There were a couple of animes that I watched while I was away from this blog.

I'll do a brief post for each, likely in the next few days. 

Posted by: Arson55 at 10:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Finally saw it tonight.  And it was pretty good.  I don't know that I enjoyed it quite as much as Thor.  This despite Captain America being better paced, better written and despite it feeling like it had more of a point. The main difference is that whereas Chris Hemsworth was amazing as Thor, Chris Evans was merely good as Steve Rogers.  In nearly every other way Captain America was superior, and yet in the end it just isn't enough.

I will draw particular attention to Peggy Carter being a far more entertaining character than Jane Foster.  That's not the fault of Natalie Portman who I honestly feel was doing well with a character who felt poorly written to me. 

And although I am kind of looking forward to The Avengers…I actually kind of wish that instead Captain America and Thor were actually just getting their own sequels. I think it is entirely too possible that the movie will just be too busy. I do not see any conceivable way that each of the characters can get the treatment they deserve.

Posted by: Arson55 at 09:32 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So, yeah, I got Catherine Tuesday (the same day I picked up Seven Samurai), and I finished it Thursday. 

I have never in my life played a harder game.  Now, I admit, I'm not great at puzzle games, but I have never before felt the need to put a game on easy, which I did for Catherine after stage 3.  On easy, well, most of the regular levels were too simple, being no challenge whatsoever, but a few of the bosses were still fairly difficult.  But once I had it on easy I stayed consistently right at 99 retries remaining.  I wish that there would have been a difficulty setting between easy and normal. 

Story wise, I enjoyed the game.  I identified with the main character mainly because of one thing; neither of us really have much drive in our lives.  I don't want to go all emo again, like I was the last time I put posts up on this blog, because that's really not me.  But the game did make me somewhat sad about the direction of my own life, since I think the odds of a supernatural event convincing me to finally start to make the effort to get my life moving is relatively low.  However, as much as I enjoyed the story overall, I was a little dissatisfied with the way that things shook down with the ending I got.  Mostly, certain revelations came out of nowhere with little provocation, and things just kinda fell into place in odd ways.  I don't want to say much more than that as to avoid spoilers, since I really do recommend the game for those who can handle the frustrations of it's absurd difficultly.  And despite my complaints about how the ending (I wonder how many endings there are in this game--is it just one for each girl or are there more?) came together, it did end in a satisfying place. 

I probably won't play through it all the way again, unless I end up deciding that I have to reclaim my gamer card by going back through and beating it on normal.  I will likely never see any of the other endings.  Like I said, the one I got finished in a satisfying place.  

Posted by: Arson55 at 01:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I just saw that Revolutionary Girl Utena is getting re-released.  The first two box sets are out now, and I'm just going to go ahead and order them.  I'm a little disappointed that it isn't getting a Blu-Ray release since I'm trying to stick to Blu-Ray purchases (although I did get a DVD copy of Seven Samurai the other day).  Still, that is totally awesome.  I mean, I still have all of my DVDs, but still to have new box sets will be totally awesome. 

I'm just babbling, but fuck yeah!  Utena! 

Posted by: Arson55 at 12:50 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I have no idea what I have to say, or what I'm going to talk about.  But, well, I'll figure something out maybe. 

Maybe. 

Posted by: Arson55 at 08:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Don't really have anything to say now, either, just putting some kind of post up.

Posted by: Arson55 at 05:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This is so driving me crazy.  I can't even get enough of a post up to get my thoughts on L and Light up in one post.  Oh well

Spoilery: more...

Posted by: Arson55 at 01:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I actually had no interest in Death Note initially.  It just did not seem that it would be terribly interesting to me.  But my roommate put the Death Note live action movie on in the living room while I was out there.  I was sick at the time, and for some reason my room was making me feel a little claustrophobic, which was a new experience for me, so I just stayed in the living room figuring I would just go to sleep and it would not be an issue.  However, something about the show hooked me, and not only did I stay awake, I watched it largely fascinated.

Death Note is a good anime to be done live action.  There are almost no special effects and none of the big fight scenes that tend to show up in a lot of anime.  The only special effects there are the shinigami, and I thought they were handled very well in the live action.  The actors do a good job with their roles, and I have no complaints there (not even after now having seen the anime also).

Actual observations with spoilers in the next post.

Posted by: Arson55 at 10:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Okay, since I cannot get the longer posts to go up, I'll put it up in smaller pieces.
And no, I don' know why the posts won't go up.  It has to be the crappy internet connection at this house.  There are just some sites that won't work properly.

Next post will be how I got to watching Death Note.

Posted by: Arson55 at 10:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Middle Tier:  And very near the bottom of the middle tier.  I just read Steven den Beste's review, and this is one of the few times I'll agree pretty much whole heartedly with him.

His review: http://denbeste.nu/Chizumatic/reviews/Maburaho.shtml

The show had potential at first, but squandered it with all the issues that he mentioned.  The only thing that saves this show from being bottom tier is Rin.  I do really like her, and she'll probably debut on some later version of my favorite anime females. She is so socially awkward, but she is very sweet.  And though she looks flat when dressed, she's got probably the best figure of the girls in the show.  Kuriko's breasts are larger, not the too huge of some characters or some shows, but still larger than my ideal. 

By the way, I do still want to get those Death Note posts up.

Posted by: Arson55 at 11:52 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And two people are responsible.  Tony Romo and Jason Garrett.  Fuck them both.

Posted by: Arson55 at 09:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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My first Death Note post refuses to go up.  Fortunately I have it saved on my computer.  I'll get it to work eventually.

But this works.

...are you freaking serious?

