Anime Discussion Thread - Page 318

On June 13 2010 12:36 shadesofkarma wrote:
Hi, can anyone recommend me some good film noir style anime? I have watched Darker Than Black S1 and S2 (loved S1, didn't think S2 lived up to it as a sequel), Requiem for a Phantom, and Death Note. What I'm looking for is a dark atmosphere and animation and a mature plot (preferably set in a crime setting). I also thought it was really cool how in all three of those series, the protagonist was an average nice guy but with a badass alter ego.

Thanks ^^

On June 14 2010 09:02 Ecael wrote:

Why does that make it no good? This might just be personal opinion, but most dramas out there have crazy characters. Most things trying to be serious don't have believable characters. A matter of interpretation, perhaps. It feels to me that there are aspects of characters that's simply impossible for you to take too seriously and aspects meant to be more realistic, and those are to be looked at separately depending on circumstances.

In the case of DRRR, the serious parts can in fact be looked at solely in terms of just parts of the character. In the case of AB, the characters might as well as be bipolar or suffer multiple personalities, but in all things still follow after a fashion. Consistency is a rather different matter than how believable a character is if we can accept the idea of allowing them that wide swing from aspect to aspect. Looking at AB characters as a whole, parts of them are just completely inconsistent. It isn't so much that there are contradictions as that there are just random gaps that feels unfilled. But I don't think that is something we can particularly fault creators for. In all honesty, we just don't see all that many characters that are consistent yet evoke passion from the audience.

It is really kind of a balance, in search of realism you lose on drama potential, in adding onto their believability, you make it harder for the character to be interesting. More often then not, we'll see creators try to completely ignore how likely traits are to mix and mash all that together.

On June 15 2010 00:15 Thereisnosaurus wrote:
Got some new recommendations

Time of eve: this has come up before but I want to back up the recommendations. It's super class, short enough to watch in one hit, funny, deep and original. Certainly worth a look for anyone

Summer wars: the girl who leaped through time is generally in competition for the best anime film in recent years, even over miyazaki's output. Summer wars is the next in that vein. Same studio, same style of animation and emotion, same excelent music. For those who like the cute soft romances it's probably a bit of smack in the face, but honestly as far as anime watching goes, you cannot go better than this. I mean it. It is beautifully drawn, amazingly well scripted, has a huge amount of in-jokes and references as well as kickass general humor. The dramatic part of the plot is genuinely moving, at once tragic and heartwarming, in the same vein as the girl who leaped through time, but this movie is saturated with an energy and vitality that eclipses its predecessor (note: the two aren't related other than that they're the same studio). If you watch nothing else this year, watch this.

Library wars: Similar style of animation again to the above, a bit lower class though. This one is a full season series, and has one of the most awesome premises I've seen yet, that libraries are the last bastion against media censorship and maintain their own paramilitary defense organisations. Book worm by day, dirt worm by night. It's ultimately a standard anime romance, with a character who is as alike to Sausuke from FMP as is humanly possible combined with a miyazaki style determined girl for the leads. It's not revolutionary, but it's well thought out, nicely executed and definitely worth a watch if you're in that crowd that like the bridger animes between hard mech/combat animes and school days/romances.

On June 15 2010 23:10 Ecael wrote:
Backstory in any form, even in a prequel, is appreciated far as AB goes at this point I've been saying for a while that I am practically watching the show because I am currently in a phase of Kanade moe lol ><

I swear the Mikado-Kida relationship is that of a really screwed up love story, they'll call each other in turns and never pick up the damned phone. If we have to say that the trio did anything wrong though, it is the complete lack of communication. They either don't want to talk about it or don't want to drag others into it. Kida is actually doing a fairly good job with the Yellow Scarves, imo, though in a way that plays right into Izaya's hands.

Izaya is such a good bad guy though that I feel absolutely no hesitation in hating on him, not sure if that's a good thing.

On June 16 2010 01:57 Shauni wrote:


Dude Izaya is the best character in that show. He's not exactly a bad guy, he likes/enjoys humanity but doesn't connect with people on their own level. It's as if he's above everyone else, a justified elitist.

On June 15 2010 15:37 bearbuddy wrote:
Same trap? There is nothing similar between the previous circumstance and the current one. Kida is doing the exact opposite of what he did the first time when he retaliated against the Blue Squares. He was frozen last time because he was afraid of being hurt/ possibly killed when facing the Blue Squares guys alone. He is trying to compensate for his misgivings last time by rejoining Yellow Scarves and avenging Anri. However, he is also keeping the Yellow Scarves in check until he gets the right information of who exactly the Slasher is. Episode 22 shows that he knows Anri was the one sneaking around, so he realizes that Anri is the slasher and that his vengeance is not one at all. He tries to get Anri to talk to Mikado (though the shouting doesn't really help there) and even calls up Mikado himself, though Mikado never picked up his cell.

What did Kida do wrong?

Disband the Yellow Scarves, and he loses the last tiny bit of leash he has on the hoodlum before they go out of control (though, by the end of the episode, they did). The guy's just got a series of unfortunate incidents and is losing his mind by each episode.

On June 15 2010 20:27 Thereisnosaurus wrote:
My pleasure. I certainly think that they should be on everyone's watch list. TGWLTT in particular is really the only anime I can feel comfortable recommending to random people I don't know who have no existing experience. Even summer wars I think is a bit too crazy for the uninitiated.

Finished Kanon 2006 though :D