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Sword Art Online: A Rant

Ever since they released the trailer for this show near the beginning of the year, I was really looking forward to this show. I really wanted a show that I could enjoy (which is scarce in the anime industry) and I was hoping that Sword Art Online would be that golden gem. Remind me to never get my hopes up for shows when they send out their previews.

There was a lot of cliches in this anime but I know there will never ever be a truly original anime so I tried to let that part slide.

The Good:
I felt that the first two episodes were very strong and well structured. The story started off well (maybe a bit rushed but that’s forgivable) and went right into the inciting incident as all animes should start. The concept art is very appealing both in the show and the cover of the novel. The soundtrack is mixed with some medieval-esque music which is fitting for the theme of the RPG. I think that the whole “trapped in a video game” thing is cool and they handle it well even though it is recycled material. (ex, .hack) They did do a good job capturing the feel of playing an MMORPG (actually I should say VRMMORPG) such as the time where they were killing the monsters to level up. It almost felt nostalgic. Well, it is Japan so they know what they’re doing. (i hope) So far, I like how the story focuses on just beating the game rather than having a complex emotional theme dragged throughout the series.

The Bad:
The major flaw that I noticed first was the flow of the episodes. The first two episodes introduced and carried out the the main story in an excellent fashion but came to a halt at episode three. It seems that after Kirito left Asuna and decided to fly solo, he meddled around with other players and their guilds. I hated episode 4 so much it made me cry due to that annoying moe girl... Then in episode 5. Paraphrase of how the “new” Asuna was introduced, “Oh look, it’s that girl I ditched in episode 2. She’s improved a lot. Didn’t expect that!” ......... You know, I was expecting something a little more dramatic like maybe they meet during battle or Kirito was required to get something or told to go see the leader of the leading guild and it happens to be Asuna. Something a little more interesting than, “Um okay, she’s in the story now. Enjoy.” Yeah....
I also did not appreciate how episodes 3 through 7 were very episodic unlike the first two. It was a really awkward transition between episode 2 and 3, it went from a nice and fluid introduction to something completely irrelevant. I understand those parts were in the actual novel, however those are just side stories that are supposed to take place after the main story begins. Yes. The main story doesn’t begin until episode 8, 2 years after they are locked in the game. So basically they threw five episodes of filler before they decided to begin the main story because they wanted it to have a chronological approach. Makes sense (somewhat) but it risks people losing interest in the show.
I also have a problem with Kirito’s character. He’s mysterious yet a boss yet somewhat of and yet a beta male. Reminds me of a certain character...
What happened in episode 2 was kind of weird with him and the sudden personality change from a pretty friendly guy to “You humans and your petty little knives,” kind of person. I believe he does it twice. In the same episode.
I feel that this anime is a bit rushed and choppy, lacking smooth transitions and flow. The plot may need more work near the end, we’ll see when the time comes.
If you’re a bit more observant during some of the scenes, you will catch a lot of animation errors. Not Persona 4: the animation bad, but bad enough that you can tell. It’s especially noticeable during battle scenes. However, this and why it feels a bit rushed may be because they had a small budget to make this anime so I am forgiving towards that.

At this rate, this anime will spin downhill and will end terribly. But the initiation of main story may bring life to the show and save this series.

Whoa. I watched it last night and dude it was like PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT.
Chitanda is a little bit annoying for me but dude Oreki. He's like Sherlock. HE IS SHERLOCK.
what.

Oh and I haven't gotten up to date with it but Tsuritama has got some serious stuff going on.

Also I think that Toyota OVAs were aired. I saw a link on ANN but I think I lost it. I'll try to find it if you want to watch it.

