Anime Fun

[dangermousie]

katranna, try not to faint, but I watched some anime today.

First, we finally unwrapped the Rurouni Kenshin, the series DVDs I bought a long time ago for Husband and watched the first ep. I quite liked it (probably because the girl was bossy), if not enough to obsess over it. Enough not to run screaming from the room when Husband watches it though. Of course, it wasn't nearly as fun as trying to figure out which of the three sets were the first part because they were labelled only in Japanese. It took a while in trial and error.

The best part of the whole thing was this disclaimer on the back. Trust me, I am quoting word for word, letter for letter:

"All rights of producler and of the owner reprodducde reserved vnavthrisd copying huring lending pubfdrmace and broad casting of this recroing is prohibted."

Indeed.

Also, I finally decided to give it a try and rented Escaflowne the movie from HV. Plot: Hitomi is a Japanese schoolgirl thrown into the world of Gaea, to save or destroy the world. It's visually astounding, and Van is actually quite a cute and angsty hero, but the story makes little sense because it has all these characters and spends about a minute on each. Also, Folken the Baddie makes me want to give him prozac. Why would you want to destroy the world when you are hot, have power, a cool flying castle and a hot chick willing to die with you? Moreover, the heroine Hitomi made an average Mary Sue look good. All she does is whine and cling to poor Van, who seems a nice enough guy with enough trouble in his life without having a clingy useless girl always weeping on him. The most (unintentionally) hilarious moment of bonding? Van tells Hitomi how he just wants to die because:
a. his people have been wiped out and he is the last one left
b. he is doomed to always fight alone
c. he only lives to kill his brother who is the evil baddie.
To which Hitomi chirps in with how they are kindred spirits and she knows exactly how he feels because she is a 15 year old prosperous schol-girl suffering from boredom and ennui (in case you can't tell, I added the last part).
Also, because of this jumping around of plots, they meet one second, he is annoyed at her for a minute or two, next he rescues her from badddies, they have almost no other interaction, and then all of a sudden she is his reason for living and salvation of the world. Of course, she talks him off the ledge so to speak, by promising to always be with him, only to disappear in a flutter of wings at the end. Which was supposed to make me weep but only made me ROFL because:
a. way to make the guy feel better. He is just going to go hunting for another set of destroy-the-world armor and
b. She was so annoying that it's probably a favor to Van and
c. Can you get any more Mary Sue?



Rurouni Kenshin Kenshin and Kaoru. Gosh, I wish I knew which hair products they use:




Escaflowne:

Sexy Van who is way too built to angst much:


Folken, who wants the world to end so it won't have to witness his hideous hairdo:


Allen, whoever he is. He was in for a minute, but I have a weakness for blondes. Even cartoon ones:


Van and Mary Sue Hitomi, in a 12-year old's fantasy that the world does revolve around you:

Comments

[katranna.livejournal.com]

Escaflowne the movie sucks. :-P Didn't I warn you?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

You did. But it's so pretty pretty pretty. But it's like David Lynch doing anime. Cool looking and making no sense.

[katranna.livejournal.com]

To elaborate:

1. In the series, Hitomi is refreshingly un-annoying. At least to me (she might still be somewhat annoying by western standards, but have you watched any Sailor Moon?) She starts out a bit uneven in the first episode, but gains poise and maturity as the series goes on. Even so, in the first episode, she saves Van from a dragon and refuses to be intimidated by him or talked down to. Oh, and she's a tomboy student athlete, not an emo depressive. (And I like the fact that she's not particularly pretty, just kinda average looking.)



2. Van, sadly, while just as angsty, actually looks like a 15 year old boy. Ie, skinny and adolescent. And he's not suicidal either, just kind of angry and sullen.



3. Allen plays a much more important role as the object of Hitomi's affections. (It's a love triangle type thing.) And he has a LOT of backstory. And he wears poufy shirts and we all laught at him.

4. Folken is... just as angsty. And still has a silly hairdo. (He's David Bowie.) But he doesn't have any magical singing chick.

