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Clephas

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Blog Comments posted by Clephas

  1. It should be noted that 08th MS Team is easily the best Gundam up until this point, with it competing very well with the ones that came out later.  That was because the makers chose to use an adult protagonist (something that doesn't happen in the other ones), and the actual mobile suit combat was semi-realistic, making it feel like real battles rather than one-sided slaughters with mechs doing unbelievable stuff.

  2. The only one worth mentioning on this list that wasn't on the previous ones as an OVA is Legend of Crystania.  Legend of Crystania is a far-distant sequel to The Record of Lodoss War, based in a land where Ashram went into exile with his closest followers after his defeat.  This new continent, unlike the previous one, is one where gods interfere with the world more directly than by using clerics and champions, and the setting had a great deal of potential.  However, it didn't live up to that potential, primarily because both the movie here and the ova later hurried things too much.

  3. I have to majorly disagree with kivandopolus on which anime are the best for this particular season.

    Slayers- Slayers is one of those odd anime that, though the animation itself hasn't aged well, manages to maintain a certain level of attraction even today.  It is one of the anime I most often use to introduce people to anime, for a few reasons.  One of those reasons is that the english dub is actually one of the best from that period of time, thus making it an ideal entry-level anime.  Another reason is that the humor is straightforward slapstick for the most part, meaning there is no need for the watcher to be familiar with Japanese humor to be able to enjoy it.  While I won't say the story of this particular anime is great, it is more than enjoyable enough to be worth watching to the end.  Best of all, it is a series that kids and adults (anime fan adults, anyway) can watch together without either side getting bored.

    Fushigi Yuugi- I have to say that Kivan's assessment of this anime is waaay off.  While the otome-style format of this particular fantasy is mostly not done anymore in anime, at the time it was a moderately popular style, of which Fushigi Yuugi was one of the most famous at the time.  If this one were to be remade today, it would probably achieve a reasonable level of popularity, in my opinion.

    Gundam Wing- of the Gundam series, this one is one of the top three (and considering there are like twenty Gundam series, that actually says a lot).  Like all the Gundam series, it is a bit heavy-handed in using the odd dichotomy of being a series about war that is heavily anti-war (this peculiarity is only rarely mentioned by reviewers for some reason, though).  However, the characters are excellent, and the series has aged very well.  The only downside to it is that, three decades after the Soviet Union's fall, it is a bit hard to relate to some aspects of the setting for younger people.  For younger people who want something they are more likely to be able to relate to, Gundam 00 is similar with a more modern set of references in the setting.

     

  4. Blue Seed- Blue Seed is one of the early relatively long series I remember the most.  Currently, I find it unwatchable (my tolerance for Victim A main characters in serious stories is virtually zero nowadays), but at the time it was quite enjoyable.  Like a lot of the classics from this era, its setting was kind of iffy and poorly explained even within the story.  That it was still enjoyable at the time was primarily due to the aesthetic and the male lead.

    Rayearth- My first experience with Magic Knight Rayearth was actually the Sega Saturn game, which had an excellent story and was one of the few early-era jrpgs to have voice-acting.  The anime is also fairly good, even if it glosses over some details.  The ending of the first season is pretty sad as the result of a particular plot twist.

    Darkside Blues- One of several movies from this decade I wish they had a sequel for.  An enjoyable experience at the time, though sadly short.

  5. 2 hours ago, Riku said:

    People should just read Miyabi's route already. Heck, I wasn't sure if I should do it considering my limited time, but now I decided, I'm gonna reread it with the English patch (that way I'll read faster). SHino's is fine too. Tonoko's, though, I honestly didn't like it much, but many loved it, so it's worth it too.

    I played Tonoko's route first of the three the first time I played the game.  Admittedly, the route is slower-paced than either Miyabi or Shino's routes, but it has its own charm.  On my second playthrough I found Shino's route to be the best of the three, a route that got tastier on the second playthrough.  Miyabi's is a good route no matter how many times you play it.  Playing Tonoko's route the second time was not as good as the first, but it was still a good experience.  

    The route that I had the most trouble playing the second time was Yuuna's, because all the shocking revelations were already over with.  It's the kind of route that is godly the first time you play it, but has little to offer on a second playthrough, in my opinion. 

  6. 2 hours ago, Erogamer said:

    There is a video on youtube that has the Japanese lyrics. Just thought I would ask. 

    I checked it out, but the lyrics were off.  It looks like whoever it was that did it transcribed the lyrics in a hurry and missed a lot of it.  I could probably use the sound alone to translate it, but I can't say I really liked the op, so I don't have much motivation.  I absolutely loved the VN, though.

     

  7. Bastard was another early anime I watched as a kid.  Like a lot of anime from that era, there was very little distinction between erotic anime and normal anime, so it had slightly hentai aspects.

    Tenchi Muyo should not need an intro, as it is one of the most famous science-fantasy series of all time.  I will say that the later series are actually better than the initial one (because most of the initial series is love-comedy with violence), but if you like the later series, you can probably enjoy the original.

    Ushio to Tora is another 'classic' that eventually got a remake.  I honestly wasn't that fond of it, but I know a lot of others were.

  8. 22 hours ago, Riku said:

    For the last one the LN is still ongoing and pretty popular. I also think it's kinda different from the WN and that's why the author abandonned the WN.

    EDIT: Took a peek at the WN, but it's completed apparently. Why do you say it isn't?

    EDIT2: Looked at the LN, it must add a LOT because as of vol 9 it's still at the 4th chapter of the WN.

    I'm not willing to put down money for the LN version of a web novel I got sick of half way through...  I'll probably grab the english version of Kansha and Fukushuu if they become available though, to support the author.  

