Anime Series/Films With Misleading Beginnings..

When I started watching Now and Then, Here and There I felt a little cheated - it was supposed to be really interesting but it seemed to be a fairly normal show about a boring kid and a mysterious girl, like thousands of others.

My first impression was wrong. After episode one the entire tone was changed and I actually felt like I wanted that mundane setup back and for it all to have been the main character's bad dream. Excellent series though.

R
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
Anyone who watched the first few moments of Mahoromatic (assuming they skipped the credits) would be forgiven for thinking that it's a dark sci-fi action show. If only :(
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Er... it is kinda.
( She does die at the end after all. )
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
Haibane Renmei's second half is radically different in tone to its first.
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You know, I'm not sure about that. The first part also has its darker moments. Generally I think it is more development, though I will grant you the last episode certainly ups the ante.

< Haibane Renmei fan here. :p
 
I haven't watched it for a while but I distinctly remember being taken aback by a sudden shift in tone that followed an incident in the sixth episode. Until that point - some powerful scenes in the first episode aside - it has been a series of breezy, lighthearted slice-of-life stories with few hints of the direction the show was to take.
 
Another one I can think of is Elfen Lied. One minute it's about the friendship between these young characters, the next it's some gory action series. I loved this show, though it could do with a second 13-part series or a spin-off movie to put the story to rest
I'm not sure if you guys would consider this anime, but The Moomin (Vols 1 & 2) have recently been released on DVD. It starts off innocent enough, but there's something about it that just seems to hide a darkness underneath it all. There's a character in it called the Groke which is still pretty terrifying to this day. You discover that it's a harmless, kind creature, though the way it walks slowly through the mist and the noise it makes as it approaches the house is 100% horror movie material. Is anybody else familiar with The Moomins? It was shown on terrestrial TV through the 90s and is just now getting an admittedly poor dvd release. The picture isnt great and the sound is slightly muffled, but it feels like it did on TV. I'm glad to see they'll be releasing the remaining series over the next two years..
 
fusionsox said:
I'm not sure if you guys would consider this anime, but The Moomin (Vols 1 & 2) have recently been released on DVD. It starts off innocent enough, but there's something about it that just seems to hide a darkness underneath it all. There's a character in it called the Groke which is still pretty terrifying to this day. You discover that it's a harmless, kind creature, though the way it walks slowly through the mist and the noise it makes as it approaches the house is 100% horror movie material. Is anybody else familiar with The Moomins? It was shown on terrestrial TV through the 90s and is just now getting an admittedly poor dvd release. The picture isnt great and the sound is slightly muffled, but it feels like it did on TV. I'm glad to see they'll be releasing the remaining series over the next two years..
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Totally off topic really... but I love the Moomins (random chit-chat thread time?) in any format. I read the books and watched the series when I was younger and recently revisited them.

It is a very strange and unique concept full of quite dark moments (The Groke is definately one of them) that as a child I didn't notice, but definately do now. They have re-released all the books in the UK with the exception of "Moominpappa at Sea" which is essentially "Moominpappa's Mid-Life Crisis" or "Moominpappa's Exsistential Dilemma" - maybe they think that's a bit too much for children these days. :( I would say that "Moominvalley in November" is actually more disturbing, as it presents Moominvalley... sans Moomins, though it works very well as what it was, Tove Jansson's goodbye to the Moomins. Jansson herself led a somewhat strange life... living for extended periods of time on a tiny remote island with only her partner.
 
ayase said:
Totally off topic really... but I love the Moomins (random chit-chat thread time?) in any format. I read the books and watched the series when I was younger and recently revisited them.
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"The Mooooomiiins!" Actually the opening theme is all I remember. That, and what they look like.

Strange creatures..
 
Just finished watching Haibane Renmei. That ending.. came out of nowhere. One of the most dramatic I've seen since Grave Of The Fireflies.
I'm also currently juggling between Samurai Champloo (just watched the first episode.. good feeling about it) and a second sit-through of Serial Experiments Lain. It needs it, though it's difficult getting to grips with such an over-stylised anime. Recent purchases have been Guyver : Bioboosted Armour (newest one), Last Exile Complete (heard good things) and Trigun Complete Collection. Would you believe I've never seen Trigun? Especially as I adore Cowboy Bebop.
By the way, does anyone know the status of the Wolf's Rain Definitive Boxset? I ordered mine from amazon.co.uk under the impression that it came out on Monday and I've been told that it will be dispatched between 2-5 weeks. And that's from a pre-order? Unhappy customer. I've also ordered the Region 2 Eva Tin Boxset, though God only knows when that's REALLY coming out. Can't trust any companies these days..
 
Would anyone going into My-HiME expect what happens from episode 14-25 (the last episode is an exception... kinda) from the fanservicey first few episodes?

Here I went in thinking "Oh, this is interesting, girls with powers fighting monsters, yeah sounds good." Then the emotional car crash of the 2nd half, totally threw me. It's the reason its my favourite anime series, but it was definitely unexpected.
 
Cago1020 said:
Would anyone going into My-HiME expect what happens from episode 14-25 (the last episode is an exception... kinda) from the fanservicey first few episodes?

Here I went in thinking "Oh, this is interesting, girls with powers fighting monsters, yeah sounds good." Then the emotional car crash of the 2nd half, totally threw me. It's the reason its my favourite anime series, but it was definitely unexpected.
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tiz so true

Air is another, gone from the cheerful start to the depressing ending
 
Full Metal Panic - Serious mecha tactics to silly school comedy and then back and forward enought to give anyone motion sickness.
Planetes- Sci-fi slice of life to eco terrorist fighting
Big O Batman mecha to ' I am the Tomato'
 
hopeful_monster said:
Big O Batman mecha to ' I am the Tomato'
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I am the tomato?? WTF?

OT:
Samurai X - starts very good, ends bad. The OVA's are absolutely amazing.

Fullmetal Alchemist changes its tone completely on eps 7

Berserk if you disconsider the first ep and only look at the golden years, the ending is pretty surprising.
 
chaos said:
hopeful_monster said:
Big O Batman mecha to ' I am the Tomato'
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I am the tomato?? WTF!
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Yea it's something about clones, you can speculate endlessly because of the mind games towards the end of the series, well it is written by the same guy behind Serial Experiment Lain....
 
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