Kamiya and Kugimiya and the interesting villains all work together here to make something thoroughly enjoyable.
Not a gag series like Squid Girl by any means, it seems firmly half comedy half action adventure.
Very much a Action Adventure Boy Meets Girl series.
And finally for this week, the golden crown jewel of 2011...
[u] Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika[/u]: Otherwise what Neon Genesis Evangelion did for the Mecha genre THIS did for Magical Girl genre.
In short the writer FEEDS ON YOUR FEAR and DESPAIR (Despair!!!! Watching this anime has left me in Despair! (is a reference to SZS*)).
Stop looking at me like that, go see Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha and you'll like the genre too and know what to compare this AWESOME series to.
On first glance it looks like your standard magical girl flare except with Studio Shaft artwork and Hidamari Sketch character designs.
And then you learn who is writing it Gen UROBUCHI.
Writer of Fate/Stay Zero and Saya no uta.
Warning: Will scar your children for life, also MAY contain AWESOME.
Where to begin without revealing spoilers?
Well the animal mascot is creepy and downright Faustian.
The show LOVES symbolism and immagry, if you are an architecture buff or student the backdrops will give you an orgasm.
The school classroom seems to be based on an actual Austrian prison (glass walls, go google it), and the series just in the artwork alone also seems to give off this dystopian vibe to it that although Shaft being SHAFT we may be overthinking things.
In the world there are Witches, evil creatures that are basically Elritch Abominations and nightmare fuel and their familiars that seek to feed off of humans causing them to commit suicide.
Combating them are Magical Girls (called Magical Girls, "Mahou Shojou") who in order to recieve ANY miracle from the Kyubei (the above mentioned animal mascot) which can be ANYTHING they want they have to become Magical Girls to fight the Witches and recieve "Grief Seeds" that purify their soulgems.
The show is a deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre, which is why its pretty much the single most popular series right now over at ADTWR (the anime subforum at SA).
The fight scenes (two words: MUSKET KATA!!!! two minutes in.) are awesome, well animated and show Shaft's usual drug addled ridiculousness to their extreme of good taste to the point it makes full circle and is awesome again.
The art, the music, the characters, the story is dark, its a deconstruction, aimed at the same demographic as Nanoha and generally has little girls acting like total bad asses.
Whats not to love?
Also episode 5 or 6 has a girl playing the opening theme on DDR which is cool.
I watch each episode and get incredibly pissed that it's already over, it just doesn't FEEL like 23 minutes and then i get depressed that I need to wait a whole week again.
WATCH THIS SHOW! At least watch the first THREE episodes, it's a 13 episode series and is well paced, the first three will let you know if you like it.
Also Madoka's mom is the coolest mom in fiction, strong, independent is a career woman and not afraid to advance her career and has some of the coolest lines, the mother-daughter interactions are sweet.
"I can't wait until I'm old enough to get drunk with you mother." Ha hah, awesome, so sweet.
Oh and I almost forgot, one more show.
Wondering Son or Hōrō Musuko is a very serious story that touches upon key LBGT issues of gender identity and is the story of a girl who wants to be a boy and a boy who wants to become a girl and their friendship and their friends and struggle with these issues.
Or trap dates reverse trap, take your pick.**
The artwork is fantastic, the music is nice and ipod worthy and the characters act "real" to me.
The only downside is that it's only getting 13 episodes and had to start "in the middle" of the story, it has a very large manga source material of alot of chapters that established the characters and their relations.
Which the anime sorta skipped over, watch the anime see if you like it and then check out the manga.
*Sayonara Zetsuba Sensei **It was funny the first time I read this I swear.
Next week: GOSICK, the story of the female Sherlock Holmes, and a take that lesson to Lemony Snicket that not ALL adults have to be stupid for the plot to advance.
posted
You make things sound so hard, Blayne. It never had an official English release, just so you know. The Mirror moon translation is the only thing. It's not great, maybe, but it's a labor of love and it gets the point across, even if it mistranslates a few things.
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Blayne Bradley
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Well that's what I meant, if its not availiable at MangaGamer then I'ld get it from Mirror Moon.
Just finished Heroman and it was awesome, even played the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann soundtrack for the last 5 minutes, the situation called for it.
Best American Anime made in Japan ever. Sure there's quite a bit of animeish trappings in it but its so well melded together with more traditional Marvel Comic book trappings that it's hard to tell where the american comic book begins and where the Japanese anime starts. Y'know?
They put alot of effort into it thats for sure, if I ever meet Stan Lee I'ld tell him I loved Heroman and could appreciate it coming from both directions, they did just about everything right.
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And in unrelated news everyone with an interest in anime should give Madoka Magica the Three Episode Test, it is officially the best anime of 2011.
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posted
Do tell. Why do you like it, specifically?
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Blayne Bradley
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Carameldansen or Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magicka?
