The last thing we watched, cartoon/animu edition

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
I seem to remember a thread about how season 2 was so bad or something that the writers refused to have their names credited. Eh, either way, I enjoyed the manga enough. Not too interested in the anime, especially since it sounds like they either cut out maybe a third of the story or sped through it.
Well, season 2 certainly has the feeling of a season where they ran out of manga so they had to make something up. Its not terrible, just... contrived.
 

Ezekiel

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Finished Rose of Versailles again. One of my favorite parts of the tragedy (and there's a lot) is the few narrator lines at the end, telling that
Fersen became a cold-hearted lord back in Sweden years after Antoinette's execution, which he in part caused by loving her and helping to incite the hate of the commoners, and being murdered by his subjects.

I forgot that a lot of what happened was even more horrific. What we do see and are told is in good taste.

It's weird how everybody just loves Oscar de Jarjayes, including the little prince. Reminds me of that two word phrase everybody started using after Star Wars VII. But she's a great character in a great show.
 
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Dalisclock

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Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

So in order to keep introducing my 4 year old to the finer things in life and because I wanted to watch a new movie with her, we watched this together. She loved it, despite some bits I was worried would scare her and it was the first time I've seen it in years. For me this movie is weird, because I'm also a big fan of Castle in the Sky and I keep feeling like the movies are very similar to each other. After watching them nearly back to back I can see why, because they have a lot of things in common: Both show a post-apocalyptic world with airships and WW2 technology, both have a foxsquirrel and I'm pretty sure some of the music is the same too. Also, Mark Hamill plays a Jerk in both of them, though here he doesn't get quite as much screen time or billing as Castle in the Sky.

It holds up really well, and in fact, I feels like considering it's themes of the planet healing after a ecological(likely nuclear in nature) catastrophe, it feels like it hits harder considering the current ecological devastation we're seeing and going to see in the future. I haven't read the Manga, apparently it's even darker and reveals a number of important things that the movie didn't(the manga wasn't even close to complete when the movie was made), notably that the Ohm and the toxic jungle/sea of corruption was bioengineered to clean up the planet after the 7 days of fire and once it's work is done, the jungle and ohm will die so humans can reclaim the planet, but since humans are becoming adapted to the toxins that might also be bad for humanity. Apparently Hideaki Anno worked on the film, doing the God/Giant Warrior stuff, which explains why they look and feel like Evangelions, or more accurately, why the Evas look like God/Giant Warriors. And while they don't show up very often, the few minutes they are shown is quite impressive(particularly during the credits when we see brief snippets of the apocolypse/7 days of fire)
 

BrawlMan

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Batman: Gotham Knight - The Batman version of The Animatrix. It takes place in the Nolanverse, after Begins, but before The Dark Knight. There are 6 shorts and there all good. My personal favorites are "In Darkness Dwells" , "Work Through The Pain", and "Deadshot". With "Deadshot" being the best. There are some weird continuity errors when lining it up with the live-action movies, due to different art styles and voice actors. Kevin Conroy does voice of both Bruce and Batman in all of the shorts, so that makes beyond more than enough. Another weird continuity thing is Ramierz (an expy of Renee Montoya), one of the cops who dislikes/distrusts Batman in TDK, has admiration for him in the shorts she appears in. This comes off as out of character and does not line up right, because she is one of the corrupt cops on Maroni's payroll. There is actually a novelization of this movie that retcons Ramirez, and makes the character Montoya. Which makes me wonder, why didn't they just do that in the first place? So whenever you see the short, "Crossfire", just pretend its Montoya and not Ramirez and the character works so much better.

Oh well. Good anthology movie, and something nice to put in-between the Nolan Batmanverse, if you plan on marathoning all of the movies. Or even better if you want to treat them as stand alone.
 
