DVD Logging

[the_rck]

Across the Universe - I really liked the way the music-- various Beatles songs-- was woven throughout the movie. The songs were well delivered and really fit what was going on in the movie. Sadly, I wasn't much interested in the rest of the movie. I suspect that some of that is that I don't feel any strong connection to the 60s. The rest... I didn't find any mysteries about the characters. They were stuck and trying their best, but they weren't going anywhere. People, in reality, don't necessarily go anywhere. Reality doesn't make good Story most of the time.

So I was looking for something other than what the movie was trying to do, even though I'd gotten it for the soundtrack more than anything else. That doesn't mean that the movie was bad. I can't judge most of it by any criteria but my own taste. In this case, I spent most of my time being impatient for the next song.

Aeon Flux 1 - Not my thing. I stopped after one episode. I found the art grotesque (in the where do the characters keep their internal organs sense) and the characters unappealing. I can see that it might interest other people, just not me.

Condor Hero 11-15 - I'm amused. The men's hair blows in the wind while the women's hair remains almost completely still. I guess it's stylish for the guys to have hanks of hair blowing across their faces while women are only allowed wisps.

Now that I know that the untranslated 'Gu Gu' isn't a name but means something like 'aunty,' I'm rather creeped out by the hero continuing to use it to talk about his beloved. (And I'm wondering why the term wasn't translated. Well, probably just one of those things.) I wonder how many times we'll have to watch her run away from the hero and then wander around wishing she was with him?

Where'd the blacksmith come from? Do I need to remember him? Is there a cheat sheet somewhere online that will tell me who all these people are and how they relate to each other?

I think I looked away at the wrong time. I'm not sure where this revenge plot came from. I mean, I get that his father's dead and that-- maybe-- people he's previously trusted killed his father, but if I understand correctly, he's relying on his interpretation of things said by a woman people refer to as 'Crazy Lady' with good reason. My guess is that this is an excuse for more complications and angst. I'm also guessing that our hero doesn't have the full story yet and will have at least one more reversal. At least.

There are at least six DVDs to go, after all. It can't all be new characters.

Full Metal Panic FUMOFFU 1-8 - As we put this in, Scott said, "I wonder if this will still be funny?" The fact that we both had belly laughs within a few minutes answered that question, I think. Scott bought me the boxed set as part of my birthday present, and we've been enjoying it at times when one or both of us isn't up to serious thought. We even argued about which episode might work to introduce the series to a friend. (Sadly, we suspect that the whole thing is a lot funnier if you've watched at least a bit of the first season so that you know who Sosuke is and why he's there and who everybody else is. Otherwise, it's not nearly as funny. There's too much WTF? involved.)

Bonta-kun is great fun, and Scott wants to join a game in which he can play a character based on Sosuke. Maybe some day I'll have the spoons to oblige him with a campaign.

Fullmetal Alchemist 1-4 - This is my third or fourth assault on this series. I do want to watch it. In theory. In practice, I keep thinking that I should watch something less likely to depress me or that maybe a CD or a nice game of solitaire will be easier. I suspect that I'd have an easier time watching it in company. Maybe I just need to schedule an episode or two a week and stick to that.

Those who've watched Fullmetal Alchemist, what do you love (or hate) about it? Why should I watch it or not watch it?

Kaleido Star 1-5 - Girl from Japan comes to the U.S. to join something that seems to be the equivalent of Cirque de Soleil. I was busy with other things, so I watched the dub. That was uninspired but not awful (I might feel differently if I'd watched with the Japanese track first). There's an added wrinkle in that there's a bizarre spirit that only she can see and hear who tells her she's destined to be a star. The guy in charge of the company is one of those mysterious lurkers who never comes out and says what he's planning but who obviously has Plans.

There's stage politics and cliques, but it's all very light. The main character also faces people making weird assumptions about the Japanese ("Everyone in Japan has a black belt, right?"). There's a lot about hard work, friendship and perseverance. The preview for episode 6 boggled me and Scott a little bit because it looks like it's about the main character adopting a seal pup and bringing it back to her dorm.

Lupin the 3rd: Crisis in Tokyo - A fairly typical Lupin movie. Half the time, I had no clue what was going on with the plot, but I didn't need to know. I just had to enjoy the chases and the disguises and the double and triple crosses. I was amused by the fact that Jigen and Goemon both were working at a lot less than their best, the former due to a toothache and the latter due to having lost his sword. I felt bad for Inspector Zenigata. He had hopes of getting the girl, and I'd have liked to see it happen. I guess I have a soft spot for him.

