February 03, 2009

Ah! My Buddha -- ships

I just received the shipment notice for my copy of the first DVD of Ah! My Buddha! It's an unguilty pleasure, a pleasant fan service show with no pretensions to greatness. Pity it wasn't a full-season boxed set like I had somehow deceived myself as thinking it would be, but four episodes is good enough for now.

Due Thursday.

It might be about time for me to put together another order. Season 8 of DBZ came in, which is part of my least favorite arc, the Majin Buu story, but there it is. And I'm trying to convince myself to try out Ouran High School Host Club.

I'm also trying to convince myself that the Negima remake could be better than the first attempt was ("better" being defined as "more fan service" and "more Evangeline"). I bought one DVD of the first series and was thoroughly disappointed. How in hell can you have a series based on a manga by Ken Akamatsu, featuring a girls' high school, and not have any damned fan service in it? I dunno, but that's what they did the first time.

The first series was done by Xebec, and the second one was done by SHAFT. SHAFT, for all their faults, at least know how to draw pretty girls.

Another show I've considered taking a risk on is a Nabeshin show: Nerima Daikon Brothers. As always, Nabeshin has a self-insert, and from what I've read this one is more Excel Saga and less Tenchi Muyo: GXP. By which I mean more goofiness, less plot and characterization. But it could still be fun. (And it's only 12 episodes, so the joke doesn't get stretched too far.)

And I'm pretty sure I'm going to try one season of Yu Yu Hakusho, and then decide whether to keep following it.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 02:35 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 307 words, total size 2 kb.

1 I don't know if I'd recommend Ouran (and not just because you, y'know, hate recommendations). It's witty, to be sure. If you're okay with (a lot of ) implied homosexuality, you may enjoy it.

I have former co-workers who still curl up into a ball and whimper a little at the mention of Nerima Daikon Brothers. ;p

I've been thoroughly disappointed with the anime adaptations of Akamatsu manga since Love Hina. For whatever reason, they never get his character designs quite right...

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at February 03, 2009 03:58 PM (pWQz4)

2 Ouran is on my list for an obligation buy, but I've been putting it off. Not much rewatch value to me, but worth the once-through.   As I say on my anime page, it's a surprisingly deep study of the people around Haruhi Fujioka.  The art's not great, and the style's heavily "affected" and the early episodes aren't that good, until Range appears.  (Very underused supporting character with the best entrance ever.)

The strength of the story is in its characters, and how Haruhi affects them.  Unfortunately, the presumed main romantic interest for her is an idiot savant, and the story suffers as a result.  If he and the Shadow King had been full equals, it would have been an entirely different show.

Posted by: ubu at February 03, 2009 04:19 PM (rMbvC)

3

I have former co-workers who still curl up into a ball and whimper a little at the mention of Nerima Daikon Brothers.

Why? What was wrong with it?

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 03, 2009 05:07 PM (+rSRq)

4 It's a musical, Steven.  And not a particularly good one, at that.

I liked the first few episodes of Negima!?, but it sort of left me feeling eh past that.  No particular reason, but everything sort of fell flat for me.  YMMV, of course, but there was something (Negi) that just (Negi) didn't (Negi) feel (Negi) right (Negi) with it (NegiNegiNegiNegiNegi).

Asuna, on the other hand, I liked.

(fnord)

Posted by: Wonderduck at February 03, 2009 05:32 PM (sh9fy)

5

Well, if it really was a musical, that must have made the dub fun. I can see how that could have been traumatic.

I knew it was about musicians, but didn't know it was a musical.

As to Negi, I was unimpressed with him in the first series, too. But I figure that once the Evangeline story arc begins it would all get better. Only I didn't get that far the first time.

As to Ouran, part of why I think I should try it is because it's a reverse harem with a reverse trap main character. The only reverse harem I've ever seen was Fruits Basket, and I suspect that wasn't typical. And I don't think I've ever seen a reverse trap.

Plus it has a reputation for being witty. And I remember that in the heyday of Melancholy that occasionally I'd see someone say, "The true Haruhi is the one in Ouran." Or words to that effect.

So I'm curious. Yeah, gay bishies, but I gather they're objects of ridicule, so maybe that part is OK.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 03, 2009 05:55 PM (+rSRq)

6 Ah, about Nerima Daikon Brothers:  The six words that guaranteed I would get NOwhere near it were "Rocket-powered butt-seeking enema machine."

Talk about CYA time....

Posted by: ubu at February 03, 2009 11:26 PM (rMbvC)

7

That does sound like Nabeshin's sense of humor.

I do think I'm going to skip that one.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at February 03, 2009 11:55 PM (+rSRq)

8 I'd bet you a shiny dollar that nothing about the members of the Ouran Host Club is what it seems.

Posted by: toadold at February 04, 2009 07:15 AM (zcbXo)

9 The way Nabeshin lampooned Koreans with their New Wave and plastic surgeries was pretty bold, and actually funny. But the anime musical is not the same thing as Broadway musical. I checked it out just to see how it worked. It didