This Month’s Picks (Nov. 2008) Part 1 - Anime - Part 2 November 18, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime, Random Info.add a comment
Here’s the lowdown on some anime that I’m currently watching and some that I forgot about the other day. Well, technically it’s my Birthday as of now, so I’m going to make this short. Enjoy, and remember there’s huge spoilers here.
Afro Samurai: Just finished it, and it’s amazing. For the record there are a few parts that need to be skipped over (I just cut them out of mine), so be warned. However, I strongly recommend this anime to anyone, as long as you don’t mind extreme, exaggerated violence. This anime makes the Gladiator movie look like a Disney movie. You’ll see heads getting cut in half, limbs flying everywhere, and weapons just going right through bodies. However, the excellent talents of Sam Jackson and Ron Pearlman (two of my favorites) make this one even better. The story is great, the action awesome and well-thought out and the voice acting is just amazing. Grab your copy today.
Blassreiter: Although I’m not a big fan of the religious and demon elements, Blassreiter is one of the best anime I’ve watched so far. We’ve got zombies, motorcycles, mecha, and some great character design. If you can get around the occasional fan service, the show really sticks out. I’m about half way through the show and I really love it.
Macross F: Great show, sublime ending (minus the “I’ll take the sky” part), amazing characters, and okay plot. The only part that really got me was when Michel died. I remember my stomach jerking and getting some dust in my eye right then. I probably won’t rewatch it, but I’m very anxiously awaiting the movie.
Transformers G1: I’m taking it slow for now, but I’m really enjoying the old-school anime. I find myself constantly telling Clarita “Well, in the original Transformers….”. But she doesn’t really care.
That’s it for now. Tomorrow I’ll be talking about some of the TV shows I’m watching.
This Month’s Picks (Nov. 2008) Part 1 - Anime - Part 1 November 13, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime, Random Info.add a comment
After yet another long absence from posting, I’m back, hopefully for a little longer this time. In the two months I’ve been gone, I’ve watched a lot of anime, so I thought I would start with that. So without further… rambling, here we go (don’t forget the spoilers).
Ar Tonelico: It’s a Fantasy/Steampunk anime that is basically a promo for the game of the same name. The main character lives in the highest part of a mysterious tower, and due to his recklessness, falls down to the lower levels where he meets the female part of the main cast. It’s a great concept, and the magic and signing mixed is great and somewhat old-school. The main problem is in the length: it’s only 24 minutes. So basically we have a world and relationships that should be cultured over multiple episode that are slammed together in the short amount of time. My ruling? If you’re not going to or haven’t seen the game, don’t watch the anime, it’s missing a real story, character development, and much more - when seen on its own.
Mospeada: Mospeada is a somewhat odd anime. Not the characters, not the mecha, but the plot line, but the actual episodes themselves. Aside from the last two, the episodes are small, self contained stories. So, besides the characters and some overlying plot elements, each episode starts and ends its own story. It’s a great idea, but don’t get me wrong, there is a plot, it’s just rather simple: the main characters join up and have to make it to the “Reflex Point” where they will fight the final battle. Mospeada has some great battle scenes, awesome character design and development, but a pretty bad ending. I don’t really like the whole “the bad guys are really good, it just depends on how you treat them/look at them.” But, if you like Macross, you’ll love Mospeada, just don’t go looking for a great bloody ending.
Macross 7: And it’s multiple spinoffs. I might have been negative about the first two, but be prepared for a slew of negativeness about 7. In a nutshell: it sucks. Now, for the long explanation we have a problem. The character design is great (Gamlin is one of my favorite charaters in all anime, plus he’s Takehito Koyasu), the plot is actually really good, and the mechas (the few that there are) are very well designed. What was the problem, then? The show could have easily been a short OVA or even a movie, but yet it was stretched over 50 episodes. 50 painful episodes. Let’s take the final story arc in account. They finally get to the enemy home planet, then they go back home for a few episodes, and they decide to go for one last run at the home planet: totally unnecessary, and slightly ridiculous. Another example. How many episodes did we have to hear Basara signing to Sivil in the freaking forest. Wake her freaking up and get it over with! I know that someone with a little skill in video editing could cut the 50 eps down to 2 hours, and we wouldn’t miss a beat. The saving grace? Fire Bomber is really awesome. My Soul For You? Oh yeah. Also, the movie sucked, the OVA was crap (let’s sing to whales…), but the special Encore was pretty good. So, yeah avoid this crap.
