Animefreak17
Godhand
elemental gelade disc 5
naruto shippuden movie bonds
elemental gelade disc 6
millennium actress
today
naruto shippuden movie bonds
elemental gelade disc 6
millennium actress
today
Your viewing journal
- Thread starter Miaka-chan
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mangaman74
Akatsuki
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Episodes 6 & 7
Ghost Sweeper Mikami Episode 21
My Bride Is A Mermaid Episodes 7 - 11
Ghost Sweeper Mikami Episode 21
My Bride Is A Mermaid Episodes 7 - 11
Doraemon666
Magical Girl
Voltes V Episodes 11-20.
Animefreak17
Godhand
black butler disc 1
kujibiki unbalance disc 1
he is my master disc 1
tomorrow
kujibiki unbalance disc 1
he is my master disc 1
tomorrow
ayase
State Alchemist
You're Under Arrest 29-39 SOME SPOILERS FOLLOW, though as an episodic and oft-predictable series with no real overarching plot I don't know if anything besides my joke spoiler really warrants tagging, so if you care better to just skip this post.
I've worked out one of the things that frustrates me about YUA. If we lived in a society which was a little more accepting of transvestites and the occasional mild sexual reference, it could almost be a kids show. Relationships are decidedly platonic. Villains always get their comeuppance. Nothing particularly bad ever happens to any of the main characters. In this set of episodes, Natsumi decides to get a car. Not really knowing what she is doing, she gets ripped off badly and sold a lemon. Rather than the usual hot-headed reaction we'd expect from Natsumi, she actually becomes rather depressed upon realising her naivete was taken advantage of. So a character makes a mistake and has an opportunity to grow, great. That's the kind of storytelling I love. Her ever resourceful friends at Bokuto Station, upon seeing her despondency, decide somewhat predictably (by way of the machine-porn YUA often revels in) to fix up her car and make it not just good as new but freakishly awesome. Then word comes in - They know where the con man is! Let's go get him! Cue chase scene, Natsumi is vindicated and back to her old self, justice is done and the whole episode can be wrapped up in a neat little package and filed on the shelf with the rest of them. Now why do that? Can we not have some acknowledgement that not every criminal is brought to justice, and that sometimes making the best of a bad situation is good enough? While the chase sequence even brought one of my favourite comedy moments so far: "It's a car, you can't turn by leaning!" I'd have gladly given it up in order for more time to have been devoted to Natsumi, and her thoughts and feelings about being a victim of crime for once rather than the protector she usually is and sees herself as. Instead, they choose to go with the simplest answer of sorting everything out rather than having to deal with any implications arising from not doing so.
It is flashes of brilliance, constrained by a formulaic going-through-the-motions episode setup, which makes YUA frustrating to watch. A setting so much could be done with; characters with such potential, who are easy to love and make you smile when you see them... Yet it is so rarely realised to the extent it could be. In another episode Aoi and Yoriko are trapped on a hijacked train at gunpoint after their attempt to catch two bag thieves fails. In good bit of procedural realism, it is shown how the hijackers demands that the train not stop wouldn't normally be possible, and how it is difficult for those control of the infrastructure to comply. This sentence is here just to see if anybody reads my longer posts. There is another railway which runs alongside, so they send Miyuki and Natsumi in on a second train to help. So far, so exciting. A serious action plot is going down. And then! Aoi simply disarms the hijackers herself. Only after the threat is neutralised (and it becomes apparent that their guns were fake) does Natsumi leap between the trains - ostensibly (and again, probably realistically) because the doors couldn't be opened from anywhere except the cab, but by then the danger is all but passed and it feels like it was just thrown in as a cool addendum for the sake of doing it.
And yet... we also get an excellent two-part episode devoted largely to the Chief of Bokuto Precinct, where he is trapped on the outside of Tokyo Tower in high winds with a young boy, after he attempts to stop a thief on his day off. While stuck there together with the very real possibility of instant death, we get the frank and ever-so-slightly heart-wrenching admission from the Chief (after being told by the boy that he has no friends) that actually, some people are loners who don't really find any close friends even for want of trying, how he considers himself one of those people and makes up for that fact by his devotion to his job instead. That's the kind of admission you hardly ever see in Western media, which when dealing with children would probably stick to the saccharine assertion that anybody can make friends if they try. Added in to this is the fact that we flip between the Chief and the Station, where it becomes obvious (but never to the point of being shoved in your face) that that same devotion to his job has inspired a similar devotion in his officers to the point that they are as concerned for his safety as they are for the boy he is protecting, if not more. Illustrating that even if the bond is not an emotional one to him, it certainly is to them. One question sat in my mind after these episodes: Why do we not see more of this guy?
