Alcohol, smoking, and stress—in the body subjected to these irritants, the cells responsible for maintaining life seem to fight a war that never ends. Due to a severe shortage of workers, Sekkekkyuu AA2153 has to quickly learn to deliver oxygen and collect carbon dioxide, even in dangerous...
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Ooh, there's an animated advert for the manga. Looks cool, slightly different look which would probably suit the themes better:
Apparently a second series is in production though I'm assuming its with the same characters as the first. That Black version looks really good too. Really interesting to see similar stuff but presumably way more dystopian in a really abused body!
Sound! Euphonium (Rewatch) - Basically I remembered S2 was the same year as ReZero and got sad no one mentions it so decided to rewatch it as haven’t seen S1 since s2 aired. And it’s better than I remembered I know I loved S2 but now I love S1 the whole cast is just a joy to watch and they have multi levels. And yes the gay element is there, as Kumiko seems to have an interest in like 4 people. 10/10
Sound! Euphonium (Rewatch) - Basically I remembered S2 was the same year as ReZero and got sad no one mentions it so decided to rewatch it as haven’t seen S1 since s2 aired. And it’s better than I remembered I know I loved S2 but now I love S1 the whole cast is just a joy to watch and they have multi levels. And yes the gay element is there, as Kumiko seems to have an interest in like 4 people. 10/10
There is a US sound 2 set and it’s stupidly expensive for what it is. $120 for half the series in each of the two parts. I just plan to get the JP BD BOX just to own it eventually no subs but I just want to own it legally.
Wow. So much to unpack. Especially as for much of the show the theme is "meaninglessness"
Everytime glasses guy tries to give exposition someone kicks his ankle to shut him up because 'the how' doesnt matter. There is no meaning to what is happening. How everytime someone tries to get the opinion of Gridman he just says everyone has a point and nothing is achieved. How Akane slowly loses meaning in her life as shes so inwardly focused. How the name of Gridmans helpers the Neon Genesis Junior High Students, a name repeatedly mocked, as if to say theres jo need to care about deeper meanings (NGE being a show that's all about the deeper meanings).
It's almost like an anti-trigger show for much of the run. The way that episode 8 acts a season finale, that instead of getting big and bombastic at that point the heroes have to decrease their size to roll out.
It's interesting then that the true resolution to the show comes from various characters accepting their meaninglessness. Glasses accepted he has no role in the story, Hibiki accepts he was never in the show to begin with, Rikka accepts she and everyone is a fake. And crucially Akane accepts that to have self meaning can only be achieved by accepting that its born from how others see us.
Theres a bonus feature on the blu ray where some funination staff talk about the show and it's super interesting to hear their theories. I wont spoil them here are they were a bit different to mine but I like their interpretation of the brief live action closing shot.
I found it very average, personally. There's nothing remarkable about it. I don't know how a fan of classic shows of the sort would view the anime, but to me, it was kinda boring. Not boring enough to drop, because you kinda want to know what's happening with the town and the kaijus but then you know and it's like... Eh. Right. It's not that interesting after all. At that point you're a couple of episodes away from the ending, so might as well.
I liked Anti, I guess.
Funny that you mention Eva, because I've been rewatching that and the world-building is superb in that. And I've come to love Shinji as a character, even if I never hated him. I would go on, but yeah, Gridman.
I found it very average, personally. There's nothing remarkable about it. I don't know how a fan of classic shows of the sort would view the anime, but to me, it was kinda boring. Not boring enough to drop, because you kinda want to know what's happening with the town and the kaijus but then you know and it's like... Eh. Right. It's not that interesting after all. At that point you're a couple of episodes away from the ending, so might as well.
I liked Anti, I guess.
Funny that you mention Eva, because I've been rewatching that and the world-building is superb in that. And I've come to love Shinji as a character, even if I never hated him. I would go on, but yeah, Gridman.
In a weird way I kind of feel like that's the point. Like it's trying to be as far away from shows like Eva as possible, at least thematically. I think theres a level where Trigger are being a bit meta about themselves and how they usually do a show like this and trying to subvert it.
On the Funimation bonus I mentioned Clifford Chaplin who directed the English dub talks about growing up watching the original as a kid and he seemed genuinely enthused about it all.
In a weird way I kind of feel like that's the point. Like it's trying to be as far away from shows like Eva as possible, at least thematically. I think theres a level where Trigger are being a bit meta about themselves and how they usually do a show like this and trying to subvert it.
On the Funimation bonus I mentioned Clifford Chaplin who directed the English dub talks about growing up watching the original as a kid and he seemed genuinely enthused about it all.
I appreciate that that may have been the point, but I think it could've been achieved in a more interesting manner. Be it with more interesting action choreography, more creative animation, a different concept altogether, I don't know, but in a way that would make me invested in what's happening.
