Review and an animé question

[Flying Beastie]

So, last week I was in a music/DVD store briefly, celebrating my impending graduation (less than a month now). I found the insultingly small animé section, and was surprised to note that I could actually afford one (just one).

 

I narrowed my choices to Magic Knight Rayearth (which I'm hesitant about since I loved the manga so much and the animé apparently goes in a completely different direction), the two Evangelion movies (see question below), and Read or Die (R.O.D.).

 

Being an English major and a writer, I chose R.O.D. I'd heard good things about it in Animé Insider. I'm glad I did.

 

Those of you who don't have it, buy it now; it frellin' rocks!

 

It's campy and fun, and action-packed, and the DVD extras are actually educational.

 

Also, Yomiko Readman (the star) is the single most kawaii animé girl I have ever seen. The frizzy, uncombed hair, the shyness, the bookish charm, the bibliophilia, everything about her rocks. She also has that cute habit of holding things in her mouth when her hands are full. In fact the opening scene from the credits has her holding the "R.O.D." title card by one corner in her mouth as she gazes at the camera with big liquid eyes.

 

I think I'm in love. If I ever find a real girl like that, I am so there; to hell with dignity.

 

 

*ahem* Where was I? Oh yes.

 

Readman is a special agent for Section A of Library Special Operations, a British (!) secret service attached to the Royal library. Yes, that's right, she's a spy who works for the library.

 

She also has superpowers.

 

Her codename is Agent Paper, reflecting her telekinetic control over all forms of paper. She can make a roll of streamer paper into a grappling hook, throw loose leafs like shuriken, use index cards to stop bullets, and fold a sheaf of money into a katana. Her assigned partner is Ms. Deep ("I don't like my codename. . . It sounds like a porn star") who has the power to phase through solid objects, and also to never bounce out of her costume despite her, um, "athletics."

 

The villains of the piece are the I-Gen ("Eejen"), a group of equally superpowered clones of famous historical figures, including Otto Lilienthal (German aviation pioneer, now equipped with a jetpack), Jean-Henri Fabre (19th century entomologist, now with an army of giant insects), Gennai Hiraga (Tokugawa-Era Japanese electrical scientist, now sporting lightning powers and beam-sabers). Also, a cyborg Beethoven who never speaks. How can you not love a show that features a mute, cyborg Beethoven?

 

Now he's having fun. It's about time.

 

In addition to the superpowers, there's gunplay, martial arts, explosions, and much humour at the expense of the Americans ("we'll sic the Americans on them!"). I especially liked the Secret Service agents tackling the insanely babbling President to get him away from the button to launch the nukes.

 

The DVD spans three episodes, but the story is self-contained, and there's no indication that it's anything other than an oddly broken-up OVA. There is a sequel (in Japan), but it features a new cast (no Yomiko-chan )

 

The animation is OVA-quality, beautifully done, though they seem to have a little trouble with hands (they sometimes look broken, as if the fingers are doing wierd things). The backgrounds and "sets" are dazzling; Yomiko's apartment (and in fact her entire building) are choked with disordered stacks of books, as is the office of her superior, Agent Joker (who seems to have no sense of humour).

 

The dub is good, though the sound is realistic (meaning that dialogue can sometimes be muffled, drowned out by sound effects, or just incomprehensible). This sometimes means that important plot data is missed or confused. Keep your finger on the "subtitles" button if your DVD player is so equipped. The subs aren't exact (being a direct translation of the Japanese script, without the dub's fix for dialogue synch or grammar. The dialogue synch, BTW, isn't as exact as it could be, but I'm willing to overlook it (in real life, people often open their mouths before they speak, to draw in a breath, for instance).

 

----------------------------

 

As for the Evangelion question:

 

I have officially given up on being able to see the Evangelion series. If I ever manage to find a boxed set, it'll no doubt cost several hundred dollars (Canadian money sucks almost as bad as Canadian TV).

 

I do however have access to the two OVA movies: Death and Rebirth and End of Evangelion. I've been putting off getting either one because I hear they're set after the series and I didn't want to spoil myself. Now, I'm thinking of getting one.

 

I recall hearing that one of these movies is the finale to the series, while the other is an "actual" OVA movie (like Endless Waltz is to Gundam Wing). The DVD packages don't actually say which it is (they're co-sells, urging people to pick up both of them).

 

You guys probably know more about Evangelion than I do, so I ask you: Which of the two would be better for someone who has only a mid-level knowledge of the story (I know about the Angels coming to signal the end of the world, about Gendo Ikari using the remains of Lillith to create the Evas to fight them, and about NERV being the "front" for this project, and that Asuka/Rei/Shinji = Id/Ego/Superego, but that's about it).

 

If they just retell the same story (I understand the "end" of the Eva storyline kinda rules out a sequel), does one include a recap of critical events from the series (character origins, ongoing subplots, and the like)?

[Rogue Nine]

I've heard very good things about ROD, but I've never been able to watch it for myself. Yet another thing I'll have to find en masse off of bit torrent.

 

As for your Eva questions...it would be good to know up to what episode you've seen. But if you know all the weird mystical stuff with the Angels and Gendo and whatnot, then you should be good. Death and Rebirth basically recaps the entire series. It's the whole 26 episode series squooshed into a 90-minute "movie" so be prepared to have your mind shafted. As for the End of Evangelion, it's just what it sounds like. Most people were disappointed with the end of the series because episodes 25 and 26 were a little lacking in mecha, storyline and most importantly, sense. So the End of Eva was Gainax's attempt to help viewers make sense of their LSD-induced vision. It is the only one of the two OVAs that actually has any original storyline. But it does contain bits and pieces of Death and Rebirth as well, so it does have some kind of recap of the series storyline. Now don't go into this one expecting your typical Eva vs. Angel affair. It's mostly about the characters and how they fit into the grand scheme of the world. Oh yes, there's a hellerific mecha fight, but it only lasts for so long and ends up really kinda bad.

