- Joined
- Sep 25, 2014
I wouldn't doubt that rarity is something to at least take notice of and encourage more works in that direction.
Anime/Manga - Discuss Japanese cartoons and comics here; NO CULTURE WAR DOOMPOSTING!
- Thread starter Niachu
- Start date
-
Want to keep track of this thread?
Accounts can bookmark posts, watch threads for updates, and jump back to where you stopped reading.
Create account
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2017
Ajin is fucking fantastic. The plot is basically a few people are immortal (they immediately revive fully healthy upon death) and one of them decides to commit a bunch of terrorism out of boredom and must be stopped. It plays on the immortality in a lot of really fun ways, with characters sacrificing limbs and killing themselves left and right to regenerate or escape being tranquilized (since sleep is the only way to stop them) and is made by someone with a real love of Western films so the action involves lots of gunfights and squad tactics.
The real joy for me comes from the villain (Satou) both in watching him one-man army his way through hundreds of soldiers and each new plan he comes up with. For example at one point relatively early on he literally pulls a 9/11:
And then you get his latest scheme (the manga is currently ongoing) which is one of the most insane things I've seen in any manga in which he takes over an army base and proceeds to go on kamikaze runs across the country with F-15s.
From what I've heard the series is immensely popular (apparently there's one or two spin-offs already) and there's been a Netflix adaptation (though I can't speak to its quality) so I'm excited to see what else the author does with such a unique spin on immortality.
The real joy for me comes from the villain (Satou) both in watching him one-man army his way through hundreds of soldiers and each new plan he comes up with. For example at one point relatively early on he literally pulls a 9/11:
And then you get his latest scheme (the manga is currently ongoing) which is one of the most insane things I've seen in any manga in which he takes over an army base and proceeds to go on kamikaze runs across the country with F-15s.
From what I've heard the series is immensely popular (apparently there's one or two spin-offs already) and there's been a Netflix adaptation (though I can't speak to its quality) so I'm excited to see what else the author does with such a unique spin on immortality.
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2018
I love Aijin too. I can't remember the last time I was that captivated by a villain's insanity.
(He's also a gamer lul.)
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2018
Is Record of Lodoss War any good?
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2014
Speaking of Milky mascot Peko-chan, here's something I didn't know. Supposedly, Peko-chan was a wholesale rip-off of "Merry", a mascot girl used in American magazine ads for Birds Eye orange juice and, later, other Birds Eye frozen foods in the late 1940s through the 1950s. (But not Birds Eye faggots because those are British-only.)
The Birds Eye magazine ad on the left is purportedly from 1949 (though the copyright year is hard to read), the second one is listed as 1950, the year in which Peko-chan was created, and the Milky box is from 1955. The only image of an older Milky box I could find is low resolution and blurry.
The Birds Eye Kids also appeared in animated commercials in the mid-1950s
and even appeared in a series of promotional comic books made starting in 1950 by Timely, the comic book company that would eventually become Marvel.
There's always the possibility that Fujiya licensed the art from Birds Eye. Information about the creation of Peko-chan is scant.
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2013
So I've been regularly reading Beastars for half a year now, and I've gotta say I really like it a lot. I know it might look like furfaggorty to most of you, but believe me it's pretty damn good. It's pretty much all the manga I read nowadays next to JoJo, 20th Century Boys, Vinland Saga and The Promised Neverland.
A few days ago its upcoming Anime adaptation got a new trailer:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=pJ3wd6u4zlQ
It's made by the same studio behind the Land of Lustrous adaptation, so it's heavily reliant on CGI. The coloring's wonderful and the models themselves look stunning, but the animation itself feels kinda clunky and robotic for the most part. I'll probably give it a shot once it's out, but I hope the animation will improve as it starts airing. Hopefully the anime will be able to capture the awesome imagery of the manga well, I especally love how creator and artist Paru Itagaki plays with distorted perspective in her compositions:
I remember reading the manga until I ran out of chapters to read a couple years back. I should probably go back into it, it was really good.
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2014
I'm glad you discovered this! A similar swipe of an American-made mascot figure in Japan also happened with a drink called Ribbon Juice from Sapporo....
The character herself was copied directly from a series of ads produced at UPA's New York studio (directed by Gene Deitch) for Kia-Ora Sun Crush.
As Gene Deitch had said in an interview here, a group of Japanese animators had requested a visit to his later studio, Terrytoons, to get an idea of how to do advertising cartoons and apparently they swiped quite a lot from what they had at the time via photography. I wouldn't doubt the Bird's Eye/Milky situation was the same thing, unless the original artist behind the ads was contacted to do the same for Fujiya.
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2016
It's alright if you want a straight fantasy experience with little to no surprises. The OVA is beautifully drawn and has great music (mainly OP and ED), but also has lots of filler elements (like 5 minutes of prologue, opening and ending each episode), mostly flat characters and the animation can get pretty minimal during certain scenes. The TV series is worth watching after the OVA since it's an alternative take on the story after about the halfway point.
PS1gamenwatch
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2015
Another teaser for Promare with English subs:
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2013
The franchise itself is based on some tabletop gaming logs published in a magazine in the early 80's, and when the logs were coverted to novels, many changes were made to make it more like an actual story(like they changed some character relationships to be completely different from how the player's roleplayed it out, most notably the one between the male and female lead from being "elf chick's player wants to steal fighter guy's magic sword to sell and get rich" to "blossoming romance between human and elf")
The games themselves had 3 major campaigns, which were turned into light novels, the OVAs cover the first and second campaigns, while the TV show covers the 2nd campaign again to be closer to the original story, and then the 3rd. The original games used a mixture of systems, most notable being 1E Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. The series eventually spawned its own completely new tabletop system called Sword World.
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2014
So I've been regularly reading Beastars for half a year now, and I've gotta say I really like it a lot. I know it might look like furfaggorty to most of you, but believe me it's pretty damn good. It's pretty much all the manga I read nowadays next to JoJo, 20th Century Boys, Vinland Saga and The Promised Neverland.
A few days ago its upcoming Anime adaptation got a new trailer:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=pJ3wd6u4zlQ
It's made by the same studio behind the Land of Lustrous adaptation, so it's heavily reliant on CGI. The coloring's wonderful and the models themselves look stunning, but the animation itself feels kinda clunky and robotic for the most part. I'll probably give it a shot once it's out, but I hope the animation will improve as it starts airing. Hopefully the anime will be able to capture the awesome imagery of the manga well, I especally love how creator and artist Paru Itagaki plays with distorted perspective in her compositions:
You have fantastic taste, friend. Yeah it's only gotten better and better since it began, remains consistent and well paced out throughout its plotline. Does a great job of introducing you to this world gradually and never in a way that makes you frustrated to follow it. You always know exactly what you need to know when it happens, and subsequent tidbits of information about the society or its characters will only improve your experience going forward as you understand them.
It never hamfists the message either, nor does it dumb itself down and take an entirely black and white approach to what it's trying to encompass thematically. Life, justice, society; none of these things are nearly so simple as we like to believe, and that's been the general theme of the story so far. It's not even limited to Legosi either.
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2013
Aw shucks, thanks! The characterization is really one of the greatest things about Beastars, it's been a while I've read something recent that had characters so complex yet likable. They way the manga reflects on societal, interpersonal and psychological issues through the lense of a cernivore-herbivore civilization is great too, it's easy to digest while also though-provoking, and with none of the on-the-nose non-metaphors or non-existent subtlety of what one would expect from Marvel today. It's always a treat getting a new glimpse into how the world of beasts works, as well as all the spins the author puts on what we usually associate with different species of animals, be it biological or folklore\superstitious.
I also have a particular fondness towards greyhound protagonist Legosi, though I might be biased since I used to have a dog very similar in both looks and demeanor.
Yeah, I'd wholeheartedly recommend continuing it, as it only gets better so far.
Recently I've also finished part 6 of JoJo. Really liked it myself, though I can see why some people would have problems with it. That ending doe...
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2017
I wanna watch Shin-chan, but it has like huge gaps of missing episodes that haven't been subbed, and that's what's holding me back (and I don't know where else to watch raws). The dub apparently is only like 100 episodes or even less, I dunno. It's only been started seriously getting subbed a few years or so ago, right? They're just so far behind...
