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Should have a review of Shigurui: Death Frenzy done by this weekend at the latest. I have plenty to say about it, I'm just sort of collecting my thoughts and considering how I'd rate it on the scale.

NOICE. What will you review next good sir?

I liked it well enough. Unique concept, and it's carried out pretty well. A lot of good character chemistry. I was also surprised at just how unexpectedly funny it can be at times, it's very spontaneous and lighthearted but at the same time can switch to a more serious take on the topic at hand without feeling too unnatural. I think its short length prevents it from reaching real greatness, it feels like there's a lot more that could have been said. At this point I'm sort of thinking of it more as a quirky little gem than as something I'd deem amazing, but for what it is, it carries a decent amount of impact, and I certainly won't complain much. Works that can get a lot done in a brief period of time resonate with me.

Nice, I look forward to digging into it.

I like Eva in general, both nostalgically (it's one of the first series I ever watched) and objectively. I don't hold it up as an example of a masterpiece like some--more like a great show that's flawed on several levels, but also successful on several levels, and it's very respectable for its ambition and the ideas that it contains. As a character study, a dive into the human psyche, and a darker play on the traditional "mecha" trope, I think it's an admirable venture. In my opinion the original series started to lose itself somewhere about 3/4 of the way through. It drowned in moral exposition and heavy layers of attempted allegory that I didn't really think belonged there; I felt like its reach was exceeding its grasp a little bit. It wasn't the most subtle experience to start with, but for me some of those lengthy "Shinji is having a bad acid trip and a narrator is screaming philosophical inquiries at him" scenes towards the end were the straws breaking the camel's back. In terms of providing a conclusion for everything that the show brought up, I found the original TV ending to be entirely unsatisfying.

On that note, I think End of Eva is a more complete ending. It suffers from many of the same problems that I just described, and watching it, I can almost sympathize with the Eva detractors whose favorite label seems to be "pretentious." Though I don't support the use of dismissive generalizations, I also don't have any trouble seeing how the live-action inserts, the excessive arthouse film-grain-laden flashbacks, and the moral soapboxing could potentially piss someone off and lead them to that conclusion. But I feel like it still wrapped things up more completely and concretely than the original ending--it did justice to the characters and the plot, wasn't quite as off-the-wall abstract as the original ending, and offered a take on the themes of human interaction that seemed like a more decisive thematic conclusion when compared to the meandering and almost "brainstorming aloud" nature of the series. Like the show, it's not perfect, but I still don't have any trouble seeing a lot of good things in there.

Ah, I suspected that any choice would have been good (N --> M ---> Mushishi, S --> R ---> Revolutionary Girl Utena, H --> G ---> Gankutsuou)? Or at least, that's my best after-the-fact guess if the letters themselves had any significance.

I definitely look forward to Mushishi. Thank you :D

After much deliberation: N.

You feed my intuitive nature and are very passionate about what you watch. I like that. :3

I'm starting to read manga more. Got any recommendations? I want something thought provoking. Intricate stories and characters. Shoot me as many or as little recommendations as you'd like