I don't add someone to my friends list unless I either know you from another forum or I've talked to you here in some manner. If I'm slow to reply to a comment it's because I'm lazy :(
I'm 24 and I've been watching anime since I was a little kid with American versions of Macross and Mazinger Z in Robotech and Tranzor Z. I've been posting online at animeforums since 2001 under the same screen name as here. Some of you may have seen me around on other anime boards like AnimeOnDVD, AnimeNewsNetwork, AnimeNation, Anime-Suki, AnimeBoards etc My fav anime composers are Taku Iwasaki and Yoko Kanno.
Other interests of mine would be hiphop, video games, NBA, Boxing, girls, cars, clubbing, DJing, wrestling and reading.
Current Fav BGM: Omae no XXX de Ten wo Tsuke! by Taku Iwasaki (Gurren Lagann) Current Fav OST ef OST 2 by Tenmon & Eiichiro Yanagi Current Fav Anime OP: Hemisphere by Maaya Sakamoto (RahXephon) Current Fav Anime ED: a little pain by OLIVIA (NANA) Fav AMV Euphoria by Koop (RahXephon)
MAL Users with the highest compatibility with me are.. Anime:BearShare Extremely High 87.6% (111 Shared) Manga:radiantfire Extremely High 74.6% (40 Shared)
If you have a higher compatibility than drop me a line, I'm always interesting in talking to people with similar tastes to mine.
Top 25 Anime Titles
RahXephon
Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuiokuhen
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Bacanno!
Gunbuster
Macross: Do You Remember Love
Nodame Cantabile
Seirei no Moribito
Vision Of Escaflowne
SDF Macross
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Macross Plus
Cowboy Bebop
Code Geass
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Fullmetal Alchemist
Berserk
Stranger - Mukoh Hadan
Elfen Lied
True Tears
Terra e...
ef - a tale of memories
Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid
Death Note
Air
Winter 2008 Fav OP: Shana The Second OP2. Fav ED: Shigofumi. Fav Score: True Tears
Anime titles I've looking forward to for the rest of the year
Haruhi Season 2, Shina Dark, Sekirei, The Slayers Season 4, Zero no Tsukaima Season 3, Tetsuwan Birdy 2008, Ikkitousen Great Guardians, Michiko to Hatchin, Kurogane no Linebarrel, Kannagi, Kiddy Grade 2 & Detroit Metal City
What!I did not even know that there was gonna be a next season! WEEEEEEE thanks for telling me.Sure i will watch it,even if my favorite story is over (Chihiro x Renji ),i am curious about some unexplained stuff :]
Hey Westlo, Long time. Macross is still Incredible glad I decided to pick it up this season. Any shows you are looking forward to in the summer? I have to catch up with Kure-nai now that its done and maybe watch Spice and Wolf finally. Hope things are good later.
Yeah, I really need to start catching up with these series starting with Macross. ANN's discussion threads need bumping, too.
Skip Beat is the one that's now getting an anime series, right? I heard a few things after that announcement that it was very good for a shoujo series. Looked up the manga and it seems pretty interesting.
Yeah, ever since that meeting scene Grace has been much creepier than normal. She still seems pretty cool, but now she's one to watch out for. Interesting predictions about Sheryl. Can't wait to see what happens... I still haven't watched past 9, but it's all getting really interesting.
Brera's pretty awesome! :D Is he supposed to be a love interest for Ranka? (Or the other way around?)
Naaaah i am noone's fangirl :-)
But yeah i like him way more as a character.
And i find him also cuter :3
I prefer El Cazador from what i ahev been watching this season(my season,not anime season :P ),were my bf prefers Code Geass.
I dont like 2nd season of Code Geass too much,i prefer the first one.Too much nonsence fanservice.They wanna make me dislike Kallen :(
OMG. I just found out that Sheryl is 17. Wow. She totally doesn't seem her age at all (at least to me), though it's my fault for not looking it up in the first place. No laughing at me. XD
You got to take chill. I love to have discussions but not heated argument over an anime. You can't expect everyone to like the same shows you do or have the same interpretations on writing fictions. For example, I see you gave Rahxephon a 10 and I felt sick after watching that show. Am I supposed to go to your page and call you a laughable person? People have different opinions that's all.