Don't get me wrong, I definitely don't need every show or movie I watch to have incredible characters, a great story or an amazing setup but at least one thing that I find engaging. It can just be great action or great animation or a cool setting. Well, yes, in this case, it was the mystery of what's going on with the town, Akane and her fabulous friend, but in the end it wasn't really an interesting conclusion.
Yeah, I'm guessing this should be more interesting for people familiar with the original!
I appreciate that that may have been the point, but I think it could've been achieved in a more interesting manner. Be it with more interesting action choreography, more creative animation, a different concept altogether, I don't know, but in a way that would make me invested in what's happening.
Don't get me wrong, I definitely don't need every show or movie I watch to have incredible characters, a great story or an amazing setup but at least one thing that I find engaging. It can just be great action or great animation or a cool setting. Well, yes, in this case, it was the mystery of what's going on with the town, Akane and her fabulous friend, but in the end it wasn't really an interesting conclusion.
Yeah, I'm guessing this should be more interesting for people familiar with the original!
Yeah that's fair enough. In terms of the action Trigger have offered much better in other shows/films. I still enjoyed it, though I am a sucker for mystery shows and who-done-its.
Apparently there is going to be a sequel and I am intrigued to see what they do with it next.
Sound! Euphonium 2 - As I remembered it is indeed better than S1 as it expands and explored the cast and made them more interest and it sets up Liz and the blue bird with Mizore and Nozomi so worth it for that. And Asuka and Kumiko’s arc in this season is amazing. 10/10
Shall save the Liz and the blue bird rewatch till Oath’s promise is out as they are both set in Kumiko’s second year I’ll watch them together.
I finished watching Psycho-Pass Season 2 Sunday night for the first time - Wow, was that ever good! I own the series on Blu-ray and had watched the first seaspn and the movie, but had not put any effort into watching S2 because of all the negative comments posted online about that season. But heck, now that I finally watched it, I thought it was great - I totally loved it! Since I'm a guy and don't have a hot-crush on Kougami, I didn't really miss him at all in this season - the two "cameo" appearances were plenty enough for me. Overall, Season 2 may not be quite as good as Season 1, but I think it's pretty close - which still puts it well-above and beyond at least 95% of all other anime out there now. This second season might actually push my ranking of the anime as a whole up a spot or two on my all-time favorite anime list, which would be quite an achievement since it is already in my Top 6, lol. So, contrary to popular opinion, I'm giving Psycho Pass Season 2 a solid 8/10, leaning toward the 8.5 side.
And now, on to watch Sinners of the System; I'm debating whether I should wait until the neighbor couple come over to watch the three movies with me, or if I should be greedy and just watch them myself in a more timely fashion, heheh...
So I just found out I'm traveling over the next 3 days for work, Wednesday-Friday; when I travel I always take along my MSI All-in-One PC to watch Blu-rays and YouTube and the like in my hotel room in the evenings. I copied the Sinners of the System movies and Season 3 to the PC, so I can keep on going with the series while I'm away...
I'm a big fan, and the series was an easy release-day buy for me. I was taken with it from the first episode. I loved that first action sequence; it brilliantly conveyed Gridman's size and weight for me, and Trigger just keep coming up with ways to display the power and ferocity of the battles. I mean, in a later episode, you've got cars getting embedded in the sides of buildings for god's sake!
I love the characters, too; they kept me engaged all the way to the end. I loved how, at first, this "Alexis" seems to be like some kind of Alexa-type personal assistant on Akane's PC, but it actually turns out that it's her doing his bidding. A very clever bit of naming-based misdirection there.
And even though it's been some time since I've seen the show, I still remember the characters, which says a lot for me. That slight stammer that Calibur has... There's no particular reason for it; it's just him! That's a lovely bit of characterisation, I reckon.
The setting itself requires an increasing amount of suspension of disbelief, but, again, I enjoyed it so much that I was able to just go "God, really?! Okay, fine, let's run with that; it's Trigger after all."
I don't know how they do it, but Trigger just keep coming up with the goods and remain the only animation house that makes me want to watch an anime because it's theirs.
Quoting my own post here, but I did once write of Gridman in the Viewing Journal thread:
I totally stand by that claim. Another bit I really loved was the twist where Grid Knight joins the fray. I got really excited by that development, like "Aww, yeah! "
Like it's trying to be as far away from shows like Eva as possible, at least thematically. I think theres a level where Trigger are being a bit meta about themselves and how they usually do a show like this and trying to subvert it.
That's spot-on, I reckon. You only need to watch Promare to see that Trigger love to have some sly fun with a knowing wink towards the audience right in the middle of all the madness and mayhem they've created. I mean, why else would there be a scene in Gridman where Max is sitting at the counter enjoying his breakfast, despite the fact he's still wearing his metal facemask? It's because it's daft, that's why! And I love it!
