Rektash said:
Gosick - 12: I seem to be the only one enjoying this show so here we go:
Huh? I've posted reviews of every episode of the series, and definitely like it. I thought I was the only one, since the backlash against the first episode...
This is how you put in character development into a filler. No actual stuff happening but feeling that the show took a step forward is always a good sign. Of course additional Victorque kickin into dere mode scenes, are always to my liking as well. I just can't do anything against a good tsundere, I always like them <3.
Yeah, as I said, it's an episode devoted to the main character's backstory and Victorique being cute. It worked, but my favorite parts of the series are the 'Grey Wolf' village arc and the part on the ship. But yeah, the end of the episode, where Victorique finally made up for some of how she'd treated him earlier in the episode, was nice.
Master Milk said:
Lotte's Toy 1
This isn't going to be like the manga, which likely means tons of fanservice and a weaker story.
Too bad. I probably wasn't going to watch anyway, but that sure doesn't help.
jman2050 said:
So Lotte's Toy is thrown in the "terrible adaptation of a terrible manga" along with everything else?
Sounds more like "worse than the manga" actually. The manga's actually not that bad, but not so much the anime apparently...
firehawk12 said:
Kampfer episode 12, which was the two Natsurus being married to each other or something. I treat the OVAs as something completely extra.
It is something extra, and who knows when it's supposed to happen, but it was pretty funny stuff, I have to admit...
With fantasy and science fiction, part of it comes down to people who are too focused on world building. It's usually why the opening of these things are rather inane to get through. You have to introduce all these names with apostrophes and consonants in them to make them sound alien and then go off on the mythology. Heck, even the first Ice and Fire book has this whole side story about a girl and her dragon eggs... which I'm sure pays off in book 5 or whatever, but I remember being so put off by those chapters (also, THE NORTH AND THE WINTER!!!!!). A lot of science fiction isn't much better.
As for Bradbury and Asimov, I really haven't revisited their stuff since high school... and as I've come to realize, most of what I liked when I was a teenager just doesn't hold up. I'm almost afraid to read their stuff now, lest I ruin my memory of their work.
Ray Bradbury is very good. Try his stuff again, both the stories and that TV series I mentioned too. I haven't read Azimov in quite a while either though, but he's certainly highly regarded in the genre...
As for your complaint there, some fantasy and sci-fi does a better job of world-building than others. Better stuff in either field (sci-fi in particular) can get pretty interesting with concepts of possible alien life. Some authors have really tried to make "realistic" aliens... many others don't, but some have. In fantasy sticking with the standard races is the most common thing, and since I love fantasy stuff I don't mind that, but still some at least have somewhat more original ideas, even if they're just modified elves and dwarves a lot of the time.
As for names though, I think fantasy names should be things that don't sound like "normal" human names. I expect that and like fantasy characters to have fantasy-style names.
Aliens also, of course they should be different somehow... sure I guess sometimes it's silly, but not always.
As for side stories and stuff, yeah that one you mention in ASoIaF does sort of pay of (she's a regular character), but in a book it's easy to skip something, if you don't like it... in fantasy books which switch between multiple viewpoints from chapter to chapter, something very common in the genre, sometimes I will skip around to read all of the chapters for one character in order, or something, if I want to know what happens next without having to read several unrelated chapters first. That's easy to do in a book.
It can't help but be cheesy. It's funny though, with this pseudo-renaissance with all the Arthur-based shows. Just add sex, have some guys impale each other with swords, and boom, instant hit on your hands.
Really? I haven't noticed. What shows are you talking about? It does seem harder for fantasy shows to not be cheesy on TV, but it is kind of odd, it doesn't seem like it should be THAT hard to do a decent fantasy TV show... oh well.
Here's hoping the A Song of Ice and Fire project turns out good though. There's something quaint about imagining a 7 year fantasy television series on HBO.
Yeah, we'll see...
My copies of both the Sky Crawlers game and the BD are sealed. Sigh. :lol
You haven't watched it yet? You need to, experience the tedium for yourself!
firehawk12 said:
Hyperbole aside, ultimately I still have control over the fast forward button or the progress bar, so if something does catch my eye or if something important has happened, then I can go back and watch it.
But, like science fiction, I've seen enough war films and action films that I really don't need to see the beats anymore. Most directors of action recycle the same tropes that we've seen thousands of times - Chuck is the most horrible example of this - boring action combined with an extremely low budget. I can skip those because they literally contribute nothing to the show except to show the blonde girl fighting dudes.
Sometimes, action scenes can be thematic. Branaugh's Henry V has action scenes that are meant to evoke the dreariness of war whereas Olivier's version of the film uses the action scenes as propaganda to show the greatness of Britain's military heritage.
But even then, I can probably watch those scenes in fast forward and still get the jist of it without having to sit there and analyze every shot.
And, I'm serious when I consider comedy action an exception. Nichijou, Looney Toons, Jacky Chan films and so on... those are times when action itself becomes a narrative. Dramatic action hardly does that, mostly because they are (typically, admittedly) meant to be connectors between scenes.
Action's alright, but it is better when it has a point, and there's a decent plot. For instance, the Tom Cruise War of the Worlds remake was pretty bad because despite lots of great CG, there was no substance -- it was just all action and CG, the plot was terrible. As a result the movie really wasn't very good at all.
Also though I think that more action without purpose goes into things for younger audiences... though sure, some adults obviously like pointless action too. I have mixed feelings, sometimes I can watch it but other times I just am left so uninterested I turn it off. But I've never exactly been an action movie fan, though... never watched a Rambo or Rocky movie, for instance. And I think the only Schwarzenegger movie I watched in the '80s or '90s was Jingle all the Way...
Yup. And PowerDVD made it so easy to just loop the damn thing over and over again.
Bah, WinDVD is better.