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Orgun said:
Mobile Suit Z Gundam - Episode 42 (Blu-ray)

BanzaiJedi said:
Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise. This was way better than I expected, and has shot into the top five of my all-time favourite anime movies. Dare I say the word 'masterpiece'?
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Yes!! I'm glad you liked it, It's been a favourite of mine since I saw it at the cinema in 1993 and have owned it on VHS, DVD and BD, I find many people who see it for the first time now think it's slow and don't appreciate it at all!
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I just saw it has a ok movie......
 
Orgun said:
Mobile Suit Z Gundam - Episode 42 (Blu-ray)

BanzaiJedi said:
Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise. This was way better than I expected, and has shot into the top five of my all-time favourite anime movies. Dare I say the word 'masterpiece'?
Click to expand...

Yes!! I'm glad you liked it, It's been a favourite of mine since I saw it at the cinema in 1993 and have owned it on VHS, DVD and BD, I find many people who see it for the first time now think it's slow and don't appreciate it at all!
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I think the thing that surprised me most was the soundtrack - didn't realise it was by Ryuichi Sakamoto of Yellow Magic Orchestra-fame. It's just got a really bizarre, erzats feel that really fits the similar-but-not-quite-the-same world of the film itself.

The aesthetic of the film is just so spot on - so 'weird' in a can't quite put your finger on it way. I enjoyed reading the booklet where it says the staff were told to think completely out of the box and subvert everything, right down to the glasses the characters used to drink from.
 
YowpBUR.jpg
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So I just started City Hunter and wrapped up the first 5 episodes, and I'll be honest I'm not the one who typically writes about a show after watching only an episode or two, and instead opt for one final review at the end since I have time to digest everything and make my thoughts more clear and coherent, or at least a midway review to summarize the first half, however since this is a long show (51 episodes) I thought that I'd at least write down my first thoughts on the show. Whether or not I keep you all up to date on a constant basis is down to if anybody is interested in reading my ramblings I guess!

Again, I won’t go into episode specifics, as I find that too spoilery and I don’t want to rob people of their first viewing, so I guess this might be a bit light on content. In any case, City Hunter is a TV series by studio Sunrise and directed by Kodama Kenji, who is known for directing shows such as Kekkaishi and Detective Conan Case Closed. I have to say, going in I was very excited at what this show may bring, as I’ve been eying it up for many years, so I finally jumped in with high hopes and much excitement on this Saturday night. Right off the bat this show clicked with me, and quite frankly hasn’t let go within the 2 hours I’ve been watching it for. Things like the intro are pretty important to me and it’s generally the thing that attracts me to a show, and although you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, I’d be lying if I said that said tactic hasn’t been paying dividends thus far. From the punchy 80’s song to the striking visuals, I felt truly at home from the get go, as I tried to sing along with the lyrics in my head clumsily. I’m sure I’m not the only one who does this? The ending credits are equally addicting! I feel that I might have to add this soundtrack to my playlist along with Macross and Patlabor when I finish, with the repeat button firmly pressed.

So what is City Hunter about? Well apparently crime is lurking around every corner in this city, and its one man and his partner’s job to keep it at bay…well if there’s a beautiful lady in the mix of course! The main character, Ryo is hilarious, with his thirst for a lady palpable, and who blames him? The ladies in this show are beautiful! Something about those 80’s character designs man, I’m telling ya!

Of course as it always goes, the comedic tone is used in order to set up the more serious moments, showing how the protagonist of this comedy isn’t as heartless as you’d like to think! The show drops those feels on you with each and every episode, to great effect. Ryo is easily a favourite of mine already, and I can’t wait to see more of him. He’s a perv, but damn it he’s lovable and means well! The girls seem to agree, as they all end up swapping using his head as target practice to a face they can trust as they end up seeing him for what he is, a guy who just wants to protect beautiful ladies, many of which hold their own weight mind you!

The first episode was exhilarating with a sad, emotional end, with plenty of laughs in between, and that's a great way to summarize this show thus far and each of the four episodes that followed. The show had me laughing the whole way through, with the urge to press next on the controller hard to resist. The soundtrack is also awesome, and straight up my alley.

I’m loving what I’ve seen so far, and if it wasn’t for the fact that it was almost 6am by the time I finished, I would have watched a lot more that’s for sure! What feels like a mix of GTO and Bebop, it’s hilarious and highly addicting, and although the night is young, I can see myself adding this to the favourites when it’s all said and done.

I have to link the opening here, it's awesome! Link
 
Awesome, City Hunter is still one of my favourite shows - it's one of the most '80s things imaginable.

The only thing I would say is that I don't think the first five episodes are a great indication of show as a whole; they introduce the characters and the situation, but I felt like it got far more consistent in terms of tone and content around the sixth one.
 
Now that's more like! All you number crunching posters could learn a thing or two from qaiz! I'm actually fully sold on City Hunter now! Prof has further sold it with his 80s comment.

I attempted to watch nisemonogatari ep 4 after being reminded that I watched the first three eps months ago or something. Thought it was pretty boring, absolutely unintelligible, and more than a bit too pretentious and self aware for my liking. But really the worst part is that I couldn't make head or tails of what was going on! A clear and followable plot seems to have been completely lost in between all the painfully self-consciously quirky gibberish that gets endlessly spouted. I don't think it was the time gap in between the watching of these episodes as I remember feeling exactly the same way watching the first three eps. I know it's the gibberish dialogue that is the main draw of this show, but really, it's just not that good. Every single character, bar none, is unbelievably dis-likable.