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Bob_McMillan

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Batman: Gotham Knight - The Batman version of The Animatrix. It takes place in the Nolanverse, after Begins, but before The Dark Knight. There are 6 shorts and there all good. My personal favorites are "In Darkness Dwells" , "Work Through The Pain", and "Deadshot". With "Deadshot" being the best. There are some weird continuity errors when lining it up with the live-action movies, due to different art styles and voice actors. Kevin Conroy does voice of both Bruce and Batman in all of the shorts, so that makes beyond more than enough. Another weird continuity thing is Ramierz (an expy of Renee Montoya), one of the cops who dislikes/distrusts Batman in TDK, has admiration for him in the shorts she appears in. This comes off as out of character and does not line up right, because she is one of the corrupt cops on Maroni's payroll. There is actually a novelization of this movie retcons Ramirez and makes the character Montoya. Which makes me wonder, why didn't they just do that in the first place? So whenever you see the short, "Crossfire", just pretend its Montoya and not Ramirez and the character works so much better.

Oh, well. Good anthology movie, and something nice to put in-between the Nolan Batmanverse if you plan on marathonning all of the movies. Or even better if you want to treat them as stand alone.
I quite liked that one short where Bats tries on a force field thing for bullets but decides not to use it after it ricochets. With Batman you always have to wonder why he doesn't just become Iron Man, so it's nice when they explain why he doesn't escalate things.
 

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I quite liked that one short where Bats tries on a force field thing for bullets but decides not to use it after it ricochets. With Batman you always have to wonder why he doesn't just become Iron Man, so it's nice when they explain why he doesn't escalate things.
Love that character moment in "Field Test".
 

TheMysteriousGX

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Well, season 2 certainly has the feeling of a season where they ran out of manga so they had to make something up. Its not terrible, just... contrived.
It's the exact opposite actually, which is why a lot of people are calling it bad. The second season splits off from tha manga around chapter 52 and montages it's own anime ending, while the manga runs to chapter 181.

They speedrun the manga via montage
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
It's the exact opposite actually, which is why a lot of people are calling it bad. The second season splits off from tha manga around chapter 52 and montages it's own anime ending, while the manga runs to chapter 181.

They speedrun the manga via montage
The ending montage is fine, its the events leading up to it that feel contrived.
 

Bob_McMillan

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Tried watching Super Crooks on Netflix, which is an anime set in the Millar-verse. Or at least, the same universe as Jupiter's Legacy, if anyone remembers that show from last year. Interesting premise and huge budget for the animation, but after giving it three episodes I wasn't very interested in continuing. Great animation isn't always capable of making up for lame characters and writing.
 

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The Adventures of Tintin (2011) - My God this movie is awesome! Based of the comics and animated series of the same name, Tintin is about the self-titled character going on an adventure. Tintin buys a 17th century ship model, but it holds a valuable clue that leads to a secret. There are those that are after him to gain the clue. Yet why? I won't spoil the mystery. I got to give to Spielberg, Peter Jackson, and Edgard Wright for this wonderful master piece. Special credit to the motion capture and CGI animators from Weta Digital. The CGI animation and motion capture is so captivating that the movie itself almost looks live action in several shot or characters without going towards uncanny valley territory.

The action and chase sequences are insane. Highly choreographed and animated; these sequences are all taken of the best care. Spielberg is someone who greatly knows how to craft action scenes and when and where to transition. He can do this in his sleep. Their sense of scale, suspense, laughter and a sense of humor. Yet it never gets obnoxious, nor the bad kind of stupid. After looking at this movie and seeing how the chase sequences and action set pieces are: Tintin (2011) is hands down, the best Uncharted movie ever made. In terms of the action and spectacle. Don't ever bother watching the "official" Uncharted movie once you see this. Better yet, don't get anywhere near Sony's shitty shit stain of a silver screen, if you never bother to watch Tintin. There are so many other options available

There's no lost civilization and both of our heroes aren't highly parkour skilled, but they still got the skills to move and adapt. So it's the #1 spot in that regard. The creator of Indiana Jones directed this movie, so it makes a lot of sense. This has been Spielberg's dream project since the late 80s and early 90s. Castle in the Sky, you're in the #2 spot now, but that does not make you any less awesome . See this movie. if you're looking for a Indie/Uncharted/Serial Movie fix. The movie is a high full price. Big recommendation.

You hear all that @Mister Mumbler?
 