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2013
I didn't even know there were that many episodes dubbed. Back in high school (ten years ago now) I think they only ever aired somewhere between 20-30 episodes before they looped back to the first episode. Unless there was another dubbing company that took over at some point?
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2015
Shin-chan is not a show you really have to watch in full. You can watch a few episodes and get a feel for the series and then see if you want to continue. (One of the films, The Adult Empire Strikes Back, is apparently very, very good, though.)
There are actually several dubs aside from the Adult Swim one. The earlier ones still tried to pretend it was a kids' show - and then comes the jokes about copping feels...
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2014
Yeah, people have said a lot of great things about that movie and I remember really enjoying it over a decade back. At least they found an interesting theme and approach to get the characters stuck in.
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2013
I do know that a couple of the voice actresses in one of those dubs (the first one by Vitello and Associates) didn't like working on the series, and given we know the Funimation voices were having fun with it. It ultimately makes me wonder what the Phuzz dub actors thought about working on the show.
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2014
The problem for Shin Chan is that it was technically a "family show" back in Japan despite how raunchy the content tends to be at times. I wouldn't doubt it was difficult finding the right place for it over here with those earlier dubs before Funimation came through.
PS1gamenwatch
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2015
Oh boy, this is not gonna help the tensions between SK and Japan:
www.animenewsnetwork.com
Evangelion Character Designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto Attracts Criticism Over 'Dismissive' Tweet about Korean Comfort Women Statue
Curators call the exhibition's premature cancellation due to external pressure "the worst censorship incident in Japan's postwar period.”
posted on 2019-08-12 13:45 EDT by Kim Morrissy
Curators call the exhibition's premature cancellation due to external pressure "the worst censorship incident in Japan's postwar period.”
Neon Genesis Evangelion and Summer Wars character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto attracted criticism from anime fans around the world over a series of tweets he posted on Friday concerning the “After ‘Freedom of Expression’?” historical art exhibition at the Aichi Prefecture Museum of Art. The exhibition was cancelled three days after its opening due to complaints it received over featuring Kim Seo-kyung and Kim Eun-sung's Statue of Peace (2011) sculpture, which depicts a World War II-era "comfort woman" (the euphemistic term for a woman or underage girl forced to work in military brothels servicing the Imperial Japanese Army). In his tweets, Sadamoto called the statue "dirty" and "vulgar," claiming that the art was simply propaganda with no aesthetic value.
貞本義行@腰痛@Y_Sadamoto
https://twitter.com/Y_Sadamoto/status/1159702101464776705
キッタネー少女像。
天皇の写真を燃やした後、足でふみつけるムービー。
かの国のプロパガンダ風習
まるパク！
現代アートに求められる
面白さ！美しさ！
驚き！心地よさ！知的刺激性
が皆無で低俗なウンザリしかない
ドクメンタや瀬戸内芸術祭みたいに育つのを期待してたんだがなぁ…残念でかんわ
18.5K
10:45 PM - Aug 8, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
9,852 people are talking about this
貞本義行@腰痛@Y_Sadamoto
https://twitter.com/Y_Sadamoto/status/1159719708901294082
Replying to @Y_Sadamoto
アカデミックなコンテンポラリーアートを核に焼き物、自動車&バイク、映画、コミック、ファッション、建築等、他方面に広げて県内同時多発的に開催しスタンプラリー的に広げて一大アートイベントに育てていって欲しかった。いかれた協賛メディアを排除して今からでも軌道修正してほしいな
3,692
11:54 PM - Aug 8, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
1,549 people are talking about this
貞本義行@腰痛@Y_Sadamoto
https://twitter.com/Y_Sadamoto/status/1159758585309458432
Replying to @Y_Sadamoto
韓流アイドルも好きだし綺麗なモノは綺麗と正直に言ってます
造形物として魅力がなく汚い仕上げと感じたまでで生で見たら又印象違うのか？
モデルになった方がいるなら申し訳ない…
プロパガンダをアートに仕込む行為も全く否定しないけど正直
アートとしての魅力は俺には全く響かなかった
4,669
2:29 AM - Aug 9, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
2,139 people are talking about this
Sadamoto's tweets are translated below:
"A dirty statue of a girl. A movie that shows the Emperor of Japan's photo being burned and then crushed underfoot. It's indistinguishable from a certain country's style of propaganda.
