Did you know that Hitler is actually in MAL database?
Favorite OPs
Driver's High (Great Teacher Onizuka)
Cautionary Warning (The Legend of the Black Heaven)
Seishoujo Ryouiki (Rozen Maiden Traumend)
Maigo Inu to Ame no Beat (Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei)
FALLING DOWN (Higashi no Eden)
Favorite EDs
Dear Future (Mawaru Penguindrum)
Ride on Shooting Star (FLCL)
Fantasy (Un-Go)
Hikari no Rasenritsu (Rozen Maiden Traumend)
Yume no Naka no Watashi no Yume (Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita)
Top hated and disliked shows
7. Zero no Tsukaima - Is a commercial show, but I feel so bad about how this anime's potential is wasted.
6. Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu - Except the movie. They didn't play it seriously to a sci-fi.
5. Code Geass - A boring and soulless "strategy" show. If you love this, you don't know what is a good anime.
4. Highschool of the Dead - The authors wanted to make a serious story, but the editors required fanservice.
3. Guilty Crown - The most bad played, cliché and soulless show ever. Will probably ruin the anime world.
2. Mirai Nikki - "Born" as a error. There's no "future view" for real. The most flawed show in the anime existence.
1. ChäoS;HEAd - There's nothing more annoying than watch 11 of 12 episodes of true shit.
Random friend request are always reject, except if you talk with me first and we have a meaningful talking. And why would you want to talk to a boring person like me? I'm warning beforehand that I can make you write like hell.
If you don't want to, stay away.
If you think I'm a kind of underrater and don't agree with any of my rates, check my tags. I give to every "completed" and "dropped" show a enjoyment score, followed by the actual critic score, what I give using my rating chart.
Or even better, talk to me, except if you're afraid of the word torrent.
Well compared to Mushishi, the level of depth CCS ventures into with the Clow Cards is disappointing in comparison. That being said, I tend to feel that these two series had distinctly different goals. For one, Mushishi was specifically concerned with the very mysterious nature of the Mushi and their origins of life. On the other hand, CCS focuses much more on the interpersonal relationships between its cast and functions more as a slice of life slowly tracking Sakura's growth. However, compared to most mahou shoujo titles which generally make the monster of the week into a glorified punching bag, the small amount of insight given toward the nature of the Clow Cards does add another layer to CCS. It's an area I give the show a bit of credit for, since it's an aspect which rarely receives any attention in other mahou shoujo titles.
While I tend to agree with the criticism that the large episode count does sometimes drag events out a bit longer than is needed, it's a minor complaint overall since the content remains great overall. The slower pace may make the series a bit less compact, but it actually lends itself quite well to fleshing out the subtleties of the character dynamics. It's true that the dialogue may not be the most varied or creatively written, but it's certainly expressive enough in fleshing out the character's relationships and at the very least not dumbing down the material like many other kid's shows do.
Overall, when held up to the standards of perhaps more mature titles such as Mushishi or Haibane, it's no surprise that CCS does seem a bit lacking in comparison. While I try not to assess a show's worth solely on its genre, I tend to make an exception for mahou shoujo titles since they operate on a much narrower set of formulas than other works. As a result, I feel that CCS is one of the best examples of a traditional mahou shoujo title, for the reasons I've outlined here and in the spotlight thread.It's fine if you feel otherwise, but if you were to induct one mahou shoujo which you feel is the best representation of the genre, then which would it be?
Finally, this might sound like a surprise but my minimum score for voting "yes" on CnC is actually a 6, though ultimately it depends on the title. There are some works I might not think much of, but are exceptional enough in certain respects that I'd still vote "yes" on them. Conversely, there may be those I scored higher but vote "no" on if they were produced extremely well but aren't really innovative.
Hey, since it's been months since we had an actual conversation on MAL, I was wondering what you thought about Jinrui as a whole? Also, how are you finding Robotics;Notes as well?
Great, good to see you drag your sorry ass back here. Now hopefully I'll see a reply from you before the end of this year.
Anyway, I wrote out a reply about Tatami to Cyrus earlier so to save time and effort I'll just copy it here. Still kind of curious as to why you only gave it a 7 though.
