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If you come in here looking for "anime recommendations" then please refer to this chart before posting: Anime Recommendations (as of may 2014). We also have an IRC channel called #tladt where we all hang out. The channel is on Rizon, not QuakeNet! Feel free to check it out. TLADT discord is Discord.ggFor currently airing anime, please see Anichart.net |
On December 25 2010 08:27 Sentenal wrote:Christmas came early in SRW:OGIN this year: + Show Spoiler + My justice has been SERVED!!!!! YAHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
in other news I wish I had the Capture God's APM is my SC2 games
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On December 25 2010 05:42 triangle wrote: Maybe Baka Tsuki translators just suck, and the novels are better in Japanese, I dunno.
Most translated novels are ones that were done because the series is popular. Think Naruto version of LN.
I translated To Aru Hikuushi e No Tsuioku last year and gave it to Mazui but they haven't done anything with it AFAIK and I don't feel like crawling back to B-T with a volume of novel t/l after I bailed on MariMite >_> So sue me. How many people have heard of that one? Probably none. Except for Ecael, because I e-mailed him the t/l at some point. <_<
I did a massive summary/review of S;G if anyone's interested http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=179456
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The Devil on G String is fully translated now! Merry fucking Christmas! ! !
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On December 25 2010 05:18 lofung wrote:Show nested quote +On December 25 2010 03:20 Ecael wrote:On December 24 2010 22:22 lofung wrote:On December 24 2010 21:20 Wala.Revolution wrote: Hmm, I have not read a light novel yet. What are you guys' experiences on them? dun expect too much. these are not standard literatures. some of the series were good for the very first book(s), like haruhi or oreimo (or so called my sister). they won a prize for their first book and they are made to continue the series. and then the quality went down. And then we have awesomes like the AHEAD series, Zaregoto, and bungaku shoujo. The last book to Owari no Chronicle is like a good thousand pages lol. The whole thing about light novels not being 'standard' literature is honestly pretty wrong. The designation did originally suggest a novella-esque approach (particularly with length), but as times went on, it more or less changed its meaning to point to novels w/ illustration content that is typically shorter, but not necessarily so. The style sometimes are like that of a serialized work published in magazines, but for the most part these books are written one vol at a time. The problem with prizes always exist, but tbh good series will stand out over time. OreImo's quality imo has gone up over the last couple of books, and some Haruhi books, particularly Disappearance, stood out far beyond the rest. So yeah, I completely can't agree with the quoted post. You should expect just as much from light novels as you would any standard novel and novella. About the simultaneous release for Haruhi, I don't think English is even up to vol 9 yet so I don't know how they intend to release Surprise  And for OreImo novel translation, BakaTsuki should have vol1 up. i dun really understand how oreimo has gone up in the recent volumes. perhaps the english translator has done a very good job of making the story a better thing to read or perhaps people havent translate much of ireimo... but then what i heard from the chinese anime cirlces are "the story of oreimo are becoming stranger" as it progresses to volume 6 and i have the same feeling after reading it. + Show Spoiler +its pretty strange when you read the ayase trying to ask what she could do for the brother and the brother said, "marry me". wtf????
and i havent read the english version of haruhi but i have the chinese offical version from taiwan kadokawa. yes, i agree that dissappearance is a very good volume. but its an exception. look at the others outside disappearance and melancholy, they are indeed very boring stories. no, i am not trying to troll. i am fans of oreimo and haruhi but i just cant deny it. another example is shana. i borrow the books from my friend and i only read 3 of it. i am sure that the translator (yet again, taiwan chinese offical) tried her very best to keep the way it is presented in japanese and the presentation style turns out to be very confusing. not only its presentation style, fans are actually losing their interest of the story as it is dragged. these could be observed in some recent threads of a taiwanese anime fan bbs. i am sure that there is some good series out there. perhaps spice and wolf is one of them. but i just dun want to read it anymore so i stopped at the middle of volume 5. and i still have volume 6 and 7 unopened!. but then i believe that story is great and with depth. still, i wouldnt give much expectations to the light novels. if most of them aren't below par, why bother about using the name light novels at the very beginning? it is a way of packaging this stories although i understand that LN later became a name tighted with ACG so they kept using this name. particularly those who get a prize for their first book and have a series out after that. look, they were designed to be finished with one book, weren't they? no offense. just trying to discuss  OreImo improved because author is finally bringing things worth mentioning into the picture, further development of Kyosuke and Kirino's vague relationship is always good. The involvement of romance, Kuroneko, Saori and co are honestly kind of pointless, but not like early vols have much use of the lack of baggage characters. The conversations with Ayase are the best to me, actually, in how they are the only points in the novels, other than Kyosuke's 熱血 monologues (umm hot blood?) where you get an interesting talk. About the spoilered portion, you need to keep in mind how Kyosuke's reactions toward Ayase has always been highly exaggerated, and she replies withe same way you'd expect her to reply, add in some reverse harassment and clever retorts, result in profit. As someone who love conversation-driven LNs, it is the best part of OreImo to me.
