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Nana... pregnant? Ugh. It's going to be Takumi's, isn't it...

Paradise Kiss - 1

Can you tell I've had a very productive day off...? 8)
 
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Katanagatari 1-2

I decided to give this a second chance in order to decide whether I'm going to be buying the second set. The answer is no. My wallet sighed with relief.

Actually, I couldn't even make it through the second episode - it's that bad. Really bad. Nothing but endless, meandering, uninteresting dialogue spoken by uninteresting characters whose mouths happen to be the only things that move; there's practically no animation to speak of outside of the brief action sequences.

The art is kind of nice though.
 
I respect that opinion on Katanagatari quite a lot. I am swayed over by the style of the art and a lot of the voice acting, but it is a show I can easily understand criticism of.

Episode 2 was one of the better (albeit not "best") episodes imo, so if you didn't like that... the only other episode I would suggest watching from the first set is ep 4, if you were ever feeling like giving it a third chance.
 
Yup Katanagatari is very monologue heavy, and without such interesting direction as Bakemonogatari to otherwise hold your attention.
If you don't like the wordplay, leave them both well alone.
 
Gundam AGE ep 2 - Emily proves herself to be your typical stuck-up egotistical female lead, whereas Yurin is ~lovely~ and has more than a hint of Kuroneko about her character design. I know who I'm cheering on.

Ika-musume s2 ep 4 - First segment was bizarrely hilarious, and the third bizarrely cute, but by heck I still don't like parts which just have Chizuru bullying Ika-chan, like the middle one this week.

Kimi to Boku ep 3 - Another solid episode, from which I will take the message "kids are awesome". The bookend scenes on the rooftop were a very cute touch.

Tamayura ep 3 - Pretty funny, if a touch silly. Indoors settings mean a lack of the scenery that this show uses so well though, so I'm expecting next week to be better.

Chihayafuru ep 3 - I watch and read a lot of sports series, combining as they do my two main areas of interest. The karuta scenes in this show may be the absolute best "action part" of any of them. Outrageously dynamic and gripping, this episode again found a great balance between them and the more emotional aspects of the show. This is a gem that I hope people don't miss out on as a result of its relative lack of hype and rather eccentric subject matter.

UN-GO ep 2 - Mmm, I hope they move on to multi-episode mysteries quite soon, that was certainly what helped to make GOSICK a lot better. This has a more solid foundation than that show, too, so it could go far, but someone these first two episodes have left me wanting just a little more.
 
Episode 2 was one of the better episodes? Crikey. I don't how much time was devoted to the conversation about the lead character's "signature line", but it was too much. But I appreciate your non-confrontational tone, maestro, and so I'll leave it here ^_^;

Reaper gI said:
Yup Katanagatari is very monologue heavy, and without such interesting direction as Bakemonogatari to otherwise hold your attention.
If you don't like the wordplay, leave them both well alone.
I was actually intrigued by the single episode of Bakemonogatari I watched for the reason you mention: the inventive direction. Katanagatari's is painfully pedestrian in comparison.

I also found Bakemonogatari's characters to be immediately engaging, whereas after 90 minutes Katanagatari's succeeded only in annoying me.
 
Heh, before I read the end of your post there I was about to add "also consider that Bake's characters are far more entertaining than Katana's before making that decision wholesale".
 
I am shock! It's fascinating to see how a series I literally found close to perfect could have such an opposite reaction from someone of generally good taste :)

Though it also occurs to me that a slightly less fervent fan of Japanese voice acting than I might get rather less enjoyment from the wonderful dialogue exchanges in Katanagatari. I'm looking forward to testing it on some friends next week.

As for my own viewing, I have been continuing with the second discs of FMA:B and Baka & Test & Shoukanjuu. Looking forward to Un-Go 2 tonight if AoD's hosting partner can keep their servers running.

R
 
Blue Seed has been avenged \o/

I didn't notice a problem with the subs but my player might just change the size itself. I rarely seem to notice unless they are block capitals or a really unique colour (Manga's FMA:B OP DVD subs in white-with-angry-red-borders are hard to forget). You'd think it wouldn't be hard for companies to get subs right, though.

Perhaps they made them tiny to compensate for them being forced on, in order to annoy everyone equally?

R
 
Midori Days- Pretty good. It's light and fluffy and I was smiling the whole time it was on.

Geneshiken 2- After just finishing comic party series 1 and 2 I was in the mood to watch more slice of being a otaku in japan goodness. Better than the first season if you can belive that!


Gravion Zwei- eps 1-4 not as good as the first season but hey they are still 8 epsiodes to go so it might yet turn around.
 
Un-Go 1

Now, I love a good detective story. I like to try and pick out all the subtle details myself as the story unfolds, and follow the detective's thought processes. To me, that is far more important than who was actually behind the crime. That's why I didn't like Un-Go.

I can't even remember any of the characters' names, that's because I was never engrossed with the story at all. It appears that the so called "Defeated Detective" (who despite that name, people tend to take awfully seriously) knew who did it right from the start. In detective fiction that's boring.

Also, if you have the power to ask someone any question and force them to answer, why not just ask "Did you do it?". Seriously...
 
Un-Go 2

Finally \o/

I disagree that Inga should be asking people if they did it directly; that's no fun and it's not whether they did it that is important IMO, it's why. I enjoyed this episode and it was slightly less of an overload of new faces than the first. This is obviously going to look a million times better on disc, so I eagerly anticipate buying it.

Still really loving the ED. And soon it will be released.

R
 
Rui said:
I disagree that Inga should be asking people if they did it directly; that's no fun and it's not whether they did it that is important IMO, it's why.

R
We all know it would be more logical to do...shame tv shows have to try and be deep or whatever.
 
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