The first thing that really made Tatami stand out in my mind was undoubtedly its visual style. Madhouse and Yuasa really nailed this aspect almost flawlessly in my mind. There was so much thought put into them that they effectively conveyed and expressed more than the dialogue could alone. The vibrant colours coupled with Yuasa's signature surrealism really brought every scene to life. But beyond that, the artistic direction was successful in expressing what the characters were feeling. Even when the characters weren't in the picture, the way situations were represented often reflected their state of mind, making it far from just being "for show". Overall though, I really can't complain about anything in terms of the artistic direction since it isn't everyday you see a wall of boobs in any film or anime.
Now, as for the actual content of Tatami, it was presented in a very innovative manner. At first I was a bit worried about the whole "endless eight" approach, but there was plenty of variety and alternate choices in each episode that this quickly became a non issue. My main complaint with the format of the show in the first half was that the resets at the end of each episode halted further development, but that was resolved in the second half. Tatami really took off for me during the arc involving Watashi's dilemma involving three possible love affairs. What was great about the arc was how well structured all of his options were. You had the dental hygienist who was basically his only link to reality, the lovely dutch wife who was his platonic obsession, and the penpal who basically fed into his self-image and imagination. As the series continued to progress, Watashi literally fell into the loop of despair, slowly losing his humanity and coming to terms with a very negative view of the world. What I also really appreciated was how Tatami chose to portray his descent in a very normal manner. Since most of the series was narrated by him, he never came across as a crazy person, and the whole account felt very believable.
The script was also an area where Tatami excelled at as Watashi's ramblings along with some of Ozu's lines really added a lot of character to their individual personalities. While the cast was extremely varied and diverse, I did wish that there was a bit more time taken to develop some of the relationships between some of the characters; specifically Watashi and Akashi. This was probably more of an issue with the format of the show, since the resets essentially halted any development towards a more in depth relationship between the two characters. However, on the other hand one could argue that Akashi was more of a goal for Watashi. She was ultimately the solution that lay right in front of him, but he couldn't find the internal drive to take that first step and ask her out. In that sense, her role makes more sense and that may have been more along the lines of what she was supposed to represent.
While there weren't any glaring flaws with Tatami, it's format and approach did leave a few things to be desired. Though in the grand scheme of things, the final product wasn't severely impacted and it remained very cohesive with the themes it presented. Overall, it's definitely an 8.5/10 and makes me wish I could achieve that rose-coloured campus life (unless I've already attained it).
I've only played Tales of Vesperia for a couple of hours, and when we're talking about Tales games, or even J-RPGs in general, that's very little, haha (they're all so freaking long, you know). Anyway, it was really nice and really had a great "Tales feeling". You really should watch the anime movie (it takes place before the game, I think) if you like adventure animes, and besides from its genre it really is great in general.
I'd love to play Tales of the Abyss (I may have mentioned it earlier). The anime was interesting but it really lacked something. I can imagine, though, that the game is great, 'cause I've heard nothing but great things about it. I'll download it later for PS2 emulator on PC, hehe. :)
Haha, I also write down small things on my iPhone, mostly for the purpose of looking 'em up later when I've time.
If possible, I always use an Xbox 360 controller for PC games, especially when it comes to 3rd-person-shooter, as mentioned. Also, you really need more precision when playing FPS games, and that you can't even compare between a controller and keyboard/mouse. So I prefer the PC when it comes to those games. But nowadays, the only FPS that I play is Battlefield 3, and that I only play together with a friend, not very often, though. Like you said, there aren't many interesting games out there, at least not many that keeps me continue playing 'em for very long. xD
I just started playing Guild Wars 2. Looks alright this far, but I haven't got to play it too much yet. Hehe, but even this early I can see that I don't have this urge to play it 24/7. xD
Yeah, I guess you're right; you may have mentioned your favourite games already, but my memory isn't very good sometimes, hehe.
I'd also give Twilight Princess a 9, or even an 8. Nice atmosphere yeah. Probably the best Wii game I've ever played.