Like honestly what else am I supposed to like, the plot? 
Suzumiya in English rather blew, not that Chinese was much better but it is a slight improvement. Yes, I read the same thing in 3 different languages, how insane is that -.- Anyhow, other than vol 4, there was also...I forgot which vol, the one that involved Asahina as main. Like really the long stories in vol 1, 4, and that vol are just much better than the others, except for a few short stories that are of decent quality.
Can't say much about Shana, but from what I've heard from other sources it gets better as the series goes on.
btw, as a heavy reader, I strongly recommend reading original language version if possible. When I read Harry Potter in Chinese for the first time I was pretty amazed at how well it was done, and how bad it still is compared to the English version. Translations are like that 
The name light novels were just used originally to describe the novella-esque form, like I said. They can be serialized, but there are also a large amount of one-shot (or 2 part) light novels of high acclaim. Like ummm 砂糖菓子の弾丸は撃ちぬけない. Some of them indeed look like they will end in one book, particularly the prize winners that get publication and pushed into series status, but once an author establishes him/herself that problem is pretty much gone. But seriously, the 'light' of LN nowadays means jackshit, I've seen more American novels with less content than a good LN. Full blown best selling hardcovers filled with crud. Why should I not expect the same thing from LNs and novels when the drivels that fill the bookstores are such.
On December 25 2010 11:38 CaffeineFree-_- wrote: The Devil on G String is fully translated now! Merry fucking Christmas! ! ! Oh seriously? Merry Christmas!
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Merry Christmas~ don't have too high hopes for it though :|
Edit: As in, literally "too high." That thing got hyped up like no other and left me disappointed. lol.
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To love ru + Show Spoiler +I don't even know why i expected anything from this, nothing happened till the last episode, and still nothing happened after that -.-, /sigh soo stupid Panty and stocking + Show Spoiler +despite the randomness, its pretty funny and I like the music, and the ending at the end was troll Fortune Arterial + Show Spoiler +Ugh, I hated it soo much, it was soo boring...
Soredemo_Machi_wa_Mawatteiru + Show Spoiler + again the series was bad until the last episode
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Incidentally it occurred to me that my rant about VNs also applies to LNs, except I don't read as many LNs as Ecael.
Edit: On a more serious note, I feel like LNs find themselves in a tough spot. The concept of a LN as Ecael said came from their expected length and supposed ease of read. To an extent I think that's what most people expect when they pick one up. However there're an increasing number of "outlier" LNs that straddle the line between an LN and an actual book. Nasu Kinoko's two series are a big example of this (KnK and DDD) but other authors have also straddled the line (Arikawa Hiro the biggest example). It's a tough call, really, because even the "upper echelon" of LNs when it comes to reading depth and complexity are rejected by mainstream because of, well, most blatantly their covers. The other thing that tends to shaft these novels is that they're often written about high schoolers - hence the target audience. This turns off a lot of mainstream readers whom are often in university or are older. That's why you see what seems to be a convergence of two wildly different target audiences under one "name" (light novel) and why it's somewhat difficult to differentiate if you actually want to. For my part, as well as Ecael, and most people I'd assume, we just lump them into LN because they're books that aren't as readily accepted by the mainstream. For example, one of my favorite writers is Kougyoku Iduki, a name you've probably not heard of but I obsessed over for a long time. His works are a bit like Neil Gaiman, except significantly more straight-forward (Gaiman likes twists and turns, Iduki charges at you straight forward with purity and it's magnificent in its own right). I have found it impossible to get my mother to read them because aside from the first, the covers have all become increasingly more LN-ish. She just shrugs them off, "oh it's anime stuff."
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So, I don't ever post here but Christmas has finally given me time to sit down and watch some anime, namely the Haruhi movie. I was so happy after finishing it that I needed a place to talk about it. It reminded me of why I actually like Haruhi in the first place, even though I eventually grew to hate most of it.
After skimming over the last few posts though, it seems like the Melancholy and Disappearance arcs are the only good parts of the whole Haruhi story. Is that really true? I was thinking of reading the LNs for fun, but if the rest of it is more like the Sigh arc and rest of it, I seriously just won't.
Also, can you guys recommend a good plot development driven or character development driven recent anime (2006/7 and after)? Good animation is a plus. I don't really like mecha, but I'm fine with everything else.
Thanks
And a quick question about Katanagatari: Is it episodic like Samurai Champloo or is there an overarching story more than just collecting swords? I watched the first episode and it was OK, but every episode is an hour long and I don't want to spend 12 hours marathoning it without knowing what I'm getting into.
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On December 25 2010 05:42 triangle wrote:
I know you read way way more LNs than I do, but all the ones I've read have varied from not very good to plain bad. The best light novel I've ever read was Disappearance, and as a novel I found it mediocre at best. Basically, I haven't found any LNs that I would read for reasons other than knowing what happens next in anime that end awkwardly.
Maybe Baka Tsuki translators just suck, and the novels are better in Japanese, I dunno.