Okay so Mawaru Penguindrum sort of calmed down a bit (not really) but it's just steering off into oblivion. I don't even know anymore... So apparently the three siblings were sort of adopted into the Takakura family and nobody is really related. All the children were rescued from the Child Broiler where children who are ignored by society go to become invisible (THEY DIE BY BEING CRUSHED BY GEARS) Kanba is the brother to that girl who shot red balls at people. And then a whole bunch of drama that is completely unrelated to the plot happens. All the adults are evil in this anime. Like all of them. You know, they keep stressing that the plot is about "fate" but it really is about what happens to children who are abandoned or abused by their parents.

Well the missing piece was the audio so therefore it still needed something to make it feel complete. Lol I think I'm going to buy my way through Kid's on the Slope. They're published in English... somewhere.

I'm sorry.

I don't even know. It's just so strange.

It's wonderful isn't it?

Slice of Life is where the fun begins.
Hey that means I can recommend titles to you. YAY! Would you like to hear some?

Haru is so adorkable.

Yo. You watching Hyouka by the way? I see it becoming one of my favourites.

Um... Richelle?
Sh-shut up. You don't know anything.

Lee Min Ho is way better than the main selection of male Korean actors because he's a lot more manly. Like, a lot of the other actors and singers are kinda short and feminine. I like my dudes manly. He's also 187 cm tall.
YES. BOTH. OF COURSE YES. I LOVE HIM. I love all his drama roles so far. ESPECIALLY IN CITY HUNTER. His role in this drama made me fall in love with him. (And thus the beginning of an obsession...) His role in Boys Before Flowers was pretty good too. I think that's where his fame began.
His hair is so cute (PUUUUUUCHAAAAIIIII!<3) it speaks his personality through every strand. Man, he looks awesome in any hair cut. In Boys Before Flowers he had curly hair and in Personal Taste it's kind of spiky. :3
If you take a look and compare the different roles he plays, his character is always hostile towards the female love interest. I think it's one of his trademarks or something.
Him in the mud? What are you talking about. That was one of the most hottest scenes in the entire drama. Other than the ones in the sho- Ignore me...
City Hunter is one of the most expensive dramas if you know what I mean. Like, they had a really big budget for the entire production. When they were filming, it was all one shot. So if he messed up on a fighting scene they'd have to do it over again. However, they had several cameras at different angles so they would get more interesting shots. This way, I believe it adds more "action" to action scenes and makes it feel more exhilarating while still letting the scenes flow. Did I also mention that Lee Min Ho does all of his own stunts?

So I'm watching this anime about this swordsman named Rick who works (and lives) in a bakery with three other girls. And what they do for a living is baking bread for the towns people. But their bread is special, it makes people happy. One day they needed to get more ingredients for their special bread so they went to the forest to get some. As they are travelling through the forest, they stumble upon this creature that happens to look like a Digimon rip off. This creature looked really sad so one the girls decides to feed it some bread. The creature eats the bread and suddenly it is overflowing with happiness! BUT (dundundunnnn...) the creature actually belonged to a grumpy elf living in the forest! Rick and his ladies (lol) try to befriend the elf by giving him some bread but the elf disregards them and INSULTS THEIR BREAD. The bakers leave the forest and run into the elf's sister. She seems friendly so they give her some of their bread. The female elf is stunned of how amazing the bread tastes so she praises them for their efforts. After a long day, the gang decides to go back home to bake more of their bread of happiness to share with the townspeople.
This is based on a hack and slash MMO. I kid you not.

Mawaru Penguindrum in my opinion, is getting quite painful to even watch. So far I can see how they're trying to achieve an in depth meaning behind fate but really they are just repeating themselves and telling somewhat irrelevant stories while the main plot is spinning off somewhere. And the art quality is going downhill. It's like the studio gave up halfway through. Also, I've gotten to a point where I've just stopped caring about how many times Himari dies.
Oh that reminds me, I remember reading somewhere that there was this man who had a disease or something that caused swelling in his chest area. It really looked like he ha- er... well anyways... Nice weather, isn't it?

I think that the anime is actually better at achieving the mood and feeling in Kids on the Slope. I find that the audio fills in that void (LOL I said void) that the manga itself could never achieve.

