Spring 2010 First Impressions (Part 2)
You can find Part 1 of the Spring 2010 review here (it includes the rating system as well).
Kiss X Sis = Facepalm
I’m torn: Should I just put a big *sigh* here as an explanation or should I go into painful details about why I’m dropping this show after the first episode? I guess I should probably say something.
This show is incredibly panderivative.
i.e. pandering + derivative = panderivate = a show that panders to it’s audience derivatively.
Example Sentence: Did you watch that incredibly panderivative show Kiss X Sis?
Other Meanings: 2: The objectification of all the female members of a cast. 3: A Show that does not have a soul.
[Aside: Pure Unadulterated Joy = The moment Dustin realized he could combine the words Pander and Derivate into(PanDer)ivative]
Did you spot the Tengen Toppen Gurren Lagann moments? How about the ending dance? Did you feel anything for the characters, or, were you just indulging some kind of fantasy realizing (with great intensity) that none of these characters were human at all?
It’s like the mangaka got in a room and said: How can I sell these characters without actually doing any work on an interesting plot, setting, characters, or anything else.
A Producer: “I know” says he. “Why not just rip off everything else including making it an incestuous h scenario while maintaining that it is not technically incest and not actually including any h!”
Rooms Consensus: Brilliant, let’s not do any work!
(The room wanders off to play Vampire Wars for the next 9 weeks before the ten week deadline)
If others can derive pleasure from order cheap tabs this in some way I don’t fault you; take whatever you can from the show and call me a loony. However, I feel like I would be watching this show for all of the wrong reasons making it my first official drop of the season.
Arakawa Under the Bridge = Waku Waku
This show is going to be a really good balance for the shows I’m already excited about. It feels a bit like Bakemonogatari (thanks to Araragi-kun voicing the protagonist and the Shaft-esque imagery/unique exposition) which originally made me believe it was written by Nisio Isin, but dialogues and pace clearly indicated a non-Isin work (which I confirmed later on Anime News Network. Apparently this was written by one Hikaru Nakamura). I found it highly enjoyable for its sameness yet notable differences (I just reread this sentence and loled purchase cheap pills href=”http://antibioticsordrer.com”>zithromax buy online so I’m keeping it). The characters presented so far are unique and One-Dimensional in so far as their character motivations. This leads to quite a bit of humor and of course good old fashioned themes being thrown out already.
I was in love from the moment Kou spat forth his monologue of complete buy cheap acomplia independence. It’s a good hyperbole for a movement here in America (and other places I’m sure) of going back to the wild (hippies and other self-reliance stuff s.a. Thoreau’s “Self Reliance”). The ideality of Self Reliance isn’t wrong, but taken to such an extreme is just silly. One of the points of the opening was to show us how isolated online drugstore he was for never depending on others. Letting people help you helps build relationships, but asking for help too much can also have the reverse affect. In other words balance in all things (non-clingy Co-Dependence). Still I’m excited for the lengths he’ll go to live out the mantra “I will not be indebted to anyone”. I guess that’s what makes it an interesting story (i.e. interesting characters). I think this will be a nice intellectual/humorous (satirical) balance to Angel Beats!’s heavy and philosophical delivery of its messages. I’m looking forward to it.
Some AfterWords
More reviews to come as more stuff comes out. I just wanted to review these while their fresh (and I don’t have any imminent homework deadlines).
Loading ...
5 Comments
I like that – panderivative. Very interesting combination of words. I’ll admit that when I first saw it I looked it up on dictionary.com with some hesitation since I thought it might just be some word that was not in my vocabulary (which I guess is technically true). I’m not really one for watching new shows since I prefer to watch anime in marathon runs usually, but with your comments on some of these new shows (particularly Angel Beats) it looks like I should give it a try.
I couldn’t even sit through the whole Kiss x Sis thing after the first few minutes I just clicked through so I guess I missed any “drill” related references, Arakawa is promising, you can tell its probably going to have a solid and deep message embedded in it unless the studio mails it in or something. Kou just needs to accept he is so hard core about his life philosophy he pretty much deserves to hang out in the good company of other partially insane people like himself.
@azuki panda
Thanks! I was pretty excited about panderivative when it slipped from my fingers last night. Come to think of it, I’m still pretty excited.
On episodic versus marathoning. I actually really respect your ability to hold off on shows and wait to marathon them. It’s true that for shows like Tengen Toppen Gurren Lagann or others that often end on cliff hangers it’s the best course of action to get that overriding story. Admittedly Durarara!! last season would probably have been better marathoned. On the other hand there are shows that beg to be watched episodically like Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu which pretty much said all it wanted to in an episode. It would have gotten incredibly dry watching the same jokes back to back, but somehow having a week to space them out helped it not get stale. There are also the shows like Angel Beats appears to be. Although I do want to see the next episode RIGHT NOW I can appreciate how well it concluded and left a good deal of thinking for me over the week before allowing me to take another bite. I can’t help but feel I would have missed a lot of the particulars of an episode if I just inhaled the entire series content. We’ll see if it continues to be a good episodic show. I’ll probably say more about this in another post (maybe the next Angel Beats! one).
@descent
No drills just imagery (which in my opinion is worse since it feels like plagiarism). For instance the flashing sunglasses wearing dad gives a rousing speech while the back drop cuts away to an exploding volcano. Remind you of anything? I have no problem with people trying to copy some of the interesting stuff Gainax has done, but copying just to avoid coming up with your own stuff is quite a bit different from admiration.
Arakawa is really promising in a few departments. Right now it’s just pointing out that these people are not normal and don’t fit into society, but I have a feeling by the end we’ll feel the worse because we don’t include them. I like shows that support a diversity of character and mind (not something anime has been particularly good at considering the proliferation of the shonen hero).
KissxSis wasnt all that bad, and I wouldn’t say it’s incestuous seeing how they arent related by blood anyways.
Though the OVA’s are enough, I only find myself still watching the series just because I hate dropping shows.
Well, I can understand not dropping shows. I watch a lot of horrible shows sometimes just for something to do that doesn’t require my brain. Kiss X Sis ended up just being too much for me to handle though. I didn’t like what the producers were assuming about me the audience and it didn’t float my boat. Oh well, I’m sure there are worse shows out there and I certainly am a sucker for stuff that’s way more psychotic than this. Ever read the manga Battle Royale? I really liked it even though it’s way more messed up that Kiss X Sis on so many levels.
Still didn’t the teacher in Kiss X Sis just kind of make you angry at the show? She sure did me :P.