The first season of E7 is very underrated because it clearly shows the realistic changes in Renton when he comes to term with the harsh world of adults. From the youth who thinks the outside world is full of exciting adventures in episode 1, to realizing the Gekko state is mostly a boring place in episode 3, then to episode 8 when he realizes that the world can be deceiving, that what you learned from the school and the media sometimes can be wrong. This is real learning experience and that's what a buildup is supposed to be.
In terms of Renton:
Episode 4: comes to term with the reality
Episode 5: Showing that Renton sometimes can still be brave.
Episode 6: foreshadow Renton's sister, revealing some of Renton's backstory
Episode 7: comedy
Episode 8: world can be deceiving
episode 9: people can be deveiving
ep10: developing side characters
ep11-13: you can figure it out yourself
It's funny how you mentioned harem because up to one thrid of the show, MF is nothing but harem, or to be more precise, space harem.
You also need to be cautious when using certain terms such as "multi-faceted personality" or "plot buildup". A facet referrs to a small place surface of a jewel. A multi-faceted jewel is one that has multiple plane surfaces, however all the planes are still connected and there is still only one jewel. In terms of characterization, a multi-faceted personlity is one that shows different sides of the character with connection between these sides, and the connection is driven by the complex emotions and the rational reasoning of the character. Also, multi-faceted personality doesn't mean the character has to show all his/her sides equally. There needs to be a focus, a trait that gives a memorable impression to the audience and the character change brought along by this particular trait needs to be capable of deliverying the central theme. The other "facets" are essential too, but their roles is to add depth into the character, and make the character realisitc. That's what good characterization is: complex emotions, realistic behaviors, at least one likeable trait and meaningful character change caused by the character's expereicens throughout the show. A character like Sheryl, on the other hand, spends equal amount of time showing all her sides and spends all her time doing pointless things. When I was watching MF, I kept asking myself: what is the significance of each character? After the eighth episode, I figured out there was none.
As for plot buildup, there first needs something to get "built up", such as conflicts, mystery, suspense, crisis, and so on. The first eight episodes of MF don't have any signs showing that the things mentioned above are going to be present in the future episodes. Do I sense any personal conflicts? None except maybe the harem part. Do I sense any suspense? No. Do I sense any crisis? Maybe the aliens, but somehow the show spends most of its time showing how the two girls doing pointless things with one guy. The plot thus has no meanings because it doesn't have the "buildup". One of reasons why the first season of E7 is so brilliant is that there are tons of buildup, for example the mystery of the corallians, the crisis of the impending doom, and the subtle signs pointing to the future conflict between Renton and Eureka. The buildup is a technique mastered by professional writers, which unfortunately are not the ones behind MF. And let me just say this is not the only reason by E7's first season is much more superior MF's. The characterization in MF is so not comparable to that acheived in E7 that it becomes even unfair to compare the two shows.
Sometimes the first episode can tell the quality of the show. Ayakashi Ayashi sends a strong impact in its first episode through its theme, E7 through its characters, Seed through its plot, and MF through its battle scenes which is kinda pathetic.
I've never read the Lord of the Rings therefore I'm not going to give any opinions on that book. However, the mistake you are making here is that 8 episodes are already one third of a 24-episode show whereas I'm positive that the Lord of the Rings has more than 300 pages. As far as I'm concerned, a show or a book is bad if one third of it is crap, such as MF.
"Her first words were Strawberry pie and she was giddy like a school girl when she saw Frontier."
Then I guess the characterization on Sheryl is even worse than I thought. Tell me, how is she acting like a school girl help to develop this character when throughout the first eight episodes, the impression she gave to the audience is a somewhat strong independent woman, even though the impression is not that strong? It also brings to my next point, what kind of strong independent woman would whore herself around on some guy she just met? I can only think of one explanation for this conflicting characterization: same as Ranka, Sheryl is there to attract fanboys.
I fail to see how I misunderstand the situations. Her attitude toward her fans and toward Ranka are completely different. Yet the difference between the two situations are not that great: meeting a girl on the street singing her song and meeting a fan backstage seem pretty normal to me. And that's not the main problem of the show. What is the significance of all her personas? The ultimate goal of telling a story is to deliver a theme through characterization and plot development, yet the first eight episodes are filled with these trivia little things that adds nothing to the mainstory. I seriously doubt that what kind of theme, and if there were a theme, how the theme is going to be delivered, when the plot is nothing but two girls whoring themsevels around one guy.