Wait, I thought you really liked Fragile Dreams? At least that's what I thought from reading your earlier thoughts about it. This means you're not really making your favourite games list based on scores but game experience? If so, that's a really interesting thing. Many games that I've played, that I've loved playing, I've thought seriously about, thinking stuff like: "this game's really not that good, but I still enjoy playing it very much".
Haha, really love your thoughts about GTA: San Andreas. xD
Imo, Rock Band has better songs in general but I think the game experience is better when playing GH, at least GH3. When playing the other games it felt like it had lost its past feeling when being played, so I put 'em on the same level as Rock Band, and I'm even considering the feeling when playing Rock Band to be better. Anyway, GH3 had the best feeling when being played, imo. :)
Maybe it's a better thing to rate the whole series, putting together RB and GH like you did? It's just that I really loved GH3, hehe, so I just mentioned it alone, but I think it's maybe better to generalize itas one great experience (all games in the two series, that is).
Got a friend who loves GoW. I've played GoW2, I think, and it was pretty nice, but I've not played very much, so I shouldn't say things about it yet. Besides from that I believe it's probably a pretty nice game. ^^'
Quote: ...all these managed to create a strong nostalgic sensation in me...
That's probably what favourite games are all about. Not the score that you give it. Hm, but even though I didn't think a game was very great in general, I still give it a high score if I had a great time playing it, this makes up for a whole lot of thing, imo.
You mustn't feel like that. I think it was a pretty nice message, great length. Me, however, probably wrote too much, and most of it is probably shit, haha. Scrolling up now and this messages looks kinda long already. Take your time. xD
Hm, wallpapers... Mostly I just search for 'em on Google and look through all the pictures, but the best wallpapers that I've ever found are usually from sites like "http://konachan.com/". There are sub-websites to this website, or whatever it's called, haha, that contains great wallpapers, as well. Hm, and in the past I found many great ones from "http://www.minitokyo.net/", I think. What about you? :)
Just finished Mushishi, btw. It was great. Gave it an 8, but earlier I was pretty sure I'd give it a 9 or 10, but I didn't think it was worth that much in the end. I'll watch the live action very soon. Not sure if we can discuss more about it, 'cause we've said pretty much already, I think.
"...my way of living/thinking is pretty much scattered, so much things I do and think I forget in matter of seconds.
Haha, it's exactly the same for me!
Yeah, the same for me. Always had my periods of different games.
Well, you keep on playing 'cause you find it fun, and inbetween you find other things that you just happen to prioritize higher and occupy yourself with that instead till you feel like playing the other game again, obviously. ;)
My favourite games?
Hm, all of 'em are pretty much retro, haha. But among my favourites are: Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES), Golden Sun (GBA), Super Mario Bros. 3 (SNES) (maybe I should count in Super Mario All-Stars here, 'cause it's in that game I played it and all those games in it are pretty good), Chrono Trigger (SNES), Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) (most ol' Zelda games are pretty good), Donkey Kong 64 (N64), James Bond 007: GoldenEye (N64) and Pokémon Crystal (GBA). All these and some more are games that I really love. All by Nintendo, haha, and that's mainly 'cause I was too much of a hardcore Nintendo fanboy as a kid. I never got to play that much on the PS.
No PC games? There may be some, but none that I can remember right now. Among newer games I'd probably take Dragon Age: Origins. But honestly, I can't say that I've ever seen a REALLY great game lately, not as great as the ones that I mentioned above. At least not according to me. Maybe I can add GH3, 'cause it was really entertaining. xD
So, which are yours? I was thinking of a top 3 or 5, but it's so hard to decide among the games that I mentioned above...
I always try to watch and then judge animes seriously, but that's not always easy when an anime suck balls, haha. So, it's like mostly the good ones that I've rated pretty fair.
When you've watched pretty much you learn what kind of shows you should avoid. I'm currently avoiding some harems that are doomed to suck balls and many shounens.
I actually remembered about the Mushishi live action as I sent my last message, so I downloaded it. Okay, just 2-3 episodes? Well, that's like 60 min plus drawn-out stuff and maybe even original work.