Have you read any Nisio Isin? I've only read his Death Note novel, but found that to be quite enjoyable..
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Have you read any Nisio Isin? I've only read his Death Note novel, but found that to be quite enjoyable.. Nope. Is Katanagatari worth reading?
even though I eventually grew to hate most of it. Why?
I've never understood why some people seem to really dislike the show, and so I'm curious as to why you came to dislike it.
Edit -- imo the only other Haruhi novel worth reading is book 7, unless book 10 ever comes out and then book 9 would be worth reading too.
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It is not worth reading.
I personally don't really like Nishio Ishin but he's done a lot of stuff, like Bakemonogatari (obv.) and the Zaregoto/Ningen series. I think his greatest work is Ningen but I still haven't read it and Ecael's gonna one day kill me for it.
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Ningen > Zaregoto if only because of Shiogi getting much more time in Ningen than in Zaregoto, but I am totally biased 
atm if we ignore hilarity of the Monogatari series conversations, Zaregoto/Ningen > Monogatari. Katanagatari can't even compare to those two.
I think Katanagatari is worth reading if you are into the whole parody and meta heavy style, I certainly had a good laugh when I read it, but it isn't amazing or anything. As for Suzumiya, if vol 7 is the one with Asahina taking that important role then yeah, only other book other than 1 and 4 that's good. As for Disappearance's value as a novel...well I found it better than a ton of stuff I read in English lol
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On December 25 2010 14:59 Ecael wrote:Ningen > Zaregoto if only because of Shiogi getting much more time in Ningen than in Zaregoto, but I am totally biased  atm if we ignore hilarity of the Monogatari series conversations, Zaregoto/Ningen > Monogatari. Katanagatari can't even compare to those two. I think Katanagatari is worth reading if you are into the whole parody and meta heavy style, I certainly had a good laugh when I read it, but it isn't amazing or anything. As for Suzumiya, if vol 7 is the one with Asahina taking that important role then yeah, only other book other than 1 and 4 that's good. As for Disappearance's value as a novel...well I found it better than a ton of stuff I read in English lol
Did you watch the Anime by any chance?
I really don't read the light novels, especially if they're translated, so I wouldn't know how they compare....but the Anime I uber enjoyed.
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so is there an anime out there with action scenes anywhere near as epic as Gundam Unicorn's? or have I just been introduced to the peak of animated entertainment?
seriously this shit is amazing -- well, i'm hoping the 3rd episode will be able to equal what the first had.
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Samurai 7 was pretty epic with action o/
Edit: Noein too.
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On December 25 2010 17:23 holdthephone wrote: so is there an anime out there with action scenes anywhere near as epic as Gundam Unicorn's? or have I just been introduced to the peak of animated entertainment?
seriously this shit is amazing -- well, i'm hoping the 3rd episode will be able to equal what the first had.
*TTGL* <--- SUPER EPIC MECHA BATTLES Noein (if you can get over the sort of outdated art style) Darker than Black
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Canada8031 Posts
+ Show Spoiler [Break Blade 38] +Holy fucking shit Girge is awesome.
Last episode of SoreMachi was quite a pleasant surprise. I don't remember the manga chapter it was based on being that good. I guess this means an anime adaptation actually improved the source material for once.
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On December 25 2010 19:42 Spazer wrote:+ Show Spoiler [Break Blade 38] +Holy fucking shit Girge is awesome. Last episode of SoreMachi was quite a pleasant surprise. I don't remember the manga chapter it was based on being that good. I guess this means an anime adaptation actually improved the source material for once. Personally it was the ending episode was the best of them all.
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Well, seems like the Fall 2010 anime are coming to an end =)
Motto To Love-Ru + Show Spoiler + Was decent. It finally finished the To Love-Ru manga plot. Although more often than not, I was irritated by the censorship. This kind of anime/manga is just not the same with censorship =(. Oh well, it was still pretty amusing.
Fortune Arterial + Show Spoiler + Well it ended in a cliche "whatever might happen, it's our lives and we will choose ourselves!" type of ending. However, it wasn't bad. An easy going anime with just a typical slice of life story line. Although you might hear "vampire" here and there, it's nothing to go by. Just a typical comedy/drama love story.
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On December 25 2010 20:36 Latham wrote:Well, seems like the Fall 2010 anime are coming to an end =) Motto To Love-Ru + Show Spoiler + Was decent. It finally finished the To Love-Ru manga plot. Although more often than not, I was irritated by the censorship. This kind of anime/manga is just not the same with censorship =(. Oh well, it was still pretty amusing.
Which is exactly why I'm waiting on the Tuesday release of the uncensored version of episode 12. I really like To Love-Ru, it's just simple silly fun and fanservice with lots of nice and crazy girls.
I've seen Eden of the East recommended in one of these posters under "awesome backgrounds" and since I love high quality backgrounds/art and high production values in general I watched it. Really really good, nice story and one of the best openings I've seen so far. But far too short. Are the movies decent and should I get them?
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