And then we get yet another Strike Man episode... YUA, why do you make me tear my hair out like this?
I've worked out one of the things that frustrates me about YUA. If we lived in a society which was a little more accepting of transvestites and the occasional mild sexual reference, it could almost be a kids show. Relationships are decidedly platonic. Villains always get their comeuppance. Nothing particularly bad ever happens to any of the main characters. In this set of episodes, Natsumi decides to get a car. Not really knowing what she is doing, she gets ripped off badly and sold a lemon. Rather than the usual hot-headed reaction we'd expect from Natsumi, she actually becomes rather depressed upon realising her naivete was taken advantage of. So a character makes a mistake and has an opportunity to grow, great. That's the kind of storytelling I love. Her ever resourceful friends at Bokuto Station, upon seeing her despondency, decide somewhat predictably (by way of the machine-porn YUA often revels in) to fix up her car and make it not just good as new but freakishly awesome. Then word comes in - They know where the con man is! Let's go get him! Cue chase scene, Natsumi is vindicated and back to her old self, justice is done and the whole episode can be wrapped up in a neat little package and filed on the shelf with the rest of them. Now why do that? Can we not have some acknowledgement that not every criminal is brought to justice, and that sometimes making the best of a bad situation is good enough? While the chase sequence even brought one of my favourite comedy moments so far: "It's a car, you can't turn by leaning!" I'd have gladly given it up in order for more time to have been devoted to Natsumi, and her thoughts and feelings about being a victim of crime for once rather than the protector she usually is and sees herself as. Instead, they choose to go with the simplest answer of sorting everything out rather than having to deal with any implications arising from not doing so.
It is flashes of brilliance, constrained by a formulaic going-through-the-motions episode setup, which makes YUA frustrating to watch. A setting so much could be done with; characters with such potential, who are easy to love and make you smile when you see them... Yet it is so rarely realised to the extent it could be. In another episode Aoi and Yoriko are trapped on a hijacked train at gunpoint after their attempt to catch two bag thieves fails. In good bit of procedural realism, it is shown how the hijackers demands that the train not stop wouldn't normally be possible, and how it is difficult for those control of the infrastructure to comply. This sentence is here just to see if anybody reads my longer posts. There is another railway which runs alongside, so they send Miyuki and Natsumi in on a second train to help. So far, so exciting. A serious action plot is going down. And then! Aoi simply disarms the hijackers herself. Only after the threat is neutralised (and it becomes apparent that their guns were fake) does Natsumi leap between the trains - ostensibly (and again, probably realistically) because the doors couldn't be opened from anywhere except the cab, but by then the danger is all but passed and it feels like it was just thrown in as a cool addendum for the sake of doing it.
And yet... we also get an excellent two-part episode devoted largely to the Chief of Bokuto Precinct, where he is trapped on the outside of Tokyo Tower in high winds with a young boy, after he attempts to stop a thief on his day off. While stuck there together with the very real possibility of instant death, we get the frank and ever-so-slightly heart-wrenching admission from the Chief (after being told by the boy that he has no friends) that actually, some people are loners who don't really find any close friends even for want of trying, how he considers himself one of those people and makes up for that fact by his devotion to his job instead. That's the kind of admission you hardly ever see in Western media, which when dealing with children would probably stick to the saccharine assertion that anybody can make friends if they try. Added in to this is the fact that we flip between the Chief and the Station, where it becomes obvious (but never to the point of being shoved in your face) that that same devotion to his job has inspired a similar devotion in his officers to the point that they are as concerned for his safety as they are for the boy he is protecting, if not more. Illustrating that even if the bond is not an emotional one to him, it certainly is to them. One question sat in my mind after these episodes: Why do we not see more of this guy?
And then we get yet another Strike Man episode... YUA, why do you make me tear my hair out like this?
