Is One Piece any good then? I just kind of assumed it wasn't.
Worst thing for blasting through for me was Firefly, which I basically inhaled. I raced through the Wire at 3 or 4 episodes a night too, except for series 5 which was mildly annoying compared to the other series, plus I was trying to ration it by then because uh-oh, no more Wire. Oh, and Cowboy Bebop too.
the wire annoyed me because it turned from a police drama to a soap box the writer used to make political rants. I think it was the drugs free zone in season 3 where it started to go downhill for me, season five being the lowest point.
Well he says http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORZ7y6yTr6c .Originally Posted by Ayam
- Tom De Roeck.
monochrom & verse publications
"Quantacat's name is still recognised even if he watches on with detached eyes like Peter Molyneux over a cube in 3D space, staring at it with tears in his eyes, softly whispering... Someday they'll get it."
Um I think it has been a soap box for his political rants from the beginning. Most notobly Season 2 where you obviously see his opinion on how the working class is being treated and what his thoughts are on the death of manafacturing and stuff like that. Even season 1 had a few of his political views and a bit of a "Here is my political views" thing in itthe wire annoyed me because it turned from a police drama to a soap box the writer used to make political rants.
It's absolutely amazing. The first few arcs are just okay but after Alabaster the quality just skyrockets. Every time you think it can't get any better it just does, again and again. From a storytelling perspective, there just isn't anything better. It never ceases to be mostly lighthearted, though. Don't be fooled by people comparing it to Naruto or Bleach, it leaves those series far behind in the dust, where they belong. The only thing that rivals the brilliance of One Piece is Yu Yu Hakusho and maybe Hunter X Hunter. All of this regarding the shounen genre, of course.
You come at the king, you best not miss.
"I was one of those. I meddled with dark powers. I summoned demons. I ate the entire little cheese, including the rind."
~Kvothe, The Wise Man's Fear
last year when I watched all three Japanese Transformers series in a row really started to drag about halfway through Super God Masterforce but it had to be done. I damn well better have enjoyed those forty hours, give or take, because I'm not getting them back. I didn't fancy doing anything like that again anytime soon so of course a week later I started on Mysterious Cities Of Gold because I am a 28-year-old child and it's always 5 o'clock on the ABC in the year 1989 every hour of my life. That would have definitely been the end of TV cartoon binges but I just had to spy the complete Ulysees 31 on the shelf at JB Hi-Fi. All of that in one month, I'm kinda glad it's over because that was the end of my binges until April this year.
That's when I got through New Getter Robo which was much more manageable at 13 episodes. It's been a while since I've bothered with anime since FLCL so it was a safe thing to get back into with, being Go Nagai and super robots which is something that I've found hard to go wrong with. That's about it for cartoons, I'm currently halfway through series 4 of The Samurai and then there's those Hammer House of Horror DVDs that I'm really looking forward to.
The reason I found FLCL so brilliant, is because it parodies everything anime has to offer. And it is completely absurd. I LOVE IT!
Also, I was pretty annoyed with Neon Genesis Evangelion at the time when I first saw it, so seeing that was.. just fantastic.
- Tom De Roeck.
monochrom & verse publications
"Quantacat's name is still recognised even if he watches on with detached eyes like Peter Molyneux over a cube in 3D space, staring at it with tears in his eyes, softly whispering... Someday they'll get it."
I've never really seen anyone else discuss it, but I've noticed that Japanese creators are much more prone to blend tone within a TV show, cartoon, movie, comic, or what have you than we are in the West. They may switch between extreme physical comedy and extreme pathos within a matter of panels, and the audience doesn't seem to notice that there's anything wrong with it. (There isn't anything wrong with it, by the way, just looking through the Western lens here where people don't want comedy in their soap operas or fist fights in their romantic comedies)
One Piece is very, very silly and cartoonish. It is slapstick. It is also heroic melodrama. And it is a great bit of surreal world-building. Go into it knowing that the physics of our world don't apply. This is not our world. Probably not our universe. You will be surprised how much you end up caring about these characters and what happens to them. It's as much Monkey Island as it is Treasure Island and Firefly.
Everything is amplified in One Piece. Imagine a bout of Marvel vs Capcom 3 where both players only spam their super moves. That's basically the combat in One Piece.
The highs are very high, but it suffers from the same pacing issues at times as Dragon Ball Z. This is partially because the manga it is based on is being written at the same time. At times the episodes are padded or entirely new story arcs are inserted to give the manga's author time to pull ahead of the TV show's production. You can find episode guides online that identify filler episodes and skip them entirely, if you'd like.