 

So what I guess I'm trying to say is if you want your money's worth, get the End of Evangelion OVA. It'll give you a mild recap, then effectively close out the series for you. Because if you get Death and Rebirth, it'll just leave you hanging at the end, wondering what the hell just happened. Kinda like the end of the series! And just for kicks, you should try to watch the last two episodes, then compare and contrast with the End of Eva OVA. See how much that makes sense to you. Because a generation of Eva fans are still sitting back, scratching their heads and going, "Dude, WTF?"

 

 

 

 

Oh yes, and ALL HAIL EMPEROR PEN-PEN.

[Flying Beastie]

I haven't seen any episodes, actually. All I know about Eva comes from magazine articles (mostly from Animé Insider, who did a really comprehensive one before Christmas), and footage from AMVs.

 

Is the EoE fight the one with Asuka versus the mass-production evas? ('Course, it'd probably have to be, if she's in that movie.)

[Rogue Nine]

Yesh, that would be EoE when Asuka takes on all the mass-production Evas.

 

But you really should try to see the series. It's a very good anime, not as godly as some other fanatics make it out to be, but I don't think magazine articles and AMVs are going to cut it.

[Flying Beastie]

Seeing the series isn't really an option.

 

I'm in Canada, remember, and there's exactly one network on the air here (YTV) that understands that there are "cartoon" series for ages above 10yrs. Because of Nazi-like Canadian Content laws, they can only really get away with showing one prime-time animé at a time, and right now it's InuYasha (they had to drop Gundam Wing after a couple of years of reruns to make room for it).

 

Buying the series DVDs means that either I get random blocks of three episodes (the only series DVDs I've seen were Episodes 4-6, and another with 13-15), or have to pay triple-digits (which I don't have) for a boxed set.

 

Or I could download crappy, unclear encodings of KaZaA, but lately there's never more than five people online at a time (who never have anything more than mp3s of whatever band's hottest now). On diallup, it'd take me over a week's worth of evenings per episode anyway.

[Nute Gunray]

Originally posted by Flying Beastie

I'm in Canada

 

In the US, they've only run two episodes of it on TV, like, ever.

[Commander 598]

(they had to drop Gundam Wing after a couple of years of reruns to make room for it).

 

I don't even want to think about how long it would take Canada to start airing Gundam SEED. If they decide to run Inuyasha to the end of the series, you can look forword to probably two years of it, and its still incomplete in Japan(I think).

[Jabba The Hunt]

I watched ghost in the shell with one of my housemates the other night, was really cool (had never watched anime before). Im looking out for akira to watch that.

[Flying Beastie]

They're making a spinoff series (in Japan, natch) from Ghost called Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex. About damn time.

 

Yeah 598, I think InuYasha is still ongoing; just last year the third movie (The Sword of World Conquest, part of the InuYasha/Sesshoumaru arc) came out. The first movie (A Love That Transcends Time, a Kikyo/InuYasha/Kagome story) is only now being dubbed --for a possible theatrical release! Yeah, the theatrical release'll probably never hit Canada, but it's something, anyway.

 

FYI, the second movie (The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass) is part of the Naraku arc. Hopefully there'll be a fourth to focus on Sango/Miroku hijinks.

 

Unfortunately, YTV doesn't seem to have the rights to anything after ep 52 (with InuYasha's "Lady Macbeth" scene). We reached than nearly a month ago, and they've been in repeats ever since. Last week they showed G.I. Joe The Movie in its place, and this week is Transformers The Movie.

 

We may not be getting new eps until the US has finished their hundred-or-so (Cartoon Network recently purchased eps 53-151 [i think it was]). Canada never gets animé until the US networks have squeezed everything they can out of it, so we may be waiting a while.

 

And yeah, what I've seen of Gundam SEED looks awesome.

 

Originally posted by Nute Gunray

In the US, they've only run two episodes of it on TV, like, ever.

Really? I thought they were on CN at some point.

[Nute Gunray]

Originally posted by Flying Beastie

Really? I thought they were on CN at some point.

 

CN ran it in Australia, but that was it. We'll get our Evangelion movie in a few years, chock full of WETA digital effects, but that won't ever air on CN because of the part where its live action.

[Commander 598]

SEED, seems to show just a little more detail than they ever showed before.

 

Example: Notice the movement in the cockpit when the Strike first stands up. I'm sure that answers some questions.

 

The line between good and bad is very blurry. On one hand, you have the Earth Alliance, who started the war with the "Bloody Valentine Incident", and ZAFT, almost entirely made up of Coordinators, who seems to be the bad guys of the series.

 

 

And what the hell is with the "Masked Villains"(Who are amazingly good pilots) in the Gundam series? We've got Char Aznable, Zechs Marquise, and now Rau Le Creuset.(I'm smelling a hairy French hand in this....)

[Rogue Nine]

Yes, but Char and Zechs were awesome. Raww is a nutbag. You'll see.

[Flying Beastie]

I like the masked pilots. It's a neat little "parallel universe" touch. You know there's always going to be one.

 

The first time I saw Zechs, I called him a Breetai wannabe (Breetai being the one-eyed Zentraedi leader in Robotech, who eventually trades in his cyborg eye-patch for a full helmet in Sentinels).