Last edited by a moderator:
I've slowly been trying to catch up with Pokémon. Still about 12 episodes behind Japan though. About to start the "Donamite" mini-arc (or "Clubsplosion" as it's known in the dub).
Yeah, I've been waiting on Shakugan no Shana for years now xD. I'm just so glad to hear that there has been some advances on both (Speaking to Ocean regarding Shana, as well as having a season of Index dubbed).Otaku-san said:
mangaman74
Akatsuki
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Episodes 8 - 10
Ghost Sweeper Mikami Episodes 22 & 23
My Bride Is A Mermaid Episodes 12 - 14
Ghost Sweeper Mikami Episodes 22 & 23
My Bride Is A Mermaid Episodes 12 - 14
Animefreak17
Godhand
kijubiki unbalanced disc 2 tomorrow
black butler disc 2
he is my master disc 2
tomorrow
black butler disc 2
he is my master disc 2
tomorrow
Animefreak17
Godhand
kijubiki unbalanced disc 3
black butler disc 3
not sure which one yet but another series will follow
black butler disc 3
not sure which one yet but another series will follow
mangaman74
Akatsuki
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Episodes 11 & 12
Oh Edo Rocket Episode 1
My Bride Is A Mermaid Episodes 15 - 17
Oh Edo Rocket Episode 1
My Bride Is A Mermaid Episodes 15 - 17
Doraemon666
Magical Girl
Gintama-The Movie
The Fantastic Adventures Of Unico
Unico In The Isalnd Of Magic
The Fantastic Adventures Of Unico
Unico In The Isalnd Of Magic
ayase
State Alchemist
You're Under Arrest 40-End. As before this may contain mild spoilers, though I'm not specifically tagging anything so if you care better to just skip this post.
Despite not initially thinking very highly of Toukairin (oh look, a male Natsumi to pair with Natsumi, how original) by the end of the series I had warmed to him considerably; not least because all the best guys admire strength and competitiveness in women but are rubbish at expressing their feelings to them at the same time. Rock on Shouji. The three episodes (though arguably four back-to-back by way of allegory) which build on their relationship are uniformly great, featuring the exact sort of emotional character development which had been sorely lacking in the middle episodes of the series. Toukairin is obviously unable to ask Natsumi to spend time with him, so starts using excuses to spend time with her. It's illustrated early on with a rather pointed comment from Natsumi (about whether he really needs to spend so much time at the station) that she knows what's going on. It almost sounds like a challenge to grow a spine, and is an important reinforcement of her character - She isn't a gossipy so-and-so like Yoriko and nor would she want other people picking up on the idea and meddling in the way everybody (even Natsumi herself) meddles in Ken and Miyuki's "relationship". She doesn't outright accuse him of ulterior motives, nor does she dismiss the idea that she would be interested. Every one of these episodes is a very good and very observant portrayal of how a courtship between two strong and independent people who are not hugely confident in emotional matters would play out. They find it increasingly hard to cope with their feelings and not being able to express them until they finally snap, unlike Ken and Miyuki who just sort of drift along with those feelings half submerged and don't seem that bothered that this has been going on for years (though their relationship remains weird and not particularly well realised - have they no biological urges?).
The Chief suddenly starts playing a larger part as the series comes to a close (which is more than welcome IMO) and gets a decent role in two fun filler episodes, the best of which is reciting the ghostly legends of Bokuto Station to the terrified officers. He also gains what I will call "Gotoh points" for his role in in one of the two multiple episode story arcs which involves hunting down rogue police officers amid heightening public distrust - YUA at it's most dramatic, and it manages to pull it off surprisingly well. The second story arc which rounds off the series features the immediately recognisable voice of Yoshiko Sakakibara in the role of new character Inspector Kaoruko Kinoshita. She makes for an interesting and somewhat different addition to the cast due to her somewhat aloof and business-like nature, which initially rubs some of the fun-loving regulars the wrong way, but like Toukairin she's integrated quickly and well into the cast once it's made clear what makes her tick. This set of episodes is less dramatic than the previously mentioned arc which did strike me as a little odd (for violating the usual "go out with a laugh or a bang" rule for an action/comedy series) but what it does do is break up the Miyuki/Natsumi dynamic (duo) to partial success, but also ends up being a bit all over the place in terms of focus. Even if the overall story isn't as strong, it does still provide some stand-out individual moments and again, is an improvement on a lot of episodes.