"It has absolutely none of the interesting, beautiful, eye-opening, heartwarming, or intellectually stimulating aspects of what we seek from modern art. It's just vulgar and tedious.
"I was expecting something in the tradition of the Documenta or Setouchi Triennale... what a pity.
"I wanted it to be an art event with academic contemporary art at its core: pottery, bicycles, motorcycles, films, comics, fashion, architecture, and all other kinds of things that were showing up in the prefecture around the same time all showcased and spread out like a stamp rally. Remove the crazy [propaganda]-affirming media and the exhibition could still be redeemed.
"I like Korean wave idols, and if something is aesthetically beautiful then I'll say so frankly.
"If the sculpting is poor and it comes off looking dirty, then of course I'm going to have a different impression when I see it in person. My apologies to the model, if there was one...
"I'm not going to completely reject the act of turning propaganda into art, but honestly speaking, it did not speak to me at all on an artistic level."
The top responses to Sadamoto's comments express disappointment. "As a long-time Eva fan, I'm disappointed," wrote one Korean fan in Japanese. Japanese fans also criticized Sadamoto, such as one fan who wrote: "That statue of a girl was created as a prayer for the girls who were coerced and subjected to sexual violence during the war. It reflects a heart that desires an adequate apology. Various countries such as the Philippines also have statues. The statue gives even Japanese women an opportunity to think about women's rights. And you're calling that dirty?"
Some fans even chose to express their displeasure in English:
貞本義行@腰痛@Y_Sadamoto
· Aug 8, 2019
キッタネー少女像。
天皇の写真を燃やした後、足でふみつけるムービー。
かの国のプロパガンダ風習
まるパク！
現代アートに求められる
面白さ！美しさ！
驚き！心地よさ！知的刺激性
が皆無で低俗なウンザリしかない
ドクメンタや瀬戸内芸術祭みたいに育つのを期待してたんだがなぁ…残念でかんわ
herring@gynoidherring
very sad
For nearly 30 years, I really liked your artwork.
I can't say that in your mouth.
I am very sad.
370
2:34 AM - Aug 9, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
93 people are talking about this
The backlash against Sadamoto's comments draw from a context of concern and outrage concerning the exhibition's premature cancellation due to external pressure. The curators of the exhibition described the move as "the worst censorship incident in Japan's postwar period.”
According to the Mainichi Shimbun, over 700 complaints against the exhibition were filed. Hideaki Omura, the governor of Aichi and head of the exhibition's organizing committee, told the Japan Times that the committee had received threatening messages, including from one person said they would "bring a gasoline container to the museum," likely in reference to the tragic arson attack on Kyoto Animation's studio 1 last month.
The Aichi Triennale's English website describes the 2015 version of the exhibit as a collection of "works that had been rejected or removed from exhibition by either systematic censorship or fear of causing controversy. Works dealing with themes which have been deemed taboo by public cultural institutions in recent years (such as the issue of the Japanese Military 'Comfort Women', the emperor and wartime responsibility, colonial rule, Article 9 of Japan's constitution, or criticism of the government) were displayed along with the actual reasons given at the time for their removal."
Kim Seo-kyung and Kim Eun-sung's Statue of Peace was first installed in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul on December 14, 2011. The married couple designed over 20 similar statues. Japan objects to the statues being placed in front of its embassies, claiming that the statues disrupt diplomatic relations. The Korean Heraldreported that in 2017, the Ravensbruck Memorial in Germany removed the Statue of Peace it had been gifted due to alleged pressure from Japan.
The "Comfort Women" issue remains controversial in Japan. Although Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye reached a formal agreement in 2015 to settle the dispute and pay one billion yen as an apology, prominent Japanese politicians and historians downplay the scale of the Japanese government's culpability, or claim that the women were not "coerced" into sexual slavery. Earlier this month, Japan removed South Korea from its "white list" of trusted export partners, a move which has been interpreted as retaliation for the South Korean high court's decision in October to allow individuals affected by Japan's colonial era policy of forced labor to sue Japanese companies for damages.