A longer OVA episode or movie would indeed be pretty interesting to see, as they've got much more material to work with. :)
Ah, okey. Haha, I'm updating stuff the second I've watched/read it. Using MAL Updater for animes, though, so that's no bother. For mangas I just press the +:es in my manga list right after finishing a chapter. I'm mainly doing it to keep track of how much I actually watch every week, and it looks pretty healthy, and the amount is stable, according to me. xD
I also had my periods of endless GH/RB playing sessions, hehe. It ceased, though, as I got kinda tired of gaming in general, and now I ain't got it no more. But I must say, I never really got really tired of GH/RB. Just loved mah fingers mashing the buttons with inhuman speed together with nice music, haha. Always played some when I got home from school before.
That I've done too many times, hehe, opening up the PC, that is. And yeah, actually that has solved my problems quite a few times, with no fucking idea WTH was actually wrong with it, haha! Sometimes it may've just been some loose wire, you never know and it's not always that you notice it as you open your PC but have it solved as you disconnect everything and then rebuild it.
Sometimes I feel way too kind when rating an anime, too. 10 really means "best thing evah", but I've still got almost 20 10s in my list (note that I've watched almost 500 animes). But the main reason why I've got so many 10s is that I've picked animes that I know had great scores, and I've liked most of 'em.
I think your scores are great. I'd love to be able to give shows those scores that you give. I mean, your rating scale is lower than mine. You're more strict when it comes to rating a show, I guess. But that I can't really say for sure as you've got half the amount of animes that I have. :P
The problem ain't that I dislike Aria - I actually liked the 1st season pretty much 'cause it felt so nice and calm, made my heart warm, haha - it's more that I suddenly stopped watching after starting 2nd season, for some reason, and then I totally forgot about it and couldn't really bring myself to pick it up soon enough.
Hm, maybe not a full show with solid storyline would fit Mushishi, I'd rather like to see a movie ~2h. What would it be like? I'd imagine it having 1-2 cases of mystery involving Mushi. It'd just be some drawn-out case. Take any case from the anime and extend it. I can imagine it, but it wouldn't be as good as all those short cases, I guess. But never say never!
Haha, yeah, damn. I really tried to keep this message just now as short as possible, but I couldn't really remove stuff. Most of it you can't really reply to, I guess, so that may shorten your reply! x'D
Ah, okay. So, you check on your wall even though you're not online, I suppose? Or you get e-mails when you receive a new message? I've saved my PW for MAL, so I just visit the website every now and then. I've always got business on MAL, for some reason. Part of the daily routine. xD
Haha, don't say that. Games are fun and you should just keep on doing what you enjoy the most at the moment. Can't blame a person for that. Anyway, I sold my Xbox 360 a couple of weeks ago, and some time before that I sold all of my GH stuff separately. I hadn't touched it for quite some time, and it was more or less just when I had friends over that I used it, so I decided to sell it. I may have mentioned before that I don't play much video games anymore. Tbh, I'm pretty content with the things that are offered for the PC, and I can even use an Xbox 360 controller to play most of the 3rd-person-shooters that I play, which makes it no difference from playing it on a 360.
Oh, okay. Well, that's too bad. If it's the RAM, it's not always all of your RAMs that are affected (now if you've got more than one), if you don't know already. It can easily get solved just by removing the sole defective one. You'll find it by removing them one by one till it's working properly. Just ignore this if you already know about it!
Hm, right now I can't imagine myself giving it a 10. The highest score from me would probably be a 9. 10s are really special to me. I've yet to see, though!
It's a slice of life, which means the plot mustn't be very good nor interesting. At least that's what I've come up with through my experience.
Aria, haha, still haven't continued watching it, like I said I'd do. First I couldn't find it, and when I finally found it I didn't really feel like watching it. Anyway, I continued watching Mushishi recently, and I'll try to focus on completing it, hehe. Stalled it for too long. It's great, btw! Really interesting, how it's executed and how deep some of the cases are. Hm, but I still prefer solid storylines. :P
Okay, in all honesty I had almost finished replying to your message and then clicked on one of the video links which caused what I had written to be erased. So what I'm giving you here is essentially a bastardized, less coherent version of what I've already written.
