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Terror in Resonance eps 1-5
Brilliant stuff so far, loving the cat and mouse stuff with the police. I'm thinking
Lisa may be another number who doesn't know about it. They seem to have powers 9 with his hearing and 12 with his nose (I mean kids doing tests in a government facility, what else could it be?) as well as being super smart. When the phones went off that might have been her, but I guess it may have been 5 (who also blocked the signals).
PS "music from a cold land" is probably Sigur Rós from Iceland. Von is both an album and a track of theirs. Von meaning Hope.
 
Gundam Reconguista in G episodes 19-21

I was enjoying this until about 5 or so episodes ago, it's just started to get really convoluted now and hard to follow. Some characters have just disappeared and now there's even more characters to try and follow o_O
 
*randomly reappears on the forums*

11Eyes ep 1-6. A lower-end shounen battle show, not as good as Shana, etc. Still curiously entertaining, as long as your expectations are low.

Tokyo Marble Chocolate. It's okay. Nothing that hasn't been done before.
 
*randomly reappears on the forums*

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Terror in Resonance complete
Bloody brilliant, with an excellent soundtrack. Then again it is from the same director as Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo.
I've never wanted a terrorist to "win" so much!

My theory in the previous post was wrong though, but not about the Von reference.
 
Some action adventure films today, including 2 more from the Manga Force Collection.

Golgo 13: The Professional
James Bond on steroids. Action more bloody and sex scenes more explicit. Thought the animation wasn't bad apart from the CG scene (one of the first in anime), looks like what a pre-vis looks like nowadays when they're planning CG shots, and takes you right out of the moment.

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Lupin the Third: The Secret of Mamo
Fujiko has Lupin twisted around her little finger. And he must stop Mamo from carrying out his plan.
Everything in this film seems a step down from Cagliostro.

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Guide to the whether it's a 1st time watch or re-watch: (r) = Re-watch; (x) = First time; (w) = Watched in the last year; (?) = Honestly can't remember!; (na) = Not anime.

Afro Samurai Directors Cut (r)
Afro Samurai Resurrection (?)
Akira (w) Don't own the MF Collection version
Appleseed (r)
Armageddon (x)
Astroboy: Greatest Astro Adventures (x)
Baldr Force Exe (x)
Blood: The Last Vampire (r)
Black Blood Brothers (x)
Black Jack (x)
Bubblegum Crash (x)
Casshan: Robot Hunter (x)
Danté's Inferno (na)
Dead Leaves (x)
Dead Space: Downfall (na)
Ghost in the Shell (w)
GitS: Innocence (w)
GitS SAC: Laughing Man (x)
GitS SAC: Individual Eleven (x)
GitS SAC: Solid State Society (r)
Golgo 13: The Professional (r)
Heat Guy J (r)
Hellsing Ultimate Vols 1-4 (x)
Highlander: The Search for Vengeance (r)
Ichi (na)
Jyu-Oh-Sei (x)
Kai Doh Mar (r)
Karas: The Prophecy/Revelation (x)
Lupin the III: The Secret of Mamo (x)
Macross Plus (r)
Macross Plus the Movie (?)
Millennium Actress (r)
Naruto the Movie: 1 & 2 (x)
Negima!? Spring & Summer OVAs (x)
Neon Genesis Evangelion Death & Rebirth (r)
NGE End of Evangelion (r)
Ninja Scroll (r)
Noein: To Your Other Self (x)
Orguss 2 (x)
Origin: Spirits of the Past (r)
Otogi Zoshi (r)
Perfect Blue (w)
Psychic Wars (x)
Read or Die (r)
She: The Ultimate Weapon (r)
Shigurui (x)
Space Adventure Cobra (x)
Strait Jacket (x)
Street Fighter: Alpha (x)
Street Fighter: Alpha Generations (x)
Street Fighter: II (x)
Submarine 707 Revolution (x)
Sword for Truth (x)
Tactics (x)
Tokko (?)
Tokyo Underground (r)
Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend (r)
Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Demon Womb (r)
Vampire Wars (x)
Virus: Virus Buster Serge (x)
X (x)

Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro
Forgotten how good this was. You can tell it's Miyazaki from the character design of the Count (with the bad guys from his next 2 films looking very similar) and Clarisse (with Nausicaä also looking very similar).
 
Lupin the Third: The Secret of Mamo
Fujiko has Lupin twisted around her little finger. And he must stop Mamo from carrying out his plan.
Everything in this film seems a step down from Cagliostro.
Well, technically speaking everything in Cagliostro would be a step up, since it came after.

My feelings on Cagliostro became more mixed the more of the Lupin franchise I was exposed to. Yes, it's a brilliant film in its own right and it looks beautiful, but now when I look at it I feel like Lupin's not really Lupin in it. Fujiko's not really Fujiko. It's Lupin through a very Ghibli lens which yes, I can understand some people would prefer, but it's a bit like if you asked someone to make a James Bond movie that would secure a U certificate* - It might still be good, excellent even, but is it in the spirit of the franchise and characters? Not to say some of the other films and OVAs aren't pretty crap, the entire damn franchise is like a grab bag of rabbit droppings and Nesquik cereal, but Caglistro is like a single Malteaser thrown in there, probably better than both but does it belong?

On a related note, looking forward to finally seeing the new series whenever AL get round to it.

*which I suppose sort of happened.
 
Well, technically speaking everything in Cagliostro would be a step up, since it came after.

My feelings on Cagliostro became more mixed the more of the Lupin franchise I was exposed to. Yes, it's a brilliant film in its own right and it looks beautiful, but now when I look at it I feel like Lupin's not really Lupin in it. Fujiko's not really Fujiko. It's Lupin through a very Ghibli lens which yes, I can understand some people would prefer, but it's a bit like if you asked someone to make a James Bond movie that would secure a U certificate* - It might still be good, excellent even, but is it in the spirit of the franchise and characters? Not to say some of the other films and OVAs aren't pretty crap, the entire damn franchise is like a grab bag of rabbit droppings and Nesquik cereal, but Caglistro is like a single Malteaser thrown in there, probably better than both but does it belong?

On a related note, looking forward to finally seeing the new series whenever AL get round to it.

*which I suppose sort of happened.
I recall Monkey Punch himself being dissatisfied with the characterisation, and watching CoC, having seen the original two series' and the Fujiko Mine prequel series, I can definitely understand where he's coming from.

I quite like the film, though I think it works better as it's own entity as opposed to being a part of the overall franchise. And likewise, Lupin Part IV is one of my most anticipated 2018 releases.
 
Well, technically speaking everything in Cagliostro would be a step up, since it came after.

Whoops I watched them the wrong way round. I did check the other day, but obviously forgot. So yes Cagliostro is a step up and it's odd that it was Lupin lite as Miyazaki was involved with the original series, but I guess as writer/director and character designer he took it in his own direction. These are the only Lupin's I've seen so far so that's all I've got to go on.
 
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On the nature of the Lupin franchise, I actually get a bit fed up of hearing the argument that the Miyazaki/Takahata version is somehow less valid for not having remained true to the characterisation laid down by the original manga. While very few subsequent offerings have been even half as successful, I think there is enough material out there that borrows extensively from or blatantly tries to copy the tone and feel that film lays down that, for an entire generation of fans, that is their Lupin.

The fact that we can have the (mostly) family friendly hijinks of Part IV, and its forthcoming continuation, produced more or less concurrently with the adult strain that Sayo Yamamoto and Takeshi Koike have helmed, is surely proof that both interpretations can coexist quite happily and the franchise will not somehow collapse as a result.
 
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