Yeah, that's pretty slangy, reminds me of pretty much all the teenagers I met when they see something awesome, it's probably how they'd react to a giant crab too! I do like the character designs in One Piece, especially the guy with the long straight nose; I love it when there are well designed characters who don't fall into the handsome/beautiful crowd.
I've done the complete Ulysses, I had to relive the Sissyfus (sp?) episode, that was so tragic and really struck me as a kid. Stuck on a desert planet demolishing boulders, eating sand-jellyfish, finds the boulder stream is never ending and just goes mental! Mysterious Cities I would love to track down and have a marathon of.
One other that maybe noone remembers is Alfred J Kwak - from childhood to old age following an anthropomorphic duck whose childhood rival turns into, pretty much, Hitler. That was a really deep watch as a kid. There's some online petition to release it on DVD, the first online petition I have ever signed, I loved it that much.
YES! Its in the same vein as those Japanese-German co productions, where they had a bunch of old stories and made them into anime. (not necessarily kids stories).
Nils Holgersson, Heidi, Niklas, Biene Maya.. Even Captain Future! (or especially)
- Tom De Roeck.
monochrom & verse publications
"Quantacat's name is still recognised even if he watches on with detached eyes like Peter Molyneux over a cube in 3D space, staring at it with tears in his eyes, softly whispering... Someday they'll get it."
I burned through seasons of 24 pretty quick - and then always jumped on ebay to buy the next one. Did all of buffy in a week or so too.
I'm also working through one-piece, but mostly to practice japanese. I'm up to 74 (after a few months, as i don't have the ability to dedicate whole days/weekends these days).
It's ok, has more charm than many anime. Of course, it's basically Dragonball. It also has a very annoying bait-and-switch approach where they seem about to start the battle with the main bad guy for about 10 episodes running, but different side-battles keep popping up to delay things. It's very formula.
Why do most Manga/Anime/Games have women with ugly breasts.. egh. If these people were real, they would not look good in any kind of measure. (Im annoyed at One Piece' Nami)
More to the point: not that I expect realism, but I do not subscribe to this "omg everyone likes big breasts" standard at all.
Last edited by QuantaCat; 07-08-2011 at 03:15 PM.
- Tom De Roeck.
monochrom & verse publications
"Quantacat's name is still recognised even if he watches on with detached eyes like Peter Molyneux over a cube in 3D space, staring at it with tears in his eyes, softly whispering... Someday they'll get it."
That's...a weird complaint...lol
You dont care that most games/Manga/Anime seem to cater to this "ideal woman with double F cup"? Seriously. It annoys the living hell out of me. Either all developers and manga/anime writers have a serious mother issue, or they cater to a crow with mother issues. Thats the only way I can explain it.
- Tom De Roeck.
monochrom & verse publications
"Quantacat's name is still recognised even if he watches on with detached eyes like Peter Molyneux over a cube in 3D space, staring at it with tears in his eyes, softly whispering... Someday they'll get it."
Actually no I don't because a lot of the animé i watch has a range of boob sizes, oh sure sometimes the love interest is the woman with the big breasts but I'm not sure how common that actually is to be honest.
Afternoon gents *taps hat*
Just got through Cowboy Bebop and for someone who has only watched Ghost in a Shell, that was quite a treat! Only now I want to watch more. Going to look up Ergo Proxy QuantaCat mentioned in his list earlier, not that FLCL and Samurai Champloo don't sound interesting, but I'd love to watch some more sci-fi oriented anime. Especially "semi" serious sci-fi if possible.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
Well, you could try LAIN, but be warned: I hated the ending.
- Tom De Roeck.
monochrom & verse publications
"Quantacat's name is still recognised even if he watches on with detached eyes like Peter Molyneux over a cube in 3D space, staring at it with tears in his eyes, softly whispering... Someday they'll get it."
I watched the box set of Lain in one sitting with some friends 10 years ago while robotripping. At some point I think none of us knew what was real.
My life is very different now.
I watched a couple oif episodes of LAIN and I truly didn't get it. I had no idea what the plot was or anything.
Made it! Now Im eagerly awaiting more episodes! (at ep511, btw)
- Tom De Roeck.
monochrom & verse publications
"Quantacat's name is still recognised even if he watches on with detached eyes like Peter Molyneux over a cube in 3D space, staring at it with tears in his eyes, softly whispering... Someday they'll get it."
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
