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Forum - View topicThe Mike Toole Show - Cover Story
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Themaster20000
 Posts: 864 |
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As someone who can't stand the whole " cute girls doing things " genre I really enjoyed Girls und Panzer. As mentioned the tank battles are so well written that it makes up for the flaws. I also can't hate a show that has so much love for Kelly's Heroes.
Last edited by Themaster20000 on Sun Mar 08, 2015 8:06 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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kazenoyume
Posts: 425 |
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Bless you so much for the Samurai Flamenco love! I had an absolute BLAST with this show, and it was one of my favorites of 2014. I hope Aniplex announces a release for it soon (even though it will be pricey).
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zawa113
 Posts: 7358 |
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I think some of my "don't judge an anime by its cover" stories include:
Princess Tutu-given the name and the cute ballet theme, who would've expected so much awesome in such a tiny package? It's a fan favorite on the forums though, so I probably don't have to explain too much except "get past the name and look" at this point. Scrapped Princess-probably just personal for me, but I remember watching the first episode and I really disliked it. Hated it in fact. So much I just turned it off right after the first ep. Turns out, the first ep might've been showing the worst attributes of our main characters. On my second time through, I watched the whole first disc and did indeed want more. It went on to become a favorite eventually, but damn if that first ep didn't completely turn me off. |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5466 Location: Iscandar |
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I watched all of Samurai Flamenco, and I will not recommend it to anyone. Up until episode 7 the show was very interesting, but after that the premise (along with the animation) turned to shit. The cynic in my suspects that AoA has not released it because they doubt they will be able to sell more than 500 copies at $100+.
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 1423 |
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The most recent (and biggest) surprise for me has been this season's Maria the Virgin Witch. The first episode didn't really grab me, and the early info and promo art made it seem rather unappealing. But it's turned out to be one of the most consistent and complex shows of the season, and a strong contender for my Best-of list for the (admittedly young) year. I never expected this much depth and thoughtfulness going in, but I'm glad I checked it out.
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Splitter
 Posts: 1276 Location: Knockin' on Heaven's Door |
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Surprised at the lack of Kiddy Grade on this list... it has a horrible title and meandering first third which makes it a pain to start, but it evolves into something really twisty, engaging, and quite original the rest of the way through.
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corinthian
Posts: 264 |
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Two words: Tweeny Witches. The packaging itself did a good job of capturing the dark aesthetic, but would it have killed Media Blasters to pick a less embarrassing name?
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Hehaho1830
 Posts: 59 |
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Samurai Flamenco is in my top 5 of all time, and I'm glad to see it getting some love! Of the anime on my top five, it's probably my least favorite for animation itself, but It's story is great, and touches on so many things that just keep getting ignored by most shounen manga, and tokusatsu. spoiler[One episode makes a great point of this where Samurai flamenco is being thanked for saving the day without any civilian casualties by defeating the villain (who then explodes in the typical tokusatsu manner). In response to this flamenco points at the where the villain of the week was and says something along the lines of "There were casualties, I couldn't save him". He shows us a side of hero's that need to be shown, the torment of not being able to save everyone, the reminder of how little we ever really learn about how the monster of the week came to be, or what the motivations are for the "evil mastermind" behind the monsters, and many more points that should be made.] Kids get injured or in trouble all the time for imitating power rangers, but this show would not lead to that. All in all it's a great show despite any animation "complaints", though I didn't particularly notice anything that stood out as badly done, even if the animation itself didn't really stand out much. see my top 50 Anime list here: http://www.crunchyroll.com/user/Hehaho1830 to see what else I placed up at the top with it.
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18285 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Oh, I think Mike had good choices here (I didn't have to go as deep into Toradora! to be hooked as he did, but its first episode did show only showed mild promise), but I'll absolutely second that KG is also worthy of consideration. It almost seems to be just killing time through most of its first third, but the tonal shift it delivers with episode 9, as it starts to explore the real truth underlying the premise and the series' true themes, radically revamps any evaluation of it. In fact, I generally start my periodic rewatches of the series with episode 9. Scrapped Princess, OTOH, had me enticed in by the premise alone and firmly hooked by the end of the first episode. Two others that I often point to in this kind of discussion are Madoka Magica and Daphne in the Brilliant Blue. The former did not really impress me much until the pivotal event at the end of episode 3, while the latter was only corny and mediocre until its true and surprisingly compelling plot finally kicked in around the middle of the series. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6884 Location: Kazune City |
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Angel'sArcanum
 Posts: 303 Location: Toronto, Ontario |
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Yeah...Samurai Flamenco was...bleh. I think Carl's reviews captured things pretty neatly (although I still find the first 6 episodes to be the best). The Kamen Rider parody arc was zany and at least had a fair share of tongue in cheek bits to keep it in check, but the entire time there was always the caveat of "for what reason did it jump the shark". Then it switched gears again, still not giving us answers while jumping into a straight faced and weird Power Rangers homage, then it was some weird conspiracy crap, then it was briefly Ultraman (?), then we got the reasoning behind the madness spoiler[ the MC is Haruhi Suzumiya ] and finally we have some tacked on, insultingly contrived and bonkers finale arc with a half-assed BL tease, BS twists and just...ugh. I still give it a fair bit of leverage for the first arc, but SF is baaaaad.
Right now an anime I can think of that was better than first glance was Nurarihyon no Mago it looks like a weird mishmash of Inuyasha, Kekkaishi [sp], Harry Potter and a bunch of other yokai story cliches but there's an interesting mythos and a solid bildungsroman peppered with some metaphorical coming of age ideas hidden in there, it's a delight. Shame it got cut short with a rushed final arc due to lack of popularity; if the final arc was drawn out and it had an extra arc prior to it I really think it could've been great. Wish there was more of the anime too. |
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Mikeski
Posts: 608 Location: Minneapolis, MN |
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I'll add "Cat Planet Cuties" and "Bodacious Space Pirates". Even without those corny English titles, they seem to be "look! boobies!" and "look! cute girls doing cute things cutely!" shows, but there's some decent sci-fi in there.
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Dop.L
Posts: 717 Location: London |
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Samurai Flamenco was great fun throughout, with twists and turns so you never really knew where the heck it was going next. A loving parody of the hero genre which like all the best parodies respects the genre standards while sending them up wonderfully.
If anything we need more shows that are prepared to embrace the unexpected and run wild with it in the way Samurai Flamenco did. |
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Angel M Cazares
Posts: 5466 Location: Iscandar |
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I think you are being too kind by putting SF under the umbrella of parody. I agree that the show is to a certain extent parodying super heroes, but to me the original intent was to create an anime that questioned what does being a hero means. Unfortunately the producers ran out of ideas and/or brains, and the anime turned into a mess. To me labeling this anime parody feels like giving it a free pass, excusing its lousy and lazy execution. |
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EmperorBrandon
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 2210 Location: Springfield, MO |
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I'm pretty sure it is. At least, I seem to remember the name "Tweeny Witches" appearing before Media Blasters licensed it (though I could be remembering wrong). |
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