What Are You Watching?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, I purposely avoided it because talks from FMP fans who can read Japanese were that it wasn't exactly great material from a guy who's clearly capable of better stuff, sadly.

It seems that this stuff just sells better though, whereas FMP, while financially successful as an LN series, is nowhere near as profitable as these sorts of shows. Hence why Gatoh would rather write this shit, now.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Phew, looks like Crunchyroll will be streaming the Parasyte anime after all. I love the manga, and have been looking forward to this adaption for months now. I really hope Madhouse did a good job with it, because if they did, this should easily be one of the best anime not only of this season, but of this entire year.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, Amagi Brilliant Park isn't godawful, but it's certainly not brilliant, either. The fact that Kyoto Animation would rather adapt this than actually finish adapting FMP proves to me that this is a company that wants to cater to a fan-base who just want cutesy anime with no sense of real progression, threats, or consequences. I'm actually not pissed at KyoAni or Gatoh. They are clearly just doing stuff that makes more money, which is good business. I'm angry at the fucking idiots who only seem to support these sorts of shows and nothing else. The fact that we got TSR proves that KyoAni is more than capable of handling a serious action show with good character development. They just haven't done it because the show wasn't nearly as profitable as their moe-shit. I've just learned to accept that fact and move on.

For anyone who wants to experience FMP, the anime adaptations for the first half of the story are there, as well as the English translated LN releases by the now defunct Tokyopop, which covers up to the events of TSR. If you want to experience the rest of the story, the rest of the LNs have been fan translated into English for years, and can be found for download via a google search. If you don't feel like reading lots of plain text, then the manga Full Metal Panic! Sigma adapts the entire second half of the story, and has also been completely translated. As someone who's read through both, they are each worth experiencing, IMO.

[Lord Dalek]

Ai Tenchi Muyo makes me wanna go on an axe wielding rampage.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Ai Tenchi Muyo makes me wanna go on an axe wielding rampage.

Does it make you want to exterminate the Norma?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I just checked out Parasyte. It seems like it'll be a pretty fun and interesting series. Mark that as the 4th anime this season that I'll be keeping up with.

Originally I would've done a write-up for it, but since you wanted to do it, CX, I'll let you have that one since I've already done a bunch, anyways. Just remember to get your entries for this week PM'ed to either Foggle or myself by tonight.

[Foggle]

He already PM'd them to me.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Cool!

Yeah, I've been pleasantly surprised by this season, though. There is no shortage of pure garbage, to be sure, but for a season that I honestly wasn't looking forward to, I've found 3 seemingly great series to watch, and one amusing kids' show that has some merit to it as well. All things considered, this is a good Fall season in my eyes based on quality over quantity (as in the few shows that are good are REALLY good). Of course, there are still some shows that I haven't checked out yet, so maybe there's more stuff to watch, but from everything else I've heard, it doesn't really seem like it (Terra Formars doesn't really look up my alley, to be honest).

[Lord Dalek]

Well, Amagi Brilliant Park isn't godawful, but it's certainly not brilliant, either.

I laughed.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I chuckled at maybe one joke in the entire episode. Personally, I'll just stick with Fumoffu.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Yup, the Parasyte anime is pretty damn good. I do have a few minor quibbles with how they rearranged and changed some things, but I appreciate how they modernized it and think they are telling a strong story through the presentation nonetheless, and enjoyed a few bits of foreshadowing they've added in there too. After waiting months for it, it didn't quite live up to my personal hype, but as a fan of the original manga, I'm pretty satisfied regardless. The music kinda sucks though. I really don't like the opening, in particular. But maybe it will grow on me, who knows.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I actually like the background music playing in the episode. It suits the tone that they are going for with this anime. The opening theme I'm not crazy about, and in general I find Fear and Loathing's songs to be way too annoyingly high pitched (they are the same guys who did the opening for Kaiji season 2 and the first ending them for Hunter X Hunter 2011), but I don't really hate it, either. I'd probably skip it in future episodes, though.

As for the art-style change, I can understand the dissatisfaction with that, but at the same time, I don't blame them for doing it. While I haver read the original manga, I can see that the art-style from that has more of an old-school 90's vibe to it, which I like, but which also wouldn't be as popular or marketable in today's anime market. As a business decision, modernizing the art style makes sense.

[LumRanmaYasha]

It guess the music wasn't all bad, but the placement was weird at parts to me. In particular, that electric/metal theme they played during the scene where Shinichi and Migi fight the dog-parasyte seemed to go on a bit long and not mesh well with the scenes, and I didn't really care for the tune itself, and don't feel it quite fits with the kind of series the original Parasyte manga was that well. Tracks like that make me feel like they will be playing up the action scenes for "epicness" or "coolness," and I'm worried that might rob them of the suspense and intensity most of them had in the manga. I'm hoping there are some subtler tracks they'll use for some of the fight scenes in the OST, especially for a few certain ones near the end.

