Reviews & Features Discussion

Started by Foggle, December 27, 2010, 04:00:22 PM

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Lord Dalek

#933
Winter 2018 Anime Season in short... just watch Made in Abyss on Prime.

Dr. Ensatsu-ken

Honestly, with the exception of Kado (great until the last quarter) and Re: Creators (which I didn't even finish because I got bored of it), I didn't bother watching any new anime series last year, not counting sequel seasons to already established series like SGRS, MHA, Osomatsu-san, and Bahamut. I heard that Made in Abyss and The Ancient Magus Bride are supposed to be pretty good. Did I miss anything else besides those two?

Dr. Insomniac


Spark Of Spirit

Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 22, 2018, 01:49:08 PM
Honestly, with the exception of Kado (great until the last quarter) and Re: Creators (which I didn't even finish because I got bored of it), I didn't bother watching any new anime series last year, not counting sequel seasons to already established series like SGRS, MHA, Osomatsu-san, and Bahamut. I heard that Made in Abyss and The Ancient Magus Bride are supposed to be pretty good. Did I miss anything else besides those two?
You might like Garo. 2017 anime as a whole wasn't as good as 2016.
"The world will never starve for want of wonders, but for want of wonder." - G.K. Chesterton

VLordGTZ

Little Witch Academia and Magical Circle Guru Guru were quite good as well.  While I thought 2017 was a decent year for anime, a lot of the shows I watched hit more middle of the road than the heights of 2016.  2018 though is looking bright imo, just off of what's coming in the spring season alone.

Rynnec

2017 wasn't particularly noteworthy year round, but what was good was really good.

gunswordfist

Quote from: Spark Of Spirit on January 22, 2018, 06:00:16 PM
Quote from: Dr. Ensatsu-ken on January 22, 2018, 01:49:08 PM
Honestly, with the exception of Kado (great until the last quarter) and Re: Creators (which I didn't even finish because I got bored of it), I didn't bother watching any new anime series last year, not counting sequel seasons to already established series like SGRS, MHA, Osomatsu-san, and Bahamut. I heard that Made in Abyss and The Ancient Magus Bride are supposed to be pretty good. Did I miss anything else besides those two?
You might like Garo. 2017 anime as a whole wasn't as good as 2016.
2016 was impossibly great though.
"Ryu is like the Hank Hill of Street Fighter." -BB_Hoody



LumRanmaYasha

Great article Doc! OK KO is probably my favorite ongoing cartoon, but I agree that when it doesn't succeed at conveying important messages when it places so many layers of abstraction on top of the topic. The episode where Dendy is revealed to be a Kappa and the show tries to explore racism and discrimination is another good example, though that's slightly better handled than the gun control episode was, which is so off-base when it comes to the consequences of gun use and why there should be regulation it just doesn't work. Ironically, I think their Captain Planet crossover was one of their most successful when it came to conveying its message, since at the end of the episode they make it clear that environmental problems cannot be solved just by beating a bad guy or doing something once, and that it takes a consistent lifelong effort on the part of everybody to reduce them. It's not perfect, but that single episode got across the goals of environmental protection better the original Captain Planet ever did.

I'm all for kids cartoons tackling complex and politically divisive topics, but it has to be handled smartly, and when it comes to a topic like gun violence, much more directly so no one can misinterpret or be confused by the point. And you're spot-on about why I appreciate South Park's skepticism, which some people confuse for being apathy but more often than not depicts the dangers of blind extremism.

Dr. Insomniac

I'm not sure how OK KO could do a good "guns are bad" episode without questioning its very premise. Like the main cast regularly work at a place that sells easily-acquirable weapons. For the message to have a point and not be inconsistent, the show would also need to call out Gar and several of the main characters for selling things that can kill people. And from what I've seen of the show, it doesn't seem capable of that level of self-criticism.

Daxdiv

I remember someone throwing around the idea of how they could show Gar being ethical & selling guns only to heroes, but he already does that to begin with. Cause I have yet to see anyone that was truly malicious to buy weapons at Gar's Bodega. Then maybe someone saying that he should do background checks, which I feel like would be something tossed to the side line anyway. Yeah, the more I think about it, the something like OK KO being turned off by a weapon that turns people to living skeletons make even less sense in the context of the show and that is saying something.

All in all, I thought the editorial on episodes like this fail was pretty good. Especially the part about South Park, since I thought the one episode that highlights it well was the ones you implied with. I know they did the drugs episodes twice, first with the Future Self and the other where they had Rob Reiner as their target. They both perfectly show how bad it is when you go to the extreme. With that in mind, it does make me wonder how heavy handed the Cool Cat video will be.