Funny that you mention Eva, because I've been rewatching that and the world-building is superb in that. And I've come to love Shinji as a character, even if I never hated him.
So yeah, with this re-watch, I realize I never watched Evangelion properly. I always loved it and it's the golden standard for mecha shows as far as I'm concerned, for reasons I'll explain along this post, but I never paid the proper attention to themes and such.
In my defense, Eva was one of the first times I laid eyes upon an anime and I will never forget watching Eva-01 tearing Bardiel apart on a beautiful Saturday morning on TV when I was like 9 or 10, because this is a cartoon and cartoons are for kids, amirite. I was shocked, but entranced. It was very mysterious, maybe because it was an isolated moment out of an entire series, but over the years that followed, a friend of mine got me a few episodes on VHS and later... pirate treasure and I would revisit moments that I loved, and I did eventually watch all of it and the movie but all I could muster was a low level, MAL comment-worthy "mindfeck holy feck the animation is so good".
Fast forward to last week. I notice Evangelion on Netflix after reading the news some months back that they got the rights to it, and the preview starts playing, with extremely crisp image quality, so it got me to re-watch it. Or actually watch it, for real.
The production values on episode one are incredible, even by today's standards. The fight is impactful and brutal, with a good sense of scale and a considerable amount of destruction which is beautifully rendered, the designs are alien and mysterious both for the Eva and the Angel, the mecha is maybe not just a mecha after all and the rules by which it operates (explained minutes before) are basically tossed aside and this beautiful machine is seemingly operating out of its own will...
The concept ans setting are immediately interesting and appealing and while Shinji may be grating for some, you get where he's coming from, completely so by series' end. And he is a great character, completely justified in his reactions and attitude: an emotionally fragile teenager, with parental abandonment issues, a dead mother, thrown into a mecha to fight giant alien monstrosities who try to kill him in violent ways, with the weight of the world on his shoulders, in a way, and of course, puberty. I mean, puberty on its own is hard as is, but then you've got all those... extras. I know I'm not saying anything new, but I think people forget what he's going through when they complain about him.
Add to that what I feel is a pretty realistic and steady evolution all throughout the series and the movie, with some great moments of agency ranging from simple character moments to all-or-nothing decisions, like when Zeruel invades HQ (from a normal character, this would be a hype moment, but from Shinji it was nothing short of awe-inspiring and triumphant), culminating with the rejection of instrumentality, and I'm pretty satisfied overall. He was annoying for a bit there during End of Eva when Misato had to drag his bottocks around, but shite was really hitting the fan there, so again, I think it's justified.
I spoke about the world-building and you can tell it was very meticulously planned. Second Impact, Adam, the Evas and what they're made from, what's inside them, LCL, the true nature of the Geofront, what's hidden inside Terminal Dogma, the Lance of Longinus and its role, SEELE's agenda, Gendo's agenda, the Magi and how they were created, Angels and the reason they target NERV, Rei and her role.... The way it all unravels and that everything is connected and related to this core cast of characters and the way it influences and informs their motivations is so satisfying to witness. And you don't necessarily get all of these in your face, some are briefly mentioned or just implied, and that's part of the reason why it's so satisfying.
And then, of course, there's Anno's directing style with great importance placed on the technical side of things, a raging boner for HUDs, graphs et al, an impeccable ability to immerse you in a given mood (most of the time depressing or melancholic), a great eye for action and storyboarding and some great use of music.
All these form an incredible sense of identity for the series. There's no mistaking it. Not Eva.
Ah yes, End of Evangelion. First time around, I thought it was depressing and extremely violent and while it is a downward spiral of bad stuff happening, the ending is definitely earned with its infinite potential for recreating the world. It's funny in the sense that it's kind of an inverted climax. So yeah, it ends on a happy note, as far as I'm concerned and it sees Shinji acting of his own accord, in spite of the great potential cost to himself, the culmination of his evolution as a character. It was very interesting getting more insight into Yui's motivations and of course, 02 vs Eva Series is easily one of the best animated sequences ever created. It is superlative.
I gave both Evas a 9 on MAL, but not even I am sure what's stopping me from giving a 10. It's thoroughly satisfying. Maybe I'll rethink that score. The fact remains that now, more than ever, it's a series I'm extremely fond of.
On to Rebuild....
Yes, I did search the net to get the Angel names right. And yes, Evageeks is on my daily site rotation for the moment.
That was a really excellent post, dude; very in-depth. I read it over a few times to absorb it properly. It was interesting to hear that you actually got Eva on TV!
Out of curiosity, what was your take on the TV ending versus EoE?
And yeah, Evageeks is a pretty useful resource, especially the encyclopedia section. I dipped into that quite a lot during the simulwatch here last summer.
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