Definitely one for the overrated thread.
 
Professor Irony said:
Awesome, City Hunter is still one of my favourite shows - it's one of the most '80s things imaginable.

The only thing I would say is that I don't think the first five episodes are a great indication of show as a whole; they introduce the characters and the situation, but I felt like it got far more consistent in terms of tone and content around the sixth one.
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I'm glad that it's one of your favorites! I really look forward to getting deeper into the show and for the record, I agree with the notion that the first 5 episodes don't give the full picture, as the show is placing all the pieces on the board before showing it's full hand and I'd hope so since it's a pretty long series! All I can say thus far is I LOVE the characters and the music is straight up my alley. Also have to give props to the voice acting which is top notch.

vashdaman said:
Now that's more like! All you number crunching posters could learn a thing or two from qaiz! I'm actually fully sold on City Hunter now! Prof has further sold it with his 80s comment.
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No problem! If you love your 80's, this is seriously for you. I look forward to updating you all further as I continue my viewing, with the hopes that others may like what they hear and also give this series a try.
 
vashdaman said:
Now that's more like! All you number crunching posters could learn a thing or two from qaiz! I'm actually fully sold on City Hunter now! Prof has further sold it with his 80s comment.

I attempted to watch nisemonogatari ep 4 after being reminded that I watched the first three eps months ago or something. Thought it was pretty boring, absolutely unintelligible, and more than a bit too pretentious and self aware for my liking. But really the worst part is that I couldn't make head or tails of what was going on! A clear and followable plot seems to have been completely lost in between all the painfully self-consciously quirky gibberish that gets endlessly spouted. I don't think it was the time gap in between the watching of these episodes as I remember feeling exactly the same way watching the first three eps. I know it's the gibberish dialogue that is the main draw of this show, but really, it's just not that good. Every single character, bar none, is unbelievably dis-likable.

Definitely one for the overrated thread.
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In terms of being able to follow the plot, Karen Bee is probably one of the worst. It gets better in later arcs. Also, personally, I don't get where you're coming from with the characters being dislikeable. The only character that I really don't like too much is Hanekawa.
 
twas a good day for anime.

Fairy Tail S2 Eps. 52 - 55
Arslan Senki Eps 1 - 3
Hibiki! Euphonium Ep.4
Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku Ep.4
 
I don't get where you're coming from with the characters being dislikeable. The only character that I really don't like too much is Hanekawa.
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At first I too thought it was just Hanekawa that was awful, but then I realized I was lying to myself, they are all awful! The main character, well, what are his good attributes? He's a typical boring/yet entirely unrelatable guy, who talks endless shite. nothing more nothing less. he's a more talky/ cheeky/molesting version of Tenchi. That makes him worse than Tenchi in my books, and I hate Tenchi. And as bad as he is, he also has a girlfriend who deserves him. Does anyone like his vampire girlfriend? Yeah, I know she's like some anime cliche taken to the extreme (that goes for all the characters really), but that just makes her extremely annoying. Hanekawa is smug and annoying, that simple. The sporty girl with the furry arm talks as much fraff as everyone else. In fact that's the problem, everyone talks fraff. And all the women fall in love with the annoying dullard main guy, and that makes them contemptible.

The characters are all so unhuman and flat, despite how self consciously quirky they all are . I know that's clearly what the show is going for, but it's not for me.

They aren't well written or clever subversions of tropes, they just think they are. They're all just pretentious versions of tropes. Monogatari is a pretentious Tenchi Muyo.
 
vashdaman said:
I don't get where you're coming from with the characters being dislikeable. The only character that I really don't like too much is Hanekawa.
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At first I too thought it was just Hanekawa that was awful, but then I realized I was lying to myself, they are all awful! The main character, well, what are his good attributes? He's a typical boring/yet entirely unrelatable guy, who talks endless shite. nothing more nothing less. he's a more talky/ cheeky/molesting version of Tenchi. That makes him worse than Tenchi in my books, and I hate Tenchi. And as bad as he is, he also has a girlfriend who deserves him. Does anyone like his vampire girlfriend? Yeah, I know she's like some anime cliche taken to the extreme (that goes for all the characters really), but that just makes her extremely annoying. Hanekawa is smug and annoying, that simple. The sporty girl with the furry arm talks as much fraff as everyone else. In fact that's the problem, everyone talks fraff. And all the women fall in love with the annoying dullard main guy, and that makes them contemptible.

The characters are all so unhuman and flat, despite how self consciously quirky they all are . I know that's clearly what the show is going for, but it's not for me.

They aren't well written or clever subversions of tropes, they just think they are. They're all just pretentious versions of tropes. Monogatari is a pretentious Tenchi Muyo.
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His good attribute is his selflessness. He always goes out of his way to help others, even to the detriment of himself. Also he is kind of relatable. Also, I don't know who Tenchi is so I can't compare.

As you say, the dialogue and the way it's written is completely intentional and what you call fraff is pretty much the point of the show. People watch it for it's dialogue and characters. I'll fully admit that it's an acquired taste, I wouldn't expect everyone to like it but personally, I enjoy it immensely.
 
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