So how to to rate it? I've never really liked the ten point scale unless it's expanded to a hundred point scale by way of decimals - A six seems unfair for the enjoyment the series has given me, but a seven seems a high given the flaws and the fact that there were a few dud episodes. 6.8 it is. Put simply, for me YUA is a show at its best when doing either fun or drama, at it's worst when trying too hard to combine the two.
It's almost as though somebody in the production team read these criticisms, went back in time and finished off the rest of the series to my specifications before I watched it. In this set of episodes: Natsumi and Toukairin receive better and more realistic relationship development than Ken and Miyuki do in the entire series. The Chief gets more chances to shine. Two multiple episode story arcs featuring some actual high-stakes drama. Continuity which actually has an effect on characters. Definitive proof that there is nothing Yoshiko Sakakibara can't improve.On the last page said:
Despite not initially thinking very highly of Toukairin (oh look, a male Natsumi to pair with Natsumi, how original) by the end of the series I had warmed to him considerably; not least because all the best guys admire strength and competitiveness in women but are rubbish at expressing their feelings to them at the same time. Rock on Shouji. The three episodes (though arguably four back-to-back by way of allegory) which build on their relationship are uniformly great, featuring the exact sort of emotional character development which had been sorely lacking in the middle episodes of the series. Toukairin is obviously unable to ask Natsumi to spend time with him, so starts using excuses to spend time with her. It's illustrated early on with a rather pointed comment from Natsumi (about whether he really needs to spend so much time at the station) that she knows what's going on. It almost sounds like a challenge to grow a spine, and is an important reinforcement of her character - She isn't a gossipy so-and-so like Yoriko and nor would she want other people picking up on the idea and meddling in the way everybody (even Natsumi herself) meddles in Ken and Miyuki's "relationship". She doesn't outright accuse him of ulterior motives, nor does she dismiss the idea that she would be interested. Every one of these episodes is a very good and very observant portrayal of how a courtship between two strong and independent people who are not hugely confident in emotional matters would play out. They find it increasingly hard to cope with their feelings and not being able to express them until they finally snap, unlike Ken and Miyuki who just sort of drift along with those feelings half submerged and don't seem that bothered that this has been going on for years (though their relationship remains weird and not particularly well realised - have they no biological urges?).
The Chief suddenly starts playing a larger part as the series comes to a close (which is more than welcome IMO) and gets a decent role in two fun filler episodes, the best of which is reciting the ghostly legends of Bokuto Station to the terrified officers. He also gains what I will call "Gotoh points" for his role in in one of the two multiple episode story arcs which involves hunting down rogue police officers amid heightening public distrust - YUA at it's most dramatic, and it manages to pull it off surprisingly well. The second story arc which rounds off the series features the immediately recognisable voice of Yoshiko Sakakibara in the role of new character Inspector Kaoruko Kinoshita. She makes for an interesting and somewhat different addition to the cast due to her somewhat aloof and business-like nature, which initially rubs some of the fun-loving regulars the wrong way, but like Toukairin she's integrated quickly and well into the cast once it's made clear what makes her tick. This set of episodes is less dramatic than the previously mentioned arc which did strike me as a little odd (for violating the usual "go out with a laugh or a bang" rule for an action/comedy series) but what it does do is break up the Miyuki/Natsumi dynamic (duo) to partial success, but also ends up being a bit all over the place in terms of focus. Even if the overall story isn't as strong, it does still provide some stand-out individual moments and again, is an improvement on a lot of episodes.
So how to to rate it? I've never really liked the ten point scale unless it's expanded to a hundred point scale by way of decimals - A six seems unfair for the enjoyment the series has given me, but a seven seems a high given the flaws and the fact that there were a few dud episodes. 6.8 it is. Put simply, for me YUA is a show at its best when doing either fun or drama, at it's worst when trying too hard to combine the two.
mangaman74
Akatsuki
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Episodes 13 & 14
Oh Edo Rocket Episodes 2 & 3
My Bride Is A Mermaid Episodes 18 - 21
Oh Edo Rocket Episodes 2 & 3
My Bride Is A Mermaid Episodes 18 - 21
Rena Ryuugu
Oyashiro-Sama
Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka? Of the Dead episode 8.