Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Shoulda been Monday Musings: Does Size Matter?
So I feel bad, for I have sinned. I told Chris that I had done this already but I didn't really, I had a draft for something about streaming sites, but I can't remember what I was going to write about. So I decided on something else. What I'm musing is that age old question: Does size matter? And get your mind out of the gutter, I'm talking about the length of a series.
I came across this topic a couple of days ago. I have been slowly watching some anime with a friend who has never watched any before, the first series we watched was Darker Than Black. We finished that and then we had the option of several others to watch, and it brought the interesting question: We could start on a
beast like One Piece, the less long but still big undertaking, FMA: Brotherhood. Or go with a shorter series like Cowboy Bebop or Trigun. Or even ultra-short with Angel Beats. (of course these were not the only options but they will be the ones I will reference for this.) Obviously you can't really go wrong with any of these series, In my book each of these series will always be held on the highest level as some of my all time favorites. (He chose to watch Trigun btw but that isn't overly important) So basically, what is better? I am going to divide these into categories and do my best to do an overview and view strengths and weaknesses of each.
#1!!!-The Viking Epic. For those who don't know, Viking epics are some of the most outrageously long tales ever, and often in the same vein as a book like The Iliad. Yeah, this could also be called The One Piece-Bleach-Naruto category. While one could make the argument that these are the best because they are generally the most popular series. But I think the popularity is just a result of the fact that they have more time to build up fan bases, so I'm just gonna ignore that.
HOWEVA, I think that the Viking Epic has the potential to be the best kind of series, but there are some qualifications that have to be passed first, for starters, your author should really have it planned and be ready for the incredible length. (Here's lookin at you Bleach) The Second condition is that you, as a reader/watcher, need to be willing to commit to the series. This is a problem I have a lot of the time, I really love One Piece, but I have a lot of trouble bothering to keep up on a week to week basis, and that is the one major drawback of the Viking Epic, because even if it is done incredibly well, like One Piece or Berserk, it can get a little exhausting to keep up. But back to point number 1 here, because that is more important, and also the reason why the Viking Epic can be the best kind. Because if you give a guy like Oda that kind of time to do stuff he will do incredible stuff with it. Haki was not formally introduced to us until...ummm... I don't remember for sure actually, but it was a really long time. First we heard about it but didn't know what it really was, and we were slowly given more info until now where everyone has Haki. And while Hater-Trolls can be all like "He totally pulled that from his rectum as a way to stretch it out while not becoming overpowered" and then all of us who are not Hater-Trolls can be like "lulz stupid Hater-Trollz, Shanks used Haki against the sea king in like the first chapter!" And stuff like that is exactly why the Viking Epic can be the best, because you get all the time in the world to set stuff up. And this also carries over to characters, when you have an author who is really good at developing characters, giving them more time just makes said characters even better.
All of this does contribute to one of the negatives of Viking Epics, basically the fact that it has to be more about the journey than the destination, and as a result can become a grind, and move really slowly at times. However if it is well done then it is not so much of a problem, basically when an anime or manga goes really long, it magnifies the good things and the bad things about the series. I mean, who doesn't want more of a good thing, and less of a not so good thing.
That's all for now, stay tuned for other types with creative names!
Until then.
Manere Sitiem amicus.
I came across this topic a couple of days ago. I have been slowly watching some anime with a friend who has never watched any before, the first series we watched was Darker Than Black. We finished that and then we had the option of several others to watch, and it brought the interesting question: We could start on a
beast like One Piece, the less long but still big undertaking, FMA: Brotherhood. Or go with a shorter series like Cowboy Bebop or Trigun. Or even ultra-short with Angel Beats. (of course these were not the only options but they will be the ones I will reference for this.) Obviously you can't really go wrong with any of these series, In my book each of these series will always be held on the highest level as some of my all time favorites. (He chose to watch Trigun btw but that isn't overly important) So basically, what is better? I am going to divide these into categories and do my best to do an overview and view strengths and weaknesses of each.
#1!!!-The Viking Epic. For those who don't know, Viking epics are some of the most outrageously long tales ever, and often in the same vein as a book like The Iliad. Yeah, this could also be called The One Piece-Bleach-Naruto category. While one could make the argument that these are the best because they are generally the most popular series. But I think the popularity is just a result of the fact that they have more time to build up fan bases, so I'm just gonna ignore that.