    About the only LN versions I've purchased outright are Black Summoner, Death March, Arifureta, Yondome, and Mojitsukai.  Mojitsukai and Yondome are the only ones I own in Japanese, whereas I purchased the rest on my kindle.

  9. 3x3 Eyes is a classic, though it shows its age pretty severely.  The problem is the story itself isn't complete, so watching it is depressing.

    Teito Monogatari is one of those anime that makes no sense, because the points in the anime are so disjointed.  The fact that it is still fun to watch means that it doesn't matter as much as it does for later generations of anime.  

    Arslan Senki was a nice bloody fantasy in a period of my life when I'd just gotten addicted to anime.  Unfortunately, like a lot of the best anime from this period, the story is incomplete and a bit disjointed.  

  10. RG Veda was one of the first anime I knowingly watched (I didn't know Voltron was anime until much later, though given how fragmented the story was, I should have guessed).  While yes, the story is both rushed and stops before it goes anywhere, it is immensely fun to watch for lovers of combat fantasy.  That said, I can't help but feel sad they never bothered to do justice to the setting.

  11. On 7/7/2022 at 6:07 AM, Zalor said:

    I want to help you out, but from my perspective they all look equally trashy (I hate moe and loli designs with a passion). But going by your descriptions the first one seems most interesting, which is ironic because its cover art left the worst impression on me of the three. I'm going to trust in your impression though and say go for the first one.

    LoS games tend to be great or pure trash at a rate of 1:2.  It's anybody's guess as to whether this one is going to be one of the good ones.

  12. 8 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

    Sounds pretty interesting, actually. May get tedious though if it's so slow-paced.

    That's what is weird about this one... it doesn't get tedious.  The author is really good at making you want to read 'just one more chapter', and it never really stops.  Normally, I'd agree with you, and objectively speaking, it would be nice if he hurried things up a bit.  However, when I'm reading it, I don't feel that way, oddly.  @Rikuremarked that he had a similar experience with it.

  13. On 5/28/2022 at 3:00 AM, Dreamysyu said:

    I think I've seen maybe a chapter or two of the manga for this? Or maybe the premise is just very similar. Didn't seem like my type of the story though, so I dropped it.

    Probably thinking about Der Werewolf.  It has a similar theme (reincarnator is a commander in the demon army).  It is also completely released in english in both manga and ln form (decent but more mundane than this one).

  14. On 5/25/2022 at 2:00 PM, Dreamysyu said:

    I've read the first two volumes of the LN translation. Honestly, while the idea seemed interesting, I ended up dropping it in the end. I just didn't like all the grinding, especially since the protagonist has to grind a hundred times more than everyone else to get to the same level. Also, there's way too little character interactions for my taste. Most of the story is just pure leveling, and everything else is secondary. Maybe it changes later, but I don't really care anymore.

    The grind obsession is a bit annoying at times.  However, it becomes less tedious after he leaves the village.

  15. 6 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

    I haven't read this particular story, but I notice that I generally find this type of fantasy/isekai where the protagonist actually has to work to become strong a lot more enjoyable than the type where they are just OP from the start. Unless the growth is very fast and is caused by some wunderwaffel or something.

    On another note, I love wunderwaffels.  I just also enjoy stories where there is no wunderwaffel.  I'm an isekai junkie in general... though it is a huge letdown when a real action story that is serious has a protagonist who is too overpowered for there to even be a struggle or strife.  It's one thing if he ends up that way towards the end (like with Hajime in Arifureta Shokugyou), but most attempts to do serious plots and action with an op protagonist tend to fall apart near the end.  The exception is when the main antagonist is just as op as the protagonist.

  16. 1 hour ago, Dreamysyu said:

    I haven't read this particular story, but I notice that I generally find this type of fantasy/isekai where the protagonist actually has to work to become strong a lot more enjoyable than the type where they are just OP from the start. Unless the growth is very fast and is caused by some wunderwaffel or something.

    He doesn't have a wunderwaffel... he is just ridiculously hard-working (training in his sleep, and twelve hours of training every day while awake).

  17. On 3/31/2022 at 5:18 PM, Dreamysyu said:

    Honestly, sound just like a pretty basic combination of some very common isekai cliches. I don't know how well it handles them though.

     

    By the way, are you interested in reading Monster Tamer? It'd be interesting to read your reaction to it. I'd say, thematically and plotwise it's somewhat similar to Arifureta, but darker and without comedic parts. I'm not a big fan of its writing, but I like how deeply it explores its characters and the relationships between them.

    I tried reading monster tamer (the japanese version) but it was almost as depressing as Kuro no Maou, without the high-quality writing. 

     

    5 hours ago, Quof said:

    What's your favorite western sci fi? Have a top 10 or so? 

    My favorite western sci-fi is Honor Harrington.

    My top three series are 

    1.  Honor Harrington by David Weber

    2.  Foreigner by CJ Cherryh

    3.  The Vorkosigan Saga by Stephen Brust

  18. 3 hours ago, Zalor said:

    That's very honorable of you 

    Not really.  It was originally a function for people who wrote their entries in bits and pieces over time as drafts to use.  It wasn't meant for bumping like this.  I only know about it because I used to post blogs so often, and I had to use it when I fell asleep before I could finish an entry.  I don't think I would even see a reason to use this function, since it makes more sense just to write a whole knew post instead of bumping an old one.

  19. On 3/13/2022 at 6:57 AM, Zalor said:

    I'm so confused. How was this blog posted yesterday, if there are comments that are literally dating back to 2019 here? Is fuwa glitching out, or what?

    EDIT: Oh, I see what you did you sly dog you. Apparently editing the blog post bumps it up the list. Had no idea you could necro blog posts that way.

    I did, I just never did it.  

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