mostly anime blather
I have no idea why I haven't been around el-jay this week! I guess I've just been preoccupied with other things. Had a lot going on at school... am also addicted to poupee girl more than I really want to admit. :(
New job starts tomorrow. Or at least I'm going there tomorrow ~ it might end up just being a short paperwork/orientation-type thing. I hope it works out - it looks like a place I'd enjoy working at, but you never really can tell.
Gundam 00:
First, it must be said: this series had one of the slowest starts I've ever experienced in an anime. GOD. Way, way too many unrelated characters in different circumstances to start out with. It wasn't even really until past the halfway point that the main characters really became the main characters.
Also found the balance of 4 main characters kind of awkward; while it's obvious Setsuna is our #1 hero, we're led to believe the other 3 are essentially just as important . . . and I dunno, it felt strange to, say, have an insightful backstory on Allelujah, but then have him mostly ignored the rest of the season. It all felt rather distracted, I guess.
I'm sure things will come together in the 2nd season, but some of the other characters - such as Saji and Louise - felt rather forced into the story. Like they were put there for the whole purpose of saying "see? war is bad!" rather than for the, yanno, actual plot.
On the whole, it's a very standard gundam series. There's not much (yet) that really distinguishes it from Seed or Wing. (In fact, I noticed A LOT of Seed parallels . . . but that might just be because I'm Seed-obsessed. ;o)
None of this is to say I didn't like it - I actually enjoyed it quite a bit! I really like a lot of the characters (especially Tieria and Graham), the character design is gorgeous, the battles were really exciting, especially towards the end, and, as with other gundam series, they really did a good job presenting the moral ambiguity of war and fighting. I'm quite sure the 2nd season will be amazing, actually.
Now, Kekkaishi. (WITH SPOILERS!)
Kekkaishi was good . . . not great. XD Okay, first off, Yoshi reminds me A LOT of Naruto. Which isn't to imply he's a Naruto ripoff, just that, well, Naruto has never been my *favorite* character ~ I like him, but I never really grew to love him like the other characters. Yoshimori is kinda like that for me. He was a cutie, but his immaturity kinda made me want to dropkick him a lot.
I ADORED Shishio - it wasn't until Shishio appeared that I really started getting into the series at all. And then they just went and killed him off! I felt so betrayed. >:[
I guess that I had a hard time loving Kekkaishi because I didn't OMGLOVE any characters (..except Shishio >.<), and characters are really sorta the "thing" that pulls me into a series. I kinda need a character (or two or three or forty) to obsess over to keep me interested.
I liked the final arc (as in final anime arc - I know the manga is still running) quite a bit though, when Yoshi went to Kokubourou (sp?), and we got a lot of really great backstories about the ayakashi there. Too bad most of them, uh, died. -___-;;
Episode 1 of Holic:
A little bit disappointed here ~ the animation wasn't as shiny as I was hoping, and considering that this is my favorite arc in the manga (...and I've read it about 20 times >.>), I'm naturally going to get all anal about it. I don't like how certain lines were changed, and mostly I just felt that in the manga, these scenes were a lot more tense and emotionally-charged. Both of these nitpicks could very well be issues with translation and interpretation, but even so . . . Doumeki wasn't as angry as he should have been, and Watanuki wasn't as contrary, and Yuuko wasn't as concerned. The episode felt a bit too flat for me.
Episode of 1 of Code Geass:
OMG WTF IS GOING ON. Okay, PRIME EXAMPLE of why you shouldn't air season 2 too long after season 1. I seriously have no clue what went on in this episode. I mean, I got, and still remember, the basic gist of it, but . . . I hardly remember half these characters. I hope they do some backstory here, because I'm not about to redownload and rewatch the 1st season.
Thanks to you guys, btw, for all the anime recs - I do plan on watching a lot of the series mentioned. But I seem to have an intense desire for Jump series right now. I just started D.Gray-man and I have most of Reborn downloaded. Also! I'm trying to get my hands on Neuro, but I'm having a hard time finding downloads. I kinda don't like torrenting anymore these days, and the earlier episodes are poorly seeded. Anyone know where there are direct downloads for ALL EPISODES (at least all that's been subbed so far - I know it's not yet complete)? I've pretty much exhausted my resources trying to find them. I think maybe my resources are becoming outdated.
Although my megaupload premium expired, which makes me v.sad. :< Can you blame me for getting addicted to 600 kb/s speeds!? But damn, it is kinda a lot to pay, and I definitely can't fork over 10 or 15 dollars until I get my first paycheck.