Mushi-shi 1-4 - I half liked this and half hated it. The hate side is that it's episodic and tilted toward horror. The like side is that the mythology is fascinating. The pieces fit together well, little pieces of a much bigger picture. I might like this series better in a different mood and almost certainly would if I weren't watching it with Scott. I think he was both bored and put off by the horror elements.

Prince of Tennis 14-21 - I'm obviously missing some important bit of psyche for appreciating sports anime/manga. I find myself more in sympathy with the Fudomine team in this arc (and did in the manga, too). I like the Seigaku characters, but there's something appealing about the Fudomine backstory. I also can't seem to track the characters as individuals.

I do also keep wondering how these superpowers can be used to fight crime. ::laughs::

Rush Hour 3 - I couldn't watch large chunks of this movie because I can't watch embarrassment comedy. Going by the bits I did watch (and by Scott's comments), this one is much the same as the other two in the series. Lots of comedy (just not my type of comedy) and lots of action. I remain hugely impressed by Jackie Chan, both on and off screen.

Scrapped Princess 13-24 - I think Scott enjoyed this series. It held up fairly well to a rewatch. I remain annoyed by the Furet arc which seems to exist largely to fill up space. Leo gains a little bit of maturity from it, but otherwise, it's mainly about having time pass to get closer to Pacifica's birthday.

The first time I watched this series, I thought the timing was off in the last few episodes, but I think I was wrong. (Actually, I think I concluded that after watching the last episode the first time. I was just a little cranky about other things then.) It still feels a little off while I'm watching but not exactly. I can't explain it properly.

Stellvia 1-4 - Space/mecha pilot training anime. I got this from the library on a whim. It was okay but didn't really catch my attention. Of course, it's not a genre that ever really does catch me strongly unless it has an unusual twist. I may try more if I see it on the shelf, but I don't know that I'll seek it out. It wasn't bad, just not very interesting to me.

Walk the Line - This is another movie where I love the soundtrack but am not so much about the movie. Not that the movie was objectively bad. I'm just not interested in the journey to rock bottom and back or in bio-pics in general. The performance scenes were great. I'd have watched an entire movie of nothing else quite happily (and I curse the DVD extras which didn't include any music or performance scenes. Bah. Stop giving me lots of things I don't want).

I will say, if reality was anything like what the movie showed, Cash's first wife was absolutely right to pack up the kids and go. If I were her, I'd probably have gone sooner. I didn't get the impression that the film tried to demonize her or blame her, and I appreciated that.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Condor Hero: Yeah, he was a little too quick to jump on the revenge bandwagon, especially given who told him the story. In all honesty, he keeps trying at it, but his heart is never in it. He wants to want revenge, but it's more excuse than anything else. Part of it is that his father was evil and ruled by pride, and he's supposed to be overcoming his genetics.

Unfortunately, the show never really does that great a job of explaining all the backstory of Legend of the Condor Heroes...it cut out a lot of the non-romance part of the plot. Which is a pity, because the parts I liked best were the fallous from Legend of the Condor Heroes.

[the_rck]

I did notice that the actor looked decidedly unenthusiastic about getting into the revenge business. There was passion lacking. I had decided that it was deliberate characterization because he seems to be pretty good at portraying the character. (Of course, I always wonder. Any actor can have an episode of phoning it in, life being what it is.)

I also keep wondering why the subtitles consistently call the hero Yang Gor when I can distinctly hear 'Yang Guo.' Should I put that down as one of those weird things done by subtitlers who don't know English all that well or are they trying to distinguish his name from his father's or with someone else's? I seem to recall that his father's name was the same, but I might be making that up.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

"Yang" is the family name. His father was named Yang Kang. The name thing is...well, they do odd things to the character names in the Taiseng subs.

[the_rck]

I knew that Yang was the family name, but I'd somehow gotten the impression that they had the same personal name. I'm not sure how I got that impression. Of course, I've been having a lot of confusion about the names, titles, etc. It's about as bad as it was when I first started watching anime (worse, actually, because then I had people watching with me who already knew the conventions and forms of address).

[marith.livejournal.com]

FMA: I cannot deny that this one is intense and sometimes depressing (watch out for episodes 7 and 25). But I was hooked from the beginning by Ed and Al and their unshakeable determination and love. And the overarching themes are ones that particularly appeal to me:

The first one (for me, anyway) is Consequences. Every action the characters take has consequences, and they interact and cascade forward just like in the real world. There are no get-out-of-doom-free plot cards because this is an anime, or because something happened 30 episodes ago and nobody will remember. This should be depressing, but it's not somehow. The characters face the consequences of their actions and deal with them, and in so doing they grow up.