Texhnolyze is a title which I've been interested in for a while now, although I fear my perception on it will be skewed based upon my experience from watching Ghost in the Shell. If you read any of my exchanges with Willie, you probably know how much praise I've been giving it. The show deals with exactly what you've mentioned here such as technological dependency and some of the issues with fully digital society. I'd definitely recommend it since it also makes a very large reference to Catcher in the Rye.
The thing with certain Gainax works such as FLCL, Panty&Stocking and even the Daicon Opening Animations are that they are ultimately lacking in substance, yet make up with it in their presentation. Since a lot of them abandon proper writing conventions and standard characterization, it's difficult to judge them in the same vein as a more coherent plot-driven work. A lot of Gainax's shows possess a certain type of "energy" where it's hard to find anywhere else, and that alone is part of why I find a lot of them to be above average works. Though they do often run into problems such as being a bit too scattered which affects the show's main message or its ability to produce more complex characterization.
Well, just take your time crafting a top 10 characters list. I'm sure your list will probably change as you watch more and more stuff and mature into a reasonable adult yeah right.
But hey, I wasn't idling around to not reply you these days.
At least you weren't idoling around like me, which was why my reply was so damn late.
I really wish my previous message hadn't been deleted since I had a really long section written about why I bothered to nominate Steins;Gate. The long and short of it is that I'm using it more as a benchmark to see whether people in the club are judging more on a show's "image" than its actual worth. If you read the spotlight for the Haruhi movie, quite a few people brought up the moe elements against the show. While this may have been a sound argument for the TV show (since it affected the quality of dialogue and character interactions) there was very little moe present in the movie. I'm sure this wasn't the only reason for people voting "no", but I'd like to see how they respond to one of the more successful titles targeted at otaku in recent years. That being said, I still don't think Steins will get in as I can't see it being on the same level as other sci-fi titles like GitS. I'm hoping I can make a decent argument for Okabe though as I feel he possesses a number of the qualities that makes him into an exceptional character (also, don't ask why I removed him from my favourites again, I'm just fickle).
Irrespective of the comparisons being made to SAO's novels, the show is just becoming a royal mess, much like Guilty Crown. The haphazard pacing, awful transitions between each episode and one-dimensional characterization is really hurting the product. I felt the show had a good premise which could have tackled some issues regarding online gaming communities, but everything else has just been pointless melodrama which attempts to make us empathize with one-episode characters. The way the show jumps all over the place is also causing Kirito to contradict himself and change his personalities and goals each and every episode. Not to mention the guy is like a walking Gary Stu at this point since he spouts lines like "NPCs are people too". It already got the point where I had to 3/10 and drop it every week, much like Guilty Crown. At least it's a pretty good comedy.
You know what, since it was your music links which caused my original message to be deleted, I'm not going to respond to them. Yes, you'll forever have to wonder what I thought about music where I couldn't even make sense of the lyrics.
Ah, when I said "hypothetically speaking" it was more a joke in regards to someone who I haven't replied to in a while.
Anyway, I'll list some of my favourite stories from Mushishi (copied from another reply since someone else basically asked me the same question).
Episode 4 - The Pillow Pathway
The one with the man who's dreams essentially foretold future events. I found the part where he died from cutting open his pillow very intriguing. The stories where the mushi were connected to either people's senses or lifeline were definitely the one's which stood out to me the most (but for some reason this one in particular did).
Episode 6 - Those who Inhale the Dew
The episode with the islanders who revered a young girl as a god because of her odd ageing process. I found this one very mystical, at least a bit more so than some of the other episodes
Episode 14 - Inside the Cage
This was probably my personal favourite episode out of the entire series. The fact that I managed to get teary eyed over the stories from 1 episode characters meant it was ultimately successful in its emotional impact. I think it had to do with the woman struggling to cut the bamboo shoot because she realized it was essentially a part of herself.
Episode 21 - Cotton Changeling
Similar to episode 14, it managed to make a large emotional impact on me. This was probably due to the mother and father struggling to kill their children who had been taken over by the mushi.