I don't care about the art style change. The original manga's art stands out amongst most anime/manga nowadays, but it wouldn't translate to animation that well. The character designs in the anime works great and allow for some incredible and really expressive animation. I think they've done a great job with that. What I have issue with is how they've arranged some of the story content, moving scenes to different places, abridging or completely omitting others. I didn't want a direct adaption, and appreciate it taking liberties, but some of what's presented does not work quite as well as it did in the manga because of where they put it or how they executed it. Nothing is done bad or anything, but a lot of the same scenes in the manga just made a lot more impact and set up a much different tone for the story. Though, the pace of this anime is bound to be fast since they are adapting a fairly dense 10-volume manga into 24 episodes, so some scenes are going to need to be faster than others and a few things are going to not get across the same. I suppose it's just a matter of personal preference, for me, as a fan of the original work. However, there are many moments and scenes in the episode that did make me feel that the team behind this really does know exactly what Parasyte is about, so I am confident they'll do a good job adapting the story at the end of the day, and it will be a high-quality anime worthy of the original work through and through.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

It guess the music wasn't all bad, but the placement was weird at parts to me. In particular, that electric/metal theme they played during the scene where Shinichi and Migi fight the dog-parasyte also seemed to go on a bit long and not mesh well with the scenes, and I didn't really care for the tune itself, and don't feel it quite fits with the kind of series the original Parasyte manga was that well

Eh, I can't speak for the original manga, but I disagree about it not fitting the scene. The music had a tense sort of vibe to it that fit the tension of that scene, and I actually really like electric/metal-type instrumental themes. It fits with the science fiction nature of the show itself (once again, not speaking for the original manga).

Tracks like that make me feel like they will be playing up the action scenes for "epicness" or "coolness," and I'm worried that might rob them of the suspense and intensity most of them had in the manga.

I definitely didn't get the feeling that it was trying to be epic or cool. That sort of music doesn't fit either of those descriptions at all. I felt that it was more about emphasizing escalating tension of the situation at hand. And yes, it didn't come off as "suspenseful" if that indeed was the original intent, but since I haven't read the manga, I can't factor it into my judgement, hence the music in that scene didn't bother me at all. That said, I'd say that the episode had other moments that came off as legitimately mysterious and suspenseful, so it's not like that entire tone was lost from the show. It was just that one scene.

I'm hoping there are some subtler tracks they'll use for some of the fight scenes in the OST, especially for a few certain fights near the end.

Well, I don't really see how "subtle" goes with a fight scene. I mean, subtle tracks are definitely necessary, but that seems like it should naturally fit in with the more suspenseful scenes of this series that you were talking about. Not when a guy is actively being chased down by something trying to kill him. If it was a scene where the assailant was trying to kill him more sneakily, then I could see that subtle sort of music being more fitting, but he was being chased down in broad daylight. Hardly what I would call subtle in tone. As for the tracks, though, we're only one episode in. We'll naturally get more music later on. And for an example comparison, I hated Hunter X Hunter 2011's soundtrack at first, but it grew on me eventually when they added in much better tunes in later episodes.

I don't care about the art style change. The original manga's art stands out amongst most anime/manga nowadays, but it wouldn't translate to animation that well. The character designs in the anime works great and allow for some incredible and really expressive animation. I think they've done a great job with that. What I have issue with is how they've arranged some of the story content, moving scenes to different places, abridging or completely omitting others. I didn't want a direct adaption, and appreciate it taking liberties, but some of what's presented does not work quite as well as it did in the manga because of where they put it or how they executed it. Nothing is done bad or anything, but a lot of the same scenes in the manga just made a lot more impact and set up a much different tone for the story. Though, the pace of this anime is bound to be fast since they are adapting a fairly dense 10-volume manga into 24 episodes, so some scenes are going to need to be faster than others and a few things are going to not get across the same. I suppose it's just a matter of personal preference, for me, as a fan of the original work. However, there are many moments and scenes in the episode that did make me feel that the team behind this really does know exactly what Parasyte is about, so I am confident they'll do a good job adapting the story at the end of the day, and it will be a high-quality anime worthy of the original work through and through.

Ah, well yeah, that's bound to happen. In my case, I haven't read the manga, so I won't be able to spot the problems with the show's changes because this is the only version that I'm actually seeing, right now. I can see how it'd be a little awkward to see scenes moved around or rushed through if you've already read the source material, though, but that's why I'm glad that I haven't read it yet. Since it sounds different enough, I'd be happy to check out the manga after I finish the anime, just like I did for Trigun, but like with that, I'm glad to not have read the manga first, as it may have tainted my opinion of the anime. That same logic also applies to ASOIAF and Game of Thrones. I really do like the novels from where I'm at so far, but I'm glad I watched the show first so I can appreciate it for what it is. If I had read the novels first and seen how many liberties the show took, I might have been disappointed, but since I got introduced to the show first, I can see that as a stand-alone piece from the novels, it holds up fine on its own, and some changes aren't necessarily flaws, but just differences, even if I prefer how some scenes played out more in the source material.

The bottom line is, it may be a good thing for the anime version to be different even if the changes make it not as good as the original. In that regard, even if I had read the manga, I'd prefer a good adaptation that does take liberties, even if it's not as good as the source material, as opposed to one that plays it safe and does everything accurately, but in the process sort of kills its point for even existing since you can just read the manga (Monster is the perfect example of that).

[LumRanmaYasha]

Maybe it's more of a personal taste thing, since I didn't get quite the same feeling from the theme. I also guess "subtle" wasn't the right word for what I want. I've pictured the OST of Parasyte like having the OST of a good horror-action movie, and when I think about that, electric/metal tracks, at least the one(s) I heard in this episode, weren't what came to mind. As the show goes on and uses more of it's music, though, it might grow on me.

Like I said before, I appreciate the anime is not a carbon-copy of the source material and is taking liberties, especially since it means there's a different experience to be had between the versions. It was still an excellent episode and premiere at the end of the day. I just felt, in comparison to the manga, the material came across better there, but nonetheless as a fan of the series I still think it was really well done. So I am happy with how this premiere turned out, overall, and am confident the show as a whole will be consistently excellent, even if it might not perfectly capture everything that (imo) makes the original manga as great as it is.