I do not understand why this post went up, but the Death Note post won't. Is there a timeout or something on the network before the post uploads?  The internet access has been shit at this house the whole time.  That isn't even including the times it has been fucked up completely.  Fuck.

Seriously, this is starting to piss me off.  I'm sure it isn't this site.  It has got to be the crappy internet access as a whole.  I'll try again later.  Maybe I'll have more success.

Posted by: Arson55 at 10:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Middle tier:  Black Cat was a largely entertaining, fun show with enjoyable characters.  But it could have been better than that.  The show simply does not take itself as seriously as its subject matter suggests it should be.  It is too lighthearted for much of what happens.  Not that that means everything necessarily works.  Creed utterly fails as a villain.  He is so far beyond bat-shit insane that he often fails to be a threat.  But he is the main thing that fails.  Otherwise, it is a pretty entertaining show. 

Posted by: Arson55 at 09:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Internet again...sorta.  I tried to post my opinion on Black Cat earlier but failed.  I'll try to rewrite the post later. 

Upcoming posts include (if the internet will oblige):
Black Cat
Death Note (Live Action)
Death Note (Anime)

I do actually have some things to say about each of them so maybe I can actually work up more than my usual half of a paragraph posts.

Posted by: Arson55 at 10:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Thanks to Ubu, I had to find my copy of the Ah My Goddess movie and watch it again. 

I don't have much to say except it is a very pretty show.

Posted by: Arson55 at 12:56 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So I have internet again.  Yay. 

Noein: Middle tier- I enjoyed Noein the whole way through, but nothing stands out as really exceptional except the visuals.  Noein is a very pretty show, and it has, I think, the best looking CG I have seen in an anime. 

Oh, and I like Atori.  He's probably my favorite character.  But even he isn't all that great.  Just a solid show.  Not bad.  Not amazing.

Posted by: Arson55 at 01:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And holy crap are there some nice ladies in this show.  When a girl like Aya is a distant, distant third on the hot girl rating...that's pretty significant.

I'm pretty sure that Maya Natsume and Chiaki will find their way onto my favorite anime females list. 

And Chiaki will stand out.  Maya fits in with the competent and athletic vibe that fills out the top part of the list, but Chiaki is so different.  She's rather gentle and so very sweet.  I liked Bob pretty much from the beginning.  But seeing him and Chiaki makes me like him more.  I understand why Bob would want to be strong for her.  She is so worth it.  Chiaki may find her way sneaking into the upper levels of the list...but then so could Maya.  They are both incredible. 

So far, I'm really enjoying the show.  As with all martial arts shows, you're not allowed to think (it will hurt you brain trying to make sense of it), but I like the characters.  None of them are bad...and like I said two of the girls are amazing. 

Posted by: Arson55 at 08:17 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I just wanted to list my favorite shows again.  Mostly because a couple dropped off the list since the first time I did it.

Rah Xephon- Rah Xephon still tops all with it's amazing relationships.  Wonderful characters and beautifully handled interactions (especially that between Ayato and Haruka) carry this show for me.

Revolutionary Girl Utena-  I like Utena.  Once again the characters stand strong.  Most of them are deep, complex people.  I also like the surreal elements that show up throughout. 

Crest of the Stars- There was some talk at some point of moving Fate Stay Night above this show.  But I can't do that until I give Crest another watch through.  I owe Crest that much for Lafiel's sake if nothing else.

Fate Stay Night- Like all of my top tier shows, the characters and relationships drive this one for me.  The beautiful but painful ending doesn't hurt either. 

Off the top:

8th MS Team-  Don't get me wrong, I still love 8th MS team, and I worry that I'm doing it a disservice.  I really enjoy the love story, but any time they're not together the show just falls a little short.  It certainly has its moments, but I don't think I can keep it in the top any longer.  I think the Middle tier is more clearly its place.

Infinite Ryvius- This show didn't survive the rewatch.  I still think it is a good show, but I didn't get far enough through it this second time to get to the points I really liked.  I know most of the characters are good enough to make it a very enjoyable show, but most of them really don't start that way.  I'll probably give it another shot, but for now it probably stands below some other shows that were in my middle tier when I first watched them.

Posted by: Arson55 at 02:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I actually finished it awhile ago, I just never bothered to put this post up.

Middle Tier: I was almost tempted to put this in my upper tier.  But I think ultimately I just prefer more serious anime, and this just doesn't make the cut.  Don't get me wrong, the show is a lot of fun.  And it dips it's hand into more serious waters, without the laughably inept moments that other lighthearted shows usually have when they try for a serious tone.  At the same time, it doesn't quite reach the point where those moments have the force that they should. 

I guess the main reason I can't get behind this show as a top tier show (other than it just not being serious enough to reach those heights for me) is the main character.  Sure, he's amusing enough, but so are most of the other characters.  But he's just so very inept and clueless most of the time.  Exceedingly so.  He's not Shinji Ikari's level of whiny loser; he actually does buckle down and try.  And he does have a much better attitude than a lot of loser main characters, but most of the times when things get rough he only seems to get out of it because of his natural power as a god hunter or because one of the other more competent characters intervenes. 

Update:  Um, weird...I actually posted this one before my re-list of my top tier shows.  Wonder why it shaped out this way.

Update again:  And now they switch back around...hmm...

Posted by: Arson55 at 02:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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In Don's most recent poll I had to vote Rin, Teletha, and Naomi since they were all nominated by me.  Spoor just missed.  A shame she wasn't in the previous rounds where I had votes to spare.

Update- And with only one vote in the final round, it has to be Lafiel.

I'll just have to hope Rin and Tessa get enough votes from others to give them a good score without me. 

Posted by: Arson55 at 12:48 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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