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Piscian

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I binged Hit Monkey this week on Hulu. It was quite good and self-contained. It's 10 episodes and serves as a mini-series. Essentially a Monkey is haunted by an obnoxious hitman who inadvertently caused the death of the Monkeys tribe while being cornered by a task force sent to eliminate him. The two have to work together to uncover who was behind the entire plot and gain vengeance for the monkeys family as well as redeem the Hit Man. It's just compelling enough to be binge worthy and the art and music get progressively better with each episode. While not explicitly spoiling anything, as this is a Marvel show several japanese comicbook heroes and villains make appearances. It took me two episodes to really get into the show as its unclear in the first what the tone of the show is or where it's going. I recommend at least sticking with it for 2 episodes if you're not sold on the first.
 

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I finally finished Jojo Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable. I have to say, this is in my top 3 of the Jojo series. Part 2: Battle Tendency is in my one spot. DiU is in my 2nd spot, but that might change my mind when I finish Part 6. I like Part 3, but it drags and has too many monster of the week episodes with simple gimmicks. Also, Jouske I find better than Jotaro, though the latter works better as a mentor character here. It's seems the even numbered parts having better pacing. Though I have not watched Part 5 yet.

What I do like the Jojo series is despite what flaws they have, and most don't have the bad trappings of the genre. There is no DBZ power level bullshit or dumb upgrades that become useless with the next fight or villain. Despite coming from shounen, most of the Jojo series avoid the bad trappings of the genre. Action is more about out thinking and outwitting your opponent(s). Not just constantly screaming and punching everything (though there is plenty of that too depending on the season). Part 4 also has better development of its main and supporting characters.

There is not much else for me to add right now, but I am glad to be able to finish it. I took a break from it at the time.
 

Drathnoxis

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Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

So in order to keep introducing my 4 year old to the finer things in life and because I wanted to watch a new movie with her, we watched this together. She loved it, despite some bits I was worried would scare her and it was the first time I've seen it in years. For me this movie is weird, because I'm also a big fan of Castle in the Sky and I keep feeling like the movies are very similar to each other. After watching them nearly back to back I can see why, because they have a lot of things in common: Both show a post-apocalyptic world with airships and WW2 technology, both have a foxsquirrel and I'm pretty sure some of the music is the same too. Also, Mark Hamill plays a Jerk in both of them, though here he doesn't get quite as much screen time or billing as Castle in the Sky.

It holds up really well, and in fact, I feels like considering it's themes of the planet healing after a ecological(likely nuclear in nature) catastrophe, it feels like it hits harder considering the current ecological devastation we're seeing and going to see in the future. I haven't read the Manga, apparently it's even darker and reveals a number of important things that the movie didn't(the manga wasn't even close to complete when the movie was made), notably that the Ohm and the toxic jungle/sea of corruption was bioengineered to clean up the planet after the 7 days of fire and once it's work is done, the jungle and ohm will die so humans can reclaim the planet, but since humans are becoming adapted to the toxins that might also be bad for humanity. Apparently Hideaki Anno worked on the film, doing the God/Giant Warrior stuff, which explains why they look and feel like Evangelions, or more accurately, why the Evas look like God/Giant Warriors. And while they don't show up very often, the few minutes they are shown is quite impressive(particularly during the credits when we see brief snippets of the apocolypse/7 days of fire)
I liked that movie a lot when I watched it, became one of my favorite Ghibli films instantly. I'd like to read the manga some day, but I have trouble getting around to reading manga.
 
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evilneko

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Any Precure followers in the house?

Tropical Rouge Pretty Cure, episode 40: Even Laura called out the predictability of this episode. I don't blame her. The whole series can be fairly summed up as "Like Smile, but Not As Good." IMO. It's the first season I've considered dropping since I started watching Precure a few years ago.

On the less disappointing, less colorful, but no less magical side: The Faraway Paladin is still gud. Will stronk, but not too stronk. Menel best bro. And Bee is criminally adorbs.
 

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I decided to watch JBBA: Stardust Crusaders over the weekend. It's fun and good, but has pacing problems; especially in the first half and the monster of the week format. Once the group gets to Egypt, the show gets better and moves at a much faster pace. On my rank list of Jojo shows, I don't find it better than Battle Tendency nor Diamond is Unbreakable. I have not watched Part 5 yet, and may start on my day off later in the week. And Stone Ocean is looking to be in at least my #2 spot now, beating DiU.

  1. Battle Tendency
  2. Stone Ocean
  3. Golden Wind
  4. Diamond is Unbreakable
  5. Stardust Crusaders
  6. Phantom Blood
 
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