This Thread is For Otakus (Because I don't think another one exists)

[GandWuser]

OK, so time for me to post in my own thread again. I've been trying to assemble a list of shows that I want to watch, and I want critique on them.

Aoi Sekai no Chuushin de - It's the Console Wars! But it's an anime!
Chobits - I like robot girls, seems appealing
Death Note - Everyone seems to watch it
Elfen Lied - Dark, apparently
Excel Saga - Apparently funny
Girls und Panzer - It's girls! In tanks!
Is This A Zombie? - Seems interesting
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha - Seems interesting
Narutaru - Apparently it's a really grim deconstruction?
Simoun - Genderbending, seems interesting

Now my question is, is there anything in that list I shouldn't even bother with watching?

[killer_roach]

OK, so time for me to post in my own thread again. I've been trying to assemble a list of shows that I want to watch, and I want critique on them.

Aoi Sekai no Chuushin de - It's the Console Wars! But it's an anime!
Chobits - I like robot girls, seems appealing
Death Note - Everyone seems to watch it
Elfen Lied - Dark, apparently
Excel Saga - Apparently funny
Girls und Panzer - It's girls! In tanks!
Is This A Zombie? - Seems interesting
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha - Seems interesting
Narutaru - Apparently it's a really grim deconstruction?
Simoun - Genderbending, seems interesting

Now my question is, is there anything in that list I shouldn't even bother with watching?

I wouldn't say that any of it isn't worth watching... although you will have to realize that Excel Saga gets (even more) random about halfway through, when the producers basically admit that they've run out of ideas (really, that might be all the more reason to watch).

In terms of a gender-bending anime, apart from the obvious (Ranma 1/2), I'd point out Tenshi na Konamaiki - poking fun of gender roles, unisex names, and romantic comedy tropes all at the same time.

[LoopyChew]

OK, so time for me to post in my own thread again. I've been trying to assemble a list of shows that I want to watch, and I want critique on them.

Aoi Sekai no Chuushin de - It's the Console Wars! But it's an anime!
Chobits - I like robot girls, seems appealing
Death Note - Everyone seems to watch it
Elfen Lied - Dark, apparently
Excel Saga - Apparently funny
Girls und Panzer - It's girls! In tanks!
Is This A Zombie? - Seems interesting
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha - Seems interesting
Narutaru - Apparently it's a really grim deconstruction?
Simoun - Genderbending, seems interesting

Now my question is, is there anything in that list I shouldn't even bother with watching?

The only two I've actually fully seen on that list are Excel Saga and Chobits, and while I feel like Chobits is pretty disposable (it's CLAMP being adorable but also CLAMP being CLAMP, meaning I'm pretty sure the adorable gives way to more bizarre stuff as time goes by--I haven't watched it in like a decade so forgive if memory is a bit fuzzy), Excel Saga is one of those shows that is fantastic--particularly the first rewatch of episodes, since there's always things that you miss out on the first time around.

Also note that if you don't find Excel Saga random and crazy enough, there's a followup OVA series called Puni Puni Poemy which is even MORE random and crass and crazy.

Finally, I never watched the anime, but if Narutaru is anything like the manga, then HOLY CRAP does it get dark.

[Gowienczyk]

OK, so time for me to post in my own thread again. I've been trying to assemble a list of shows that I want to watch, and I want critique on them.

Aoi Sekai no Chuushin de - It's the Console Wars! But it's an anime!
Chobits - I like robot girls, seems appealing
Death Note - Everyone seems to watch it
Elfen Lied - Dark, apparently
Excel Saga - Apparently funny
Girls und Panzer - It's girls! In tanks!
Is This A Zombie? - Seems interesting
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha - Seems interesting
Narutaru - Apparently it's a really grim deconstruction?
Simoun - Genderbending, seems interesting

Now my question is, is there anything in that list I shouldn't even bother with watching?

Elfen Lied. All style, no substance.

[killer_roach]

Elfen Lied. All style, no substance.

I'd agree, but it's some pretty impressive style. Considering it's a short series, it's not really much to power through it in a few hours.

Also, the opening theme.

[HeyRiles]

Is This A Zombie? is a pretty fun and silly show. It's a comedy with a bunch of subplots that are all intertwined together and it's masked by a bizarre harem where the girls hardly ever show affection. It's good comedy though and I can recommend it, especially season 2

Chobits is cute, it came this close to making me cry. The middle part is kind of a lot of faffing about and like okay we get it she's a special robot. But some episodes are really great, and I could watch an entire season of Chi pointing at things and calling it Hideki

[LoopyChew]

Finally watched Helling Ultimate 5-8. Thanks, Funi! English dub is as awesome as ever, and man was that crazy.

[jayou521]

Finally watched Helling Ultimate 5-8. Thanks, Funi! English dub is as awesome as ever, and man was that crazy.

The blu ray must look awesome. I started watching episode 9 online a while back but got sidetracked. The tenth and final episode of Hellsing Ultimate came out a couple days ago in Japan. Don't think there are any raw vids out there yet.. hopefully won't take long to get subbed... I can't wait to watch the last two episodes.

[LoopyChew]

Unfortunately, I don't have a Zone A Blu-Ray player, so I'm stuck with the DVD, which looks plenty gorgeous on an upscaling player. And I'm a giant fan of the English dub, which may irk the sub purists but is worth trying even if only for Jan Valentine in Ultimate 2. (Same voice actor from the TV series 5 and 6, where he is also awesome.)

Also, got around to watching the Rurouni Kenshin movie, which is a lot of fun but unfortunately loses going into character motivations for Yahiko and Sano. At least the latter gets some pretty awesome fight scenes, but Yahiko doesn't manage much at all. As a condensation of the first few novels (plus some of the flashback sequences) it manages to be comprehensible, though, and that alone is pretty impressive.

Also also, spent some time 'thonning the latter half of BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad again. As pointed out previously, DAMN. Also worth checking out the English dub track. Seriously.

[LoopyChew]

...and hot on the heels of the Rurouni Kenshin movie (by which I meant the live-action adaptation from earlier this year, if it wasn't clear from my review of it), I just watched the BECK live-action movie from 2010. Takeru Satoh leads both movies, which is kind of strange since I just watched him turn from a 30-year-old name-taker to a 16-year-old school kid who's trying to avoid notice of all the bullies in his school.

The songs created for the movie kick ass, but there's a stylistic choice the director made to never let you actually hear Koyuki sing in the movie, and I don't think I like it. I don't know if it's because Satoh doesn't know how to sing, or if it's simply because it's supposed to be so universally ideal that it's some sort of Platonic perfection that we can imagine it all, but it really took me out of what was otherwise a fairly grounded movie. Koyuki's voice is represented by partially muting the other instruments and adding in new-agey strings and such, and the one time they provide lyrics he writes, it's done in subtitles--a choice which seems kind of hypocritical to me, because it invites direct criticism of said lyrics, which seem a bit nonsensical and don't fit in to any sort of meter (they're supposed to be in English). Either let it all be in our head or make it a real thing; don't half-ass it.

The movie is otherwise a much more successful streamlining (compared to RK) of 25 and a half of the 26 episodes of the anime (I don't know how many volumes that corresponds to when it comes to the manga), complete with Japanese actors who (shock!) actually appear to understand and speak English at a fluent level the way Ryusuke and Maho ought to. Some characters (Momoko, Rikiya) and subplots (Koyuki doing most anything that doesn't involve Beck) don't make it in, but seeing as the movie's two and a half hours long, it's understandable.

Ultimately, a worthy adaptation that you can show to people who don't have the patience for 26 episodes. If they do, watch the anime instead, but this makes for a good just-in-case.