Uchuu no Senshi (Starship Troopers): Simply amazing anime. I just read the book, and it’s nothing like the Roughnecks or the movie, or even the anime… But, who would watch a show that played like the book? To be honest, I really loved the book, it’s classic, just a little heavy. I’m tired, so sufice to say, the show is awesome, and really deserves a watch-a-year. The best non-Mecha I’ve seen so far.
Patlabor: Now this is what I’m talking about. If you don’t mind silly animes, then you’ll love Patlabor. It’s short enough to get into if you don’t want to watch the show, but long enough to get it’s point across. The show is an interesting twist on the mainstream anime in the genre, as we’re dealing with the Police now, not the young pilot that accidentally gets control of the robot. I watched the OVA, but I plan to soon watch the TV show, I just hope they focus a little more on the training aspect of the characters. My only beef: The should have switched 5&6 with 7, as the show gets a sort of Conpiracy/all-out-war feeling in 5&6, and it’s completely lost in 7. But, if you agree with my, you can totally do it, you won’t lose anything, or notice anything out of place.
Tomorrow we’ll have some anime I’m currently watching and some more I might have forgotten.
Just a note: I’ve currently watched 9.76 days worth of anime… For those not so skilled in math that’s around 224 hours of anime. Yes, I have no life whatsoever.
This Month’s Picks (Sep. 2008) Part 2 - Anime September 9, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime, Digimon, Gundam, Update.Tags: Gundam, Macross, Mospeada, X-Men
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Although I promised this post for Saturday, it’s coming today, and I really doubt anyone really cares. Anyways, anime has become a big part of my life recently, as most of my free time is spent watching it, and most of my free DL time is spent getting it. Here are some of the shows I’m watching, plan to watch, and have recently finished, but not gotten around to reviewing. And, even though I shouldn’t have to say so, watch out for spoilers.
Gundam 00: Although the show isn’t “over”, I’ve finished the first season, and am anxiously awaiting the second. At the end of the first we have the death of Allelujah, the assumed deaths of Setsuna, Graham and Lockon, and the seemingly fake death of Tieria. I watched the end sequence a couple of times, and assume that’s Tieria and Lousie on the elevator, and Graham walking down the hall in an iron Char-mask. I’m not sure about this, but in a few minutes I’m going to look up the (I think they’re real) PVs for the second season. I’m really excited about this.
Macross 7: Haven’t watched it in a couple of days, not sure why. I just got to the part where the story starts to actually be cool and not suck. the whole Spiritia and singing thing is coming together, and hopefully soon the story will stop being so repetetive.
Gundam Wing: I watched most of the show (maybe half) a while back when it was on CN in a Spanish dub. I really, really loved it. I watched it back then for the action, but this time around I’m seeing a little bit of a story emerging, and even if it’s very exaggerated and unrealistic, I really enjoy the show. I can also see some of the bases for Gundam 00 here.
Digimon Adventure: Like Wing, I only watched Digimon in Spanish, but I never caught the show from the first season. I saw Adventure 02 and Tamers, and I really loved them; and I was very much in love with both World 1 and 2 for the PS1 (even if I basically sucked at both). So, to get back to the roots of the Digimon experience, I’m watching the original show in the original language. I like it a lot better than before, and I’m hoping the fansub groups will finish at least the first two seasons for me 
MOSPEADA: Son of a motherless goat! This anime looks really great. I’ll be posting some pics of one of the collectable actions figures I’m picking up for Christmas, it’s so cool. I love the bikes, and the whole idea of them. I wanted more Macross, and here it is with a twist.
X-Men: Not anime, but still similar. I’m trying to get me some of the original X-men cartoons, as I think I really like them. I’ll post more about this when I get them.
That’s it for anime for now. Tomorrow I’ll be going over site improvements and some Python crap, along with my first finished program! Stay tuned! Not literally, of course, just wait for the post or the RSS feed or something… Geez.
Victory Gundam (Anime) Review August 20, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime, Gundam, Reviews.Tags: UC 0153, Victory Gundam
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Story: Without a doubt, V Gundam is the saddest Gundam story to date. And before anything else is said, I think it’s worth a mention to say that a lot of people die, and most of the time for no good reason at all. That aside, I have to say I really loved the storyline. However, some of the story arcs in the middle could have been left out, and the story would still be intact; a lot of the time during said arcs I found myself wondering why the characters were doing what they were doing. There’s not a lot of narrative glue to stick the parts together, and to keep one interested during some of the low parts. But, overall it’s a nice story, with an emphasis on death, and at least during the last arc, a huge emphasis on the beauty of life.