I still don't really understand what you mean by this "ultimate question". But if I had to give an answer, what makes Mushishi and Aria different from any other anime is their effortless depictions of realities which feel quite similar to our own despite the supernatural elements in play. Both shows also had a lovely mysterious quality and didn't resort to any cheap tricks such as overblown melodrama or plot twists. Aria and Mushishi are essentially what storytelling should be in their purest, unrequited forms: simple, mysterious and beautiful.
And finally, Towa no Keion Quon was really all over the place. Some of the movies (mainly those which served as introductions or stepping stones to the next conflicts) were decent. But as soon as the story ventured into the realm of melodrama and plot twists, it fell apart. Without spoiling anything (since you still haven't seen the last two movies) the ending is just a mess.
Haha, yeah, an English course; how excellent! We're also writing novels, my friend! Jokes aside. It may take some time replying, yes, but I don't care about that when I enjoy writing to ya, and other people that I write long replies to. :)
Haha, WTF? xD
Well, I've actually found quite some human bones there over the years. In the past I've found a half cheek bone, part of a finger (I think) and many unidentified objects, haha. This year I found teeth, a 5-cm-long piece that looked like it came from an arm or a leg bone - very thin - and one of those lil' pieces that builds up your back (neck to tail bone, you know). I dunno the name of 'em. You find such things as you're digging deeper and deeper when you're clearing the burial grounds from shit. Anyway, yeah, kinda creepy. xD
I'm working for my father, as well, during busy times like sales, in his furniture store (something like IKEA, you know). I'm usually just putting together different furniture and then I put 'em somewhere in the store, maybe. I also get to walk around helping customers, but if I can't help 'em I just redirect 'em to some other guy working there, haha. Anyway, those kinds of things, like what you did, are pretty good to have experienced 'cause it may help you in general to get used to the job environment, you know. That's why it's good to take on small jobs and shit.
Yeah, I wouldn't like to rewatch a couple of shows in my list 'cause I know I'd give them a way lower score. The first impression picture that you get after finishing a show is what's the real deal, according to me.
"...my tastes became even more sharper and rarely I'll find something I consider as truly great.": The same goes for me. Sometimes I feel too kind when I rate a show when I know it deserves a lower score 'cause I've watched too much of it in the past and claim that I know of better versions of it. That's just how it is.
The setting of Tasogare Otome X Amnesia was indeed pretty interesting, but I didn't think it was executed very well and some drama felt too forced.
In SAO there's pretty much with thoughts of the main character that is totally being left out in the anime show, which I regard as important. In animes you only see characters who think reveal a short sentence or two of their thoughts. I've rarely seen longer explanations and stuff when characters are thinking.
Not to spoil anything, but after the "opening ceremony" in the first episode they immediately jump 2 years forward and carry on the story from there. The 2nd novel begins with telling side-stories, those that you get to see after the first episode of the anime. Anyway, it's a pretty weird thing in the novel, but I still think it was executed pretty good, even though you didn't get to know much of all shit that happened in between. Now I actually consider it a good thing that they chose to do it chronologically in the anime. xD
I'd probably love NHK. Also, it's from 2006 (I've watched many great shows from that year, haha). And yeah, DMC is pretty crazy, hehe.
Sometimes when I read things that other people say I just agree with it 'cause I find the opinion good, but I don't think that I'd ever be able to come up with it myself if I happened to discuss it with some friend. So, what's happening here? Later I maybe say those things to some friend, but originally it's not from my mouth, it's just some other guy's opinions that I've liked and took on, and maybe they even changed my original opinions on that thing 'cause I liked the new opinions better. Haha, pretty complicated, but I think you get it. I don't always prefer to read many opinions, reviews and stuff, 'bout shows I'm about to watch 'cause mainly I just wanna create my own perspective on the thing in question.
Well, sometimes I feel partly persuaded by other people opinions, like mentioned above, but it really depends on the subject in question and if I like the thing or not. You know, sometimes reading other people's opinions you realize one and another thing about the thing in question.
"...I would be worse than Hitler with a fourth reich in Brazil..." No comment, haha. o.O