Well, at the end of Sengoku Basara 2 what they were going for was to branch into Sengoku Basara 3 which are the two movies that take place after. Although they were going to continue the series they should have never insert any new material at the end (especially the last episode) of a series. It would have been okay if they had a third series to follow that up but instead they thought that movies would be better. But of course that doesn't really work. Well anyways, I've started to read this and well... let's just say it's pure crack...
Quality.


OHOHOHOHO So I see you've started to watch Tsuritama, eh? Welcome to "true slice of life" mah boi! These are the type of shows that make me happy on the insides. ^^

Shirokuma Cafe surprised me that the animals are anatomically correct.


You are watching City Hunter.
DISCLAIMER:
I claim no responsibility for any type of harassment, annoyance, physical harm and/or mental influence for any type screaming, wailing, crying, jumping in the air whilst flailing any body parts in the air and/or in general fangirling over how incredibly hot attractive and wonderfully amazing the Korean male actor, Lee Min Ho, is and how his chemistry with the female lead is. All responsibility is laid upon those who mention and/or discuss the Korean drama, City Hunter, to me in conversation who are well aware of the consequences of talking about certain fandoms with die hard fangirls. All offences can be easily avoided by not mentioning or discussing the said drama in conversation to me.

You have been warned.

Yeeeeeeaaaa first episode of Kids on the Slope!! I was quite surprised and impressed by the animation quality. It has some really interesting angles and lighting techniques. I didn't expect that. Moanin' is stuck in my head now.

Oh yes I meant to congratulate you on completing Guilty Crown.
Congratulations on wasting around 10 hours of your life you will never get back :)

and


TRON LEGACY





I finished Sengoku Basara 2 today. How dare they introduce a new character in the last episode?! What kind of sales tactic is this?! Anyways overall it was okay, not the best shonen I've seen. It had potential but I guess it didn't meet the expectations I had for it. I'm the type who prefers substance over style and the style in Sengoku Basara was over the top flashy and tacky for me. However, I like how actual battle planning and tactics were used in the progression of the plot. It was quite interesting really. I wasn't a fan of the characters who are not very memorable in my opinion. The only reason for the characters to be memorable is their physical appearance. So I can't really pick out a favourite character. (Although Yukimura annoys the burning soul out of me) It's hilarious how hardly anyone dies in this anime even though it's during the war.

I have nothing to say about Mawaru Penguindrum. Nothing at all.

I don't mind it, don't be sorry. It's better than seductive pictures of Sebastian wanting me to join their Bishie-Love club.

Ooo your getting to the part where Guilty Crown turns into the best comedy of 2011. Everything just stops making sense.
I wonder why she couldn't just use her Void instead of the wheelchair. Air Gear? Did you really read/watch that?
There are a lot of disappointed Tsugumi/Daryl shippers now....
If there was a zombie apocalypse where we live I'd volunteer myself first to feed myself to the zombies. I probably wouldn't want to live through that.

A Gundam appeared in the middle of the Sengoku period. Not to mention the flashy outfits. This has to make sense somehow. Oh well, at least it has an interesting plot dealing with actual wartime tactics.
"OYAKATA-SAMA!" * PUNCH* "YUKIMURA!" * PUNCH* "OYAAAKATA-SAMMAAA!" * PUNCH* "YUUUKIMURAAA!" * PUNCH*

If teenagers are brain dead in anime, then why are they portrayed as smarter and more important than anybody else in their world? Soon you'll start to notice the lack of adults in Guilty Crown after episode 13. Kenji doesn't get any development because the writers thought he wasn't important enough to get any so they used the funds to make pretty music and transition logos.

Yup Sengoku Basara is a video game series. It's basically a rip off of Samurai Warriors so that's why the anime looks tacky to me. I'm finding the dialogue in the anime a bit over dramatic and completely unrealistic when comparing it to the actual Sengoku period of Japan, but then again it based on a CAPCOM video game so I can't really say much.

About a week left and Sakamichi no Apollon starts airing...