The second major theme of FMA for me is Family. Almost every character in the huge cast, including the villains, has people who they consider their family (biological or not) and who they care about deeply. These emotional connections are what drives them forward for the most part. Characters who lose these connections, or who can't form them, are not so good at the staying sane.

Watching the characters form and keep these connections is what makes watching FMA an enjoyable experience for me. Hughes is probably the ultimate example, but there are many others. (Also, FMA has the largest number of Really Cool Women of any story I know. Far and away.)

---

Um. Mushi-shi: Episode 2 is the creepiest one in the whole lot, as far as I can remember. If you could handle that, the rest will not be as much like horror. And the pieces do continue to fit together beautifully. (I love Ginko so much!)

--

Kaleido Star: Your reaction to the first few episodes is pretty much the same as mine; I enjoyed it, but it felt very Typical Shoujo. But I'm very glad I stuck with it! The plot gets much more interesting in another few episodes, and much less predictable. The performance stunts the characters create get more spectacular - I was on the edge of my seat nearly as much as the audience for some of them. Layla evolves from the Bitchy Diva stereotype into a character I ended up really liking. And the "legendary great maneuver", which is only revealed in the final episode, turned out to be almost as cool as the Fool sprite thinks it is.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

I want to second marith's comments re: FMA, and I vehemently love the interactions between the characters, good and bad. There is so much fun stuff there, although I do remember the first few episodes feeling a bit forced. Stick with it--at least watch a few episodes with Riza Hawkeye in them--she's the best, and it will pay off.

[the_rck]

I've been reading the manga. I've read the first 15 volumes (and v.16 is waiting at the library for me to pick it up today or tomorrow). I think that it's a lot harder for me to watch things than to read them. I can't speed up or slow down or skim when watching. I either look and listen or I don't. Watching is also a bigger investment of time.

Then again, in the fall, I'll have more watching time for things that aren't Delia safe... I won't have to squeeze them all in between 9 and 11 p.m. or work around when Scott wants to watch something else.

[the_rck]

For Mushi-shi-- Does it stay episodic or does it develop some arc?

I'll try more Kaleido Star, I think. It seems quite Delia safe, and that's always a plus. Not that I watch much when she's around, but I like to have the option. I do keep thinking that the various stunts would impress me a lot more in live action (because I love watching that sort of thing).

As to FMA, I plan to persevere. It just may take me years. The manga is easier because the installments are shorter (15-30 minutes a volume, one volume at a time) and because there's less temptation to try to do something else while I read than there is while I watch. The temptation to do other things while watching becomes stronger when the subject matter is more anxiety inducing. I kind of suspect, though, that my anxiety may overshadow the quality of the anime even once I get further in and may keep me from engaging with the story or the characters. I like consequences. I like seeing characters make choices, change, cling to the parts of themselves that they value, and so on. I just can't always watch/read it.

[marith.livejournal.com]

Mushishi stays episodic. Some episodes tell you more about things (Ginko's backstory, the Mushishi mail service) but each one stands alone.

Alas, by the 4th DVD of Kaleido Star, really interesting things are happening. But if you skip it, the missing plot is not too difficult to figure out. It isn't a particularly subtle series. :) And I bet Delia will like Jonathan the pet seal way more than I did!

(I was also kind of irked by the beware-the-glowing-screen warning before every single episode. But my friends explained to me it's an artifact of a short-lived scandal. Apparently one show around that time period had visual effects that caused seizures or migraines in a small number of viewers. For a while after that all anime makers were hypercareful.)

[the_rck]

Drat. I've just discovered that Netflix lacks the fourth DVD (out of six) of Kaleido Star. ::growls:: This is the third recent series that this has happened to me on. They tend not to replace missing anime volumes either.

How much will I miss if I skip 4-5 episodes in the middle?

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

WORD on your comments about Aeon Flux. I hated that cartoon for years, because it was so. frikkin'. ugly. Also, everyone thought it was anime, in the days before anime was more widely known.

Yeah... Rush Hour 3 is about the same as the others. Jackie Chan still rocks my world. :)

[the_rck]

Have you read Jackie Chan's autobiography? I recommend it. He's obviously deeply conflicted about his childhood training. He considers it to have been abusive, but he also thinks that people trained more kindly simply aren't as good. I don't recall the autobiography talking about his charity work, but I'm impressed by that, too.