Art: Very good. V Gundam uses a very simple art style to convey the characters and the Mobile Suits; which is both good and bad. Most of the Suits are very similar to each other, and are very rarely any unique. Characters however, look very nice, and some are just too cool for words, while others are just meh. Battles are everything you would expect from a mecha show, and although somewhat exaggerated at times (or almost all of the time), they’re mostly very good. The simple style works here to make the art very nice looking even today.
Sound: Not much to say here. There’s an excellent cast of actors working on the voices, and the mecha sounds are great, but nothing really stands out in this category.
Characters: We’ve got a cast of mostly children and women, with the main villain and one of the main characters being male. The rest of the male cast are either lesser characters or very old men. I can’t quite remember why the cast is like it is, but it brings a fresh look on what might be a stale storyline. It also has the effect of removing almost all romantic involvement between the main characters. There’s a peace-loving-battle-scarred boy, a princess girl, and a group of what seem to be orphaned children. Interaction between them is what really pushes the story along. Without a doubt, Oliver and Captain Gomez were my favorite characters, both of which received little screen time, but both of whom were very central to the story.
Overall: No where near as good as First Gundam, V Gundam is nonetheless a very nice looking, anime featuring a somewhat lacking storyline that’ll get your emotions running if you’re not prepared for it. Definitely recommended if you’ve seen the other UC animes, however, the story is completely separate from the main meta-plot.
My review from MAL.
Super Dimensional Fortress Macross (Anime) Review August 9, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime, Reviews.Tags: Macross, MAL, Robotech
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Story: The main story is split up into two main arcs (from 1-27, and 28-36). While the second arc might not seem very necessary to the story itself, it closes up the loose ends left behind from certain character relationships. The story is very fluid, pretty deep, and all around well-planned. It’s unique, and I never found myself wondering, “Now why are they doing this again?” like in other animes. The anime has a starting point and an ending point, with very little fluff in the middle. Every episode has its purpose, and it’s basically very well thought out.
Mospeada Sneak Peak August 6, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime.Tags: Mospeada
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Although my Anime plate is rather full at the moment with Macross 7 and Frontier (trying to watch them all before Ace Frontier comes out on the PSP), and V Gundam and 00 Gundam (want to watch the latter before I crack out the import 00 DS game), I couldn’t resist sneaking a small peek at this anime. Mospeada is the third anime used in the Robotech mesh, but I finally got my hands on the original subbed version, before it was even considered for RT. I’ve only watched the first episode, but I thought I’d share my thought on it here.
Robotech vs. Macross July 14, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime, Random Info.Tags: Macross, Robotech
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After what seems like a thousand years, I’m back with a new post. This time to cover the promised Robotech/Macross post. It’s not really a versus match, it’s just more of a side by side comparison. Macross is a Japanese anime released a while back (early 80s, I think), and Robotech is the American adaptation of that anime. The problem is how they adapted it, and that’s what we’re going to discuss here.
Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (Anime) June 27, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime, Gundam, Reviews.add a comment
War in the Pocket takes place during the latter end of the One Year War (at the very end of it, in fact). It features the story of a child, Alfred, who lives next-door to, and knows the pilot of the New-Type Gundam, Alex. He doesn’t know, of course, that’s she’s the pilot of a Federation mobile Suit. He then runs into Bernard, a Zeon pilot on a mission to destroy said Gundam. Alfred teams up with Bernard, and together they try to carry out the mission originally given to Bernard.
Beginning Enthusiasm (2/5): WitP might be a great anime movie, but it’s slow. It starts out with an awesome action scene, but it decelerates from there on. There’s very little action, and most of the dialog and drama revolves around Alfred and his life. Alfred is a 10-or-so year old. So it starts out very slow. But, when you finish the movie, you realize that the focus isn’t on the action, but the plot and the…
Characters (4/5): I really like the characters in the movie, especially Bernard (even despite his resemblance to Glemy from ZZ). The rest of the Zeon teams are also great, and even the character with the least amount of screen time, Chris, is cool in her own way. But Alfred and his friends make me sick. Granted, he really matures as the movie goes along, but I just dislike his original “stupidness” for the first few episodes. Otherwise, the characters are very likable, and the relationships between them is necessary, and very sad at times (I’m looking at you Chris).
Ending Enthusiasm (5/5): The preparation for the big battle, the battle itself, and the very, very sad goodbye: it’s all great. By the time you get here, the Zeon team is dead, and the sickos from Zeon are planning a nuclear strike on the Colony just to destroy the Gundam. Alfred’s desperate race to reach Bernard to tell him that he needn’t fight, that the Federation has halted the nukes is one of the most emotional parts of the whole movie. But when Bernard is destroyed, it hits hard. The ending is great, and it really calls for a second watch of the movie.