I'm assuming the latter, aside from already describing it further up basically its a serious anime that seems to be about overcoming adversity and to keep at it no matter how bleak things look (kinda like 'Here and There, Now and Then' another deconstruction anime).
Firstly it's highly enjoyable from the perspective as someone who is already fairly familiar with the genre even if princible through Magical Lyrical Shoujou Nanoha because it either subverts or deconstructs every trope in the genre, everything is off-putting (in a good way) you the audience is constantly forced to try to find magical girl tropes to find comfort in and either they're not there or they've been twisted and scary in some uncanny way.
Next its a genuinely good series on its own merits its gorgeously imaginative, beautifully written and animated in ways only Shaft can do it and wonderfully atmospheric.
Just about every episode is a wham episode starting from episode 3 (the first two required to provide setup) and will genuinely leave you craving for more and actually going "wtf why is it over already!? It couldn't have been 20 minutes."
Seriously, that's the common reaction between me and most of the other people discussing the series.
The fight scenes are awesome, and take on a whole new meaning at episode 10 and everyone has their own distincting fighting styles that are cool to watch.
This is a series that will genuinely make you laugh, cry and gasping for breath.
Besides, magic flintlock muskets, what's not to love?
Give the first three episodes a go, the first scene in the first episode should catch your interest as it starts with a fight scene and cool music and imagery.
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posted
How about I say what it is more simply: it's to it's genre what Bokurano is to giant robots. With Foust thrown in.
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Blayne Bradley
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Technically yes, but that's overly simple, and wouldn't mean much to those who haven't seen Bokurano and only a brief skimming of NGE.
The question though is, will you see it?
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posted
I didn't ask you to sell it to me. I asked you what you like about it.
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Blayne Bradley
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About half the purpose of the thread *is* to sell it to people, half the point of liking and talking about something is to get other people to like it as well so there can be an equal discussion.
You didn't answer my question either.
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I never said I hadn't seen it already.
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Blayne Bradley
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Maybe I'm reading the tone wrong but you sound fairly evasive while being fairly noncommittal in your responses.
To put it in contrast I'm putting effort into multiparagraph posts going into detail about these shows while you made a one sentence non-answer that implied, well, looked like; I'm not accusing you of anything but it does look suspiciously like you didn't read the original post.
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Dude. You are failing to read me so very hard. I am under no obligation to match your word count. And if you listen to what I just said, I think meaning would be obvious. I have seen the show, dude.
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Blayne Bradley
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Sorry, but it wasn't clear, also I didn't say you had to "match my word count" only that I was observing that your participation was oddly short, asking me to put forward alot of my thoughts without very much contribution in return. It's a discussion thread not a blog.
When I asked you, instead of saying "I dind't ask you to sell it to me" maybe you could have said "yes I did see it, here's what I liked about it." Or "I don't have time to discuss it just right now but I did see it."
It is not unreasonable to ask for something.
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I have bad news for you, Blayne: At best, your new favorite show has been postponed. They said something about self-restraint.
If previous episodes are any indication, and I believe they are, the devastation they already showed suggests that showing the new episodes now may very well be in poor taste.
I have no idea what's going to happen with the dvd release, though.
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Blayne Bradley
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Why wouldn't I already know? I'm in SomethingAwful remember
Actually the reason Gen urubuichi gives is that they needed more time to polish episodes 11-12 for broadcast, which being Shaft Being Shaft (aka moncolored placards with text-Shaft) is mindblowing.
It'll be broadcast the week after, no biggy, I got 200 episodes of Legend of Galactic Heroes to muddle through.
In the meantime, enjoy my brainstorming for a Music-centric Magical Girl show.
quote: Depends though, would they use the instruments as weapons or is the music itself weaponized (insert reference to the subwoofer never supposed to being weaponized in real life either)?
Maybe it could be that her 'team' are the musicians and by them playing music the Magical Girl powers up with it and then uses normal (but powered up via music) to defeat the recurring monster of the week. We would then have a justified reason for the theme tune power up! (like in Soul Eater)
Okay so, each Magical Girl would have 1-2 friends each on average with a different instrument/style and performs "on site" as support, les yay subtext/fanservice optional.
Then to defeat the bigger more powerful enemies not only do they teamup, but the support also teams up in one megaultra ad hoc concert (for fun the semi useless comedy character can be the one to provide subwoofers and amps at the critical minute to boost it).
Basically kinda like how Transformers was one giant excuse to sell toys, this could be one giant excuse to showcase different amateur jpop bands looking for a soft debut and change the support cast semi regularly for different bands.
Assuming some talented writer/directer knew how to take this and make it mindblowing I'ld totally watch it.
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Blayne Bradley
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Madoka Magica is officially the best series of 2011.
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It's on hulu. Dubbed and subbed. And the dub is quite good(especially when you consider that they have to accent their voice), and it sort of makes sense to watch it english voiced because it takes place in New York/Chicago.
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