HOWEVA, I think that the Viking Epic has the potential to be the best kind of series, but there are some qualifications that have to be passed first, for starters, your author should really have it planned and be ready for the incredible length. (Here's lookin at you Bleach) The Second condition is that you, as a reader/watcher, need to be willing to commit to the series. This is a problem I have a lot of the time, I really love One Piece, but I have a lot of trouble bothering to keep up on a week to week basis, and that is the one major drawback of the Viking Epic, because even if it is done incredibly well, like One Piece or Berserk, it can get a little exhausting to keep up. But back to point number 1 here, because that is more important, and also the reason why the Viking Epic can be the best kind. Because if you give a guy like Oda that kind of time to do stuff he will do incredible stuff with it. Haki was not formally introduced to us until...ummm... I don't remember for sure actually, but it was a really long time. First we heard about it but didn't know what it really was, and we were slowly given more info until now where everyone has Haki. And while Hater-Trolls can be all like "He totally pulled that from his rectum as a way to stretch it out while not becoming overpowered" and then all of us who are not Hater-Trolls can be like "lulz stupid Hater-Trollz, Shanks used Haki against the sea king in like the first chapter!" And stuff like that is exactly why the Viking Epic can be the best, because you get all the time in the world to set stuff up. And this also carries over to characters, when you have an author who is really good at developing characters, giving them more time just makes said characters even better.
All of this does contribute to one of the negatives of Viking Epics, basically the fact that it has to be more about the journey than the destination, and as a result can become a grind, and move really slowly at times. However if it is well done then it is not so much of a problem, basically when an anime or manga goes really long, it magnifies the good things and the bad things about the series. I mean, who doesn't want more of a good thing, and less of a not so good thing.
That's all for now, stay tuned for other types with creative names!
Until then.
Manere Sitiem amicus.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Friday, April 26, 2013
Lack of Posts
Sorry about my lack of posts, my basement recently flooded and my computer is in my basement so... yeah. It's kinda hard to watch anime or read manga on my phone, so I won't be releasing to many reviews for a few days. Just wanted to let you guys know.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Medaka Box 192 END
After many good years of Medaka Box, it has finally come to an end. Medaka you will be missed
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Friday, April 19, 2013
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Baccano! Anime Review
Baccano! is a little known anime by Brain's Base and Aniplex. Even though this is such a well done anime most people have never heard of it before. This is most likely because it was aired in the same year that School Days and Black Lagoon came out. These both got a lot of hype, for various reasons, while Baccano! was left aside. I'm not saying that these are better than Baccano, but they did get a lot more hype which left Baccano relatively undiscovered. Now after watching this anime I can say that Baccano deserves much more attention, not only does it portray a good story, but it does it in a new and intriguing way. The story is set in the 1930's, it mostly stays in New York and it involves a mafia war of sorts between three different mafia familys The unique thing is the way the story is presented, you see, Baccano starts out at the end and works its way backward and jumps around the timeline in order to creatively portray the mafia war. While I said that the story takes place in New York, which is true, I didn't mention that each of the three mafia groups hijack the same train for their own reasons. Throw in guns, explosions and a monster called the Rail Chaser, and you have yourself a crazy train ride. Oh yeah and did I mention an elixir of eternal life? Yeah lots of crazy stuff going on in this anime. Now in terms of Sub vs Dub, I would whole heartily recommend the dub, not that there isn't anything wrong with the sub, but the English voice acting is spot on. They manage to nail their New York accent perfectly. Also Isaac and Miria are super funny, J. Michael Tatum and Caitlin Glass nail these roles perfectly, so hearing it in English help to appreciate the jokes and voice acting better. The animation also deserves mention, fight scenes and most all other scenes are very well done and except for a few random drops in quality, it stays very consistent and polished. To summarize, this anime tells a intriguing story in a new way, with cool and thought provoking characters. It is a great anime that oozes style. For those who haven't seen this yet I would highly recommend this. Also for those who have only seen this once I would recommend watching this a second time, because it helps to clarify the story and clear up any confusion that might have lingered after the first episode. Also if after watching this, feel free to drop a question in the comments box below, I would be happy to answer any questions or just talk about this awesome anime.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Friday, April 12, 2013
The Breaker New Waves: Shiwoon is Back!!!
Ever since the Breaker New Waves began I have always felt like something was lacking, like it was missing something that the original had. And after this chapter, chapter 112, I finally understand what that thing was. It lacked Shiwoon being Bad Ass!!! In The Breaker Shiwoon went to being less than average to fighting with higher level Murim people in about a span of a month. Which was awesome, it had all of the aspects of a great growth and development story, but without the long "leveling up" period that manga of the same type suffer from, such as Kenichi. While it was awesome and at the time it worked, looking back it was rather rushed. So a rushed growth doesn't bode well for a long and in depth story, which is what the author seems to be going for. So it makes since that the author would create a situation where Shiwoon stalled in his growth so that the author can emphasize the strength of other characters as well as progressing the story without having a cliche overpowered main character. Sure it got annoying when we saw Shiwoon doing stupid things, trying to use his head instead of his fists, but that just makes it more exciting and Bad Ass when Shiwoon recovered and finally became the overpowered Bad Ass we want him to be. If you haven't read ether this chapter, The Breaker, or (to a lesser extent) The Breaker New Waves, than this is what you've been missing:
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
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