Random, Rants, and Reviews #3 June 26, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime, Awesome, Gundam, Mega Man, Random Info, Video Games.add a comment
The Mega Man Dilemma: To start out, I love Mega Man, and this is the Random info part, so I’m not ranting. But I noticed something odd about the franchise; a pattern if you will. Here it is: A unique game (or series), followed by a basic carbon-copy series with just a few new improvements. First there was Mega Man, then Mega Man X (basically the same, maybe excluding x7 and x8); Mega Man Battle Network (GBA), and the new(ish) Starforce series (basically the same as BN, with a new battle view); Mega Man Zero (also GBA), and the also new(ish) Mega Man ZX. Wow. I have to note the exception of the Legends game (unless you count Tron’s game as the copy), and certain games like Mega Man Soccer and Mega Man Battle and Chase. But does this formula make the Blue Bomber any less cool in my book? No way.
Hackers: Apparently, someone has hacked into my Rapidshare account and is using it. I’m hoping that it’s just a simple error, and that tomorrow morning I’ll see that it’s running like fine. If not, I’m going to contact customer service and see if there’s anything they can do about it. When I noticed the problem, I immediately changed the password to a random string of characters and numbers stored only (as far as I know), in my head. Then, I quickly ran a virus, spyware, and a registry scan, and all three came up clean. I checked my TCPView, nothing weird there; I checked my Netstat and found a few odd entries, but nothing too alarming. But the problem persists, which makes me really believe that it’s just a fluke. How else could someone use my account even after I changed the password? Anyway, hackers suck, and I heard the main reason they hack servers is to host pr0n? That’s sewer-low.
Edit: Turns out it was just a fluke. No hacker…
Gundam F91: Just watched the F91 Gundam anime movie and really liked it. I’ll get around to a real review in a couple weeks, but the mecha designs: wow. Now, the F91 is a Gundam, which means by default it’s pretty cool, and the Rafflesia isn’t my favorite. But the Den’an Zon and the Den’an Gei are awesome! I love the Zaku II, and so far no suit can beat it, but the Den’an s come close. Here are the pics from the official site.
How to Get into Gundam June 20, 2008
Posted by mitchfrizzell in Anime, Gundam, Random Info.add a comment
I consider myself somewhat of a Gundam fanatic. It’s true that I haven’t seen all of the animes, nor read all the mangas, nor played all of the games; but I aim to change all that. So, in my quest to be a Gundam genius, I’ve seen the question asked “Where do I start?” Gundam can seem very daunting to the beginner, so I¡m going to provide a nice little outline of what to watch depending on your level of interest.
Young Anime Fan: If you’re young(er), and want a quick action-filled Gundam, then try out Gundam Wing. It’s the show that got me into Gundam. It’s quick, lots of action, and will keep you waiting for more. If you enjoy Wing, then make sure you watch the OVA Endless Waltz. It finishes up the story with an interesting twist. If you love Wing and want more of the same, check out Gundam 00. It’s brand-spanking new, and it’s also very action-oriented. If you find 00 too close to Wing, then try Seed and Destiny. I haven’t watched but a few episodes, so I can’t really comment a lot on them.
Older Anime Fan: If you’re a little older, then you’ll most likely want something with a little more story, and a little less focus on action. Without a doubt, watch First Gundam. It’s great, and it really sets up the story and mood for every Gundam series after it. Then, skim to Char’s Counterattack which is a little more mature and ties up the story of the first Gundam.
Wannabe-Gundam Meister: If you’re looking to watch all the Gundam shows, there’s an easy answer here. Watch it in chronological order! At the bottom of that page, you’ll see a list of all the animes, books, mangas, etc in the Gundam universe. I would heartily recommend watching first Gundam, as it’s the base for all Gundam, then go in chronological order from there.
Hit IGLOO, 08th MS Team, War in the Pocket, Stardust Memories, Zeta Gundam, ZZ Gundam, Char’s Counterattack first. It’s the basic conflict between Zeon and the Federation, so it’s the longest story arc. If you want, feel free to skip IGLOO, 08th MS Team, War in the Pocket and ZZ Gundam, they’re somewhat not as central (ZZ Gundam being the most important of those). The other series can be watched in the order of the site, or in any order, they’re not connected at all. Note that Destiny seems to be the continuation of Seed.
Well, there you have it. In any case, First Gundam is one of the best, and is a great starting point.