You can drop Mawaru Penguindrum if you want but I'm going to finish it. I have a no-drop policy for the recent animes I've started to watch no matter how horrible it is. I only drop for serious reasons. It's really up to you if you want to drop it or not.

Can't have a mecha show without fanservice. For example, Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere (Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon).... Actually, don't even check that out. It's horrible.
I did not expect that high school student to ask that question. It took me by suprise. Like who asks that? He just came back from being interrogated by the government for crying out loud. Shouldn't they be asking "what was it like" or "what did they ask you" and stuff like that. But no just a little more irrelevant fanservice and it's all good. Seriously. Why...?
Like Daryl, Kido Kenji was one of the characters that I wanted to see but hardly any development was given. Look forward to hardly seeing Kido for the rest of the anime. I think you see him around three or four more times in the rest of the episodes.
I think there's another (and by another I mean quite a few) shower scenes in episode 17 or somewhere around there. The facts escape me.

Just because of episode 4 in Mawaru Penguindrum I'm already hating the show. Ringo. Just what and why. After episode 5 and meeting Ringo's father I've started to speculate that Tabuki is Ringo's brother but not really.

Haha that transformation scene rivals Star Driver.
Have you figured out what the survival strategy is yet?
I find the penguins fun to look at.
Right now I'm finding the plot a bit weird right now but I'm hoping ut will explain itself in the end. It's like curry with no meat.
I really detest Ringo right now. She bugged a high school teacher's room and sleeps under his house at night. I find that mildly creepy.
I bet the Penguindrum is the diary.

Hey if you don't mind, could you please send us the link for How's Moving Castle? I liked the quality on the video that we watched. Is it still in your history?

LOL the fanservice is unnecessary but to be expected. Look forward to more in later episodes. By the way, I should tell you about Shu's mother.... yeah you don't need to see that. She might appear in your next episode but I'm not sure. Unless you've already met her.
Gai. Gai....
Yeah, Shu... he's probably one of my most detestable characters. I believe that the animation is by Production I.G and they are pretty good. The animation is probably one of the best I've seen so far and not to mention the visual character designs too. The character designers (Redjuice) also have their own deviantART profile
The Void extraction was one of the flat "what." moments in this anime for me. Maybe the kid with the refrigerator void had a traumatic experience with a fridge. Perhaps it fell on him when he was a kid and he had to get reconstructive surgery.
So only important characters get cool looking voids.
Uh- oh.... looks like Sugar-baby's got something to hide... or protect?

I'm aware of the beach scene already. It's a common aspect in anime. If you think about it, almost every anime you've seen had at least a beach scene.

The bald guy is Jet. He owns the ship I believe. The dog is Ein, he's a data dog. You'll see his importance eventually.

The amazing character that is Shu...
I believe Daryl's void is called kaliedscope. It's pretty cool.

Augh, I don't want to say too much about Guilty Crown... Don't want to spoil your opinion. Oh yes I believe that there is a beach episode at around episode 7-10. Just skip parts of the video where there any form of beach. It's too painful to watch.

How's Cowboy Bebop coming along? You watching the dub or sub?

So you ask if I've seen Another. Well. I've seen parts of it. From what I know, it's basically a horror anime. Plenty of gory and bloody death scenes. Wanna watch it?It's only 12 episodes.

I'm not going to say anything. Nothing at all.

I do agree with you concerning the animation and the soundtrack. This guy did the soundtrack for Ao no Exorcist as well. They did have a pretty big budget for this anime.

Looking beyond Inori's clothes, the anime get's really cliched as in terms of fanservice but the fansercive almost disappears near the end.

If you're gonna keep watching it keep me updated with your commentary if you don't mind. ;)

I"ll remind you when the episode airs.

No problem, now how about you? Who are your favourite characters?
It's a classic. Even Daryl likes it.

BAM


Ummm the closest character to Rin that I can think of is Misaki Ayuzawa but that's a little bit far fetched.