The movie is gorgeously animated, of course. The tv series is also lovely, but has a rather weirder style (less realistic). Anyway, hmm. I should try to get the tv series on DVD. I should've put it on my Christmas list, dammit. You're forbidden to watch the series without me (even though the movie has probably not made you want to). I want to see it with you over break!

After ditching me re: Narnia, you owe me. ;-)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Awww, Van isn't cute. *is shallow*

Darn.

I'll watch the series with you. Heck, considering I just ff through "The Wedding Date," I'll clearly watch anything :P

[goddess09807.livejournal.com]

Hey You.

Tried RK but never got into it. Agree with previous poster that Esca the movie sucks. Try to find and buy the series 'cause they rock! I did start off not really liking Hitomi but she grows on you. Van, is still one of my top ten boyfriends. Love him so much.

Anyway hi! and bye. Have to catch some zzz's 'cause school tommorow. i hate school, this whole weekend I've done nothing but AP work.

5 days until 16th b'day, 14 days until christmas!

bye ;)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Almost happy birthday! :)

[aliterati.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, watch the series, watch the series, watch the series.

Series Folken = god.

Movie Folken = David Bowie impersonator.

Not a fair exchange.

[katranna.livejournal.com]

Though God still has a mullet:

[aliterati.livejournal.com]

Excuse me, David Bowie does not own the mullet.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Series Folken = god.

Movie Folken = David Bowie impersonator.

ROTFLOL.

I think all his angst was about the dread hair.

[thekatebeyond.livejournal.com]

Kenshin gets Way. More. Addictive. The early episodes are kind of simple, but the storyline gets heavier as it goes along.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oooh, icon!

[thekatebeyond.livejournal.com]

A whole bunch of icons! (http://www.livejournal.com/users/kate98/10097.html)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks :)

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

Escaflowne. Series. So. Much. Better.

While Allen has a much hotter character design in the movie, he was more interesting and angsty in the series. And the poofy shirts cause much laughing.

And series Folken...I. Love. Him. He knows he's doing bad, but he thinks it's for the right reasons. Very Anakin in that respect. Yes, he has a purple mullet and a metal arm, but you FORGIVE HIM, bizarrely enough.

Series Van is a sweetheart in that cute 15 year old "I have no clue what I'm doing" way.

[katranna.livejournal.com]

I think I'm one of the few people who's not ga-ga over Folken. I mean, I liked him enough. It's not like I had anything against him--I enjoyed him as a character. But I just never thought he was as spectacular as everyone else seems to have.

I guess I was too busy adoring Dilandau. I'm a one-man woman. ;-)

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

Folken had to grow on me. I didn't like him at first in the series, but he became my favorite really quick. I've found the fans of Escaflowne end up picking one of the guys and not being too wild about any of the other ones. I guess it's just which one appeals to the fan. Folken's quiet, serious way won me over.

I'm a one-man woman.

Or a one-manwoman woman. LOL.

[katranna.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I knew you'd say that. ;-) well, I knew you'd think that, but I hoped you wouldn't say that, considering it's a spoiler!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

But I knew that spoiler anyway. Remember, me=spoiler whore.

[katranna.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but you have other readers...

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Agreed with everything e.g. not caring much for Folken, loving my Dilly-sama ;)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

has a purple mullet and a metal arm

Ahhh, but does he dye his arm purple to color-coordinate? :P

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

No, the metal arm is thankfully metal looking.

Anime has a long tradition of characters losing limbs. Folken was just fitting in.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Or maybe he was just a huge Star Wars fan? :P

[wasabi-girl1.livejournal.com]

The series of Esca is SO MUCH BETTER than the movie. The movie doesn't really make sense if you haven't seen the series. It's just basically an alternate universe. Definitely see the series. (It's my favourite anime of all time! :D)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I'll get around to watching the series with katranna

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Yeah... what wasabi_girl1 said.

I just wanted to use my icon :)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Pretty!

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Escaflowne can be very pretty :)