“At that period I paid as constant attention to the greater securing of my happiness, to enjoying and judging it, too, as I had always done for the smallest details of my acts; and what is the act of love, itself, if not a moment of passionate attention on the part of the body? Every bliss achieved is a masterpiece; the slightest error turns it awry, and it alters with one touch of doubt; any heaviness detracts from its charm, the least stupidity renders it dull. My own felicity is in no way responsible for those of my imprudences which shattered it later on; in so far as I have acted in harmony with it I have been wise. I think still that someone wiser than I might well have remained happy till his death.” ― Memoirs of Hadrian
Statistics
All Anime Stats Anime Stats
Days: 545.8
Mean Score:
4.91
- Watching14
- Completed2,412
- On-Hold2
- Dropped718
- Plan to Watch36
- Total Entries3,182
- Rewatched277
- Episodes32,514
All Manga Stats Manga Stats
Days: 775.5
Mean Score:
5.58
- Reading34
- Completed1,825
- On-Hold10
- Dropped77
- Plan to Read3
- Total Entries1,949
- Reread661
- Chapters67,822
- Volumes9,295
All Comments (312) Comments
Yeah, his games aren't the most technically proficient things to play—maybe except NMH3, which is genuinely challenging at some points and has tighter, albeit sort of repetitive, combat mechanics. I'd love to play King's Field at some point, particularly the fourth one. The world looks really damn cool. I kind of get what you mean with games designed to be as uncomfortable as possible. The closest game I can think of that fits that bill is the first Drakengard. And, yeah, I don't think NMH was trying to break boundaries with it's gameplay, though I suppose it's unique in that the game is structured around the concept of a boss rush. NMH is more about just hanging out with Travis and falling into the atmosphere and absurdity of it all. It's got a lot of Suda quirks, but in more of a Kojima fashion, as opposed to, say, Killer7.
From all that I know about Suda, and the works of his I've played, I consider NMH to be his most defining, particularly in the context of NMH3 and NMH: TSA. It might be a bit self-indulgent, having a main character as into games, anime and pro-wrestling as I am, but it's special because of that. And, yeah, right off the bat, Killer is Dead is super fucking stylish, though, I know it was apart of that era in his career (along with Shadows of the Damned and Lollipop Chainsaw) where he wasn't spearheading the creative direction.
Good point about both Valvrave and Cross Ange. Yeah, they both lack what makes Tomino great, but carry general quirks I associate with him, along with other oddities. Haruto is definitely a pretty flat character, and a lot of that comes from how predictable and shounen-like he is—except for that part where he rapes the female lead, though I guess the show explains that by having it be caused by his viral-vampiric-ness. Ange, though, at least at the start of the series, starts off actively wanting an almost Third Reich-esque genocide of the Normas, only to find out she is one. After which, yeah, she does start to become rather predictable, but not to her detriment. I think she works as a hero more effectively than Haruto because her fall from grace was so sharp.
I'll spare you an endless tangent of Eureka Seven praise, but I'd highly recommend giving it a re-watch, at some point.
Btw, I checked out your Backloggd and saw you were a fan of Suda51, among other great creators, but I didn't see any of the No More Heroes games on your list. Do you think you'll ever play them? I recently started Killer is Dead, myself, after finishing The Silver Case some months ago.
And about Ookouchi, yeah, I know a lot of his projects weren't exactly well received, but, imo, I thought Valvrave was great. While watching it, all I could think was, "Did Tomino work on this?" Granted, it's different, but as we were discussing before, I think it's the closest another creative has got to replicating Tomino's "Tomino-isms." It goes back to what I said in my G-Reco review: characters feel like billiard balls in a game of pool, smashing into each other, and bouncing in all different directions. Instead of constructing sentences for each other, they just talk at each other, which I think is hilarious. Yeah, it's pretty up it's own ass, but it's certainly unique—immortal, virus-infected, mech-piloting vampire high schoolers, trapped in a Lord of the Flies-esque situation, where they have to build something of a society all by themselves, whilst staving off space fascists. Pretty crazy stuff, lol. Unfortunately, S2 drops off a bit with the craziness, though.
Continuing with Ookouchi, he did a couple episodes for my favourite show, Eureka Seven, and they're very telling of his style, particularly his Tomino influence. Episode 20 sees the most Gundam moment in the series for Renton, where the 14-year-old protagonist has to come to terms with the fact he's killing real people inside of those mechs, after his emotions cloud his judgment. Then he leaves the Gekko (White Base) to meet Charles (Ramba Ral). Then episode 25 is the BIG middle point of the series where the emotion drives everything, and the cathartic pay-off happens in the form of a Macross reference. Anyway, I think those scripts are more in-touch with his strengths, without the insane, edgy stuff he become known for later. The logical end point of this is Cross Ange, if you've seen it. It's not Ookouchi, but it feels like it picked up where Valvrave left off, though, I like that show as well.
And that second paragraph is great, btw. It hits the nail on the head perfectly.
And yes! I'm happy that you appreciate all the details. The toilets in the mechs is one of my favourites, particularly with how Tomino will cut to a character in their cockpit, zipping up their normal suits, implying they just used the toilet, without explicitly stating anything. Despite G-Reco being primarily made for a younger audience, he puts a lot of faith in the audience to piece things together, which I love. I love how Tomino refuses to coddle the audience. It makes every watch of G-Reco rewarding cause you'll spot new, insane details you didn't notice before. This'll be hard to explain, but episode 1 is a masterpiece for how it treats characters' understanding of the situation. At multiple points, every character asks why Raraiya is there, and who she is, which in any other show, you'd just expect the characters to know, but no one has communicated anything about her presence to each other, so characters just discover her. Even one of Dellensen's men doesn't know her purpose, since Dellensen simply hasn't briefed him, or probably even forgot to. I may be overcomplicating this, but I feel like most shows would have maybe one character question who Raraiya is, then everyone else would just know her from that point on, but G-Reco holds communication as such a core theme, so if no one communicates to each other, information simply doesn't pass on.
Also, there's things they added in the movie that I haven't heard anyone talk about yet, like how one of the Nuts in capital tower has Australian Aboriginal artwork all over it, which is such a niche, specific detail. And, yeah, that shot is awesome. Such a minor character, but just adding those details makes him feel real. It even raises questions about him: like, what is that bear thing? Does he have a daughter that gave it to him? Did he buy it for someone? That type of stuff. And the fact that the books at his work space don't have bookmarks, but the next desk over has books littered with bookmarks and tassels, might imply things about his work ethic or something.
There's so much to talk about with G-Reco. I could go on forever, lol. After watching Movie V, I'm having an internal debate whether or not I think it beats King Gainer as my favourite Tomino work. Also, if you're interested, I did a review of Witch From Mercury S1 not too long ago.
Ho appena finito di leggere la novel di Fata Morgana no Yakata, in italiano però ahaha, perchè hai messo 4?! :/ Sei sbucato a caso nelle valutazioni, mi son detto, ma vuoi vedere che è lui?? E infatti.
Steins;Gate 5 :'( Basta rovinare le medie. Bei tempi con Jigoku caro, mi mancano ; )