Okay, that took me over an hour (and it's not even that long), so that's enough typing for now. I'M OUT.
New job starts tomorrow. Or at least I'm going there tomorrow ~ it might end up just being a short paperwork/orientation-type thing. I hope it works out - it looks like a place I'd enjoy working at, but you never really can tell.
Gundam 00:
First, it must be said: this series had one of the slowest starts I've ever experienced in an anime. GOD. Way, way too many unrelated characters in different circumstances to start out with. It wasn't even really until past the halfway point that the main characters really became the main characters.
Also found the balance of 4 main characters kind of awkward; while it's obvious Setsuna is our #1 hero, we're led to believe the other 3 are essentially just as important . . . and I dunno, it felt strange to, say, have an insightful backstory on Allelujah, but then have him mostly ignored the rest of the season. It all felt rather distracted, I guess.
I'm sure things will come together in the 2nd season, but some of the other characters - such as Saji and Louise - felt rather forced into the story. Like they were put there for the whole purpose of saying "see? war is bad!" rather than for the, yanno, actual plot.
On the whole, it's a very standard gundam series. There's not much (yet) that really distinguishes it from Seed or Wing. (In fact, I noticed A LOT of Seed parallels . . . but that might just be because I'm Seed-obsessed. ;o)
None of this is to say I didn't like it - I actually enjoyed it quite a bit! I really like a lot of the characters (especially Tieria and Graham), the character design is gorgeous, the battles were really exciting, especially towards the end, and, as with other gundam series, they really did a good job presenting the moral ambiguity of war and fighting. I'm quite sure the 2nd season will be amazing, actually.
Now, Kekkaishi. (WITH SPOILERS!)
Kekkaishi was good . . . not great. XD Okay, first off, Yoshi reminds me A LOT of Naruto. Which isn't to imply he's a Naruto ripoff, just that, well, Naruto has never been my *favorite* character ~ I like him, but I never really grew to love him like the other characters. Yoshimori is kinda like that for me. He was a cutie, but his immaturity kinda made me want to dropkick him a lot.
I ADORED Shishio - it wasn't until Shishio appeared that I really started getting into the series at all. And then they just went and killed him off! I felt so betrayed. >:[
I guess that I had a hard time loving Kekkaishi because I didn't OMGLOVE any characters (..except Shishio >.<), and characters are really sorta the "thing" that pulls me into a series. I kinda need a character (or two or three or forty) to obsess over to keep me interested.
I liked the final arc (as in final anime arc - I know the manga is still running) quite a bit though, when Yoshi went to Kokubourou (sp?), and we got a lot of really great backstories about the ayakashi there. Too bad most of them, uh, died. -___-;;
Episode 1 of Holic:
A little bit disappointed here ~ the animation wasn't as shiny as I was hoping, and considering that this is my favorite arc in the manga (...and I've read it about 20 times >.>), I'm naturally going to get all anal about it. I don't like how certain lines were changed, and mostly I just felt that in the manga, these scenes were a lot more tense and emotionally-charged. Both of these nitpicks could very well be issues with translation and interpretation, but even so . . . Doumeki wasn't as angry as he should have been, and Watanuki wasn't as contrary, and Yuuko wasn't as concerned. The episode felt a bit too flat for me.
Episode of 1 of Code Geass:
OMG WTF IS GOING ON. Okay, PRIME EXAMPLE of why you shouldn't air season 2 too long after season 1. I seriously have no clue what went on in this episode. I mean, I got, and still remember, the basic gist of it, but . . . I hardly remember half these characters. I hope they do some backstory here, because I'm not about to redownload and rewatch the 1st season.
Thanks to you guys, btw, for all the anime recs - I do plan on watching a lot of the series mentioned. But I seem to have an intense desire for Jump series right now. I just started D.Gray-man and I have most of Reborn downloaded. Also! I'm trying to get my hands on Neuro, but I'm having a hard time finding downloads. I kinda don't like torrenting anymore these days, and the earlier episodes are poorly seeded. Anyone know where there are direct downloads for ALL EPISODES (at least all that's been subbed so far - I know it's not yet complete)? I've pretty much exhausted my resources trying to find them. I think maybe my resources are becoming outdated.
Although my megaupload premium expired, which makes me v.sad. :< Can you blame me for getting addicted to 600 kb/s speeds!? But damn, it is kinda a lot to pay, and I definitely can't fork over 10 or 15 dollars until I get my first paycheck.
Okay, that took me over an hour (and it's not even that long), so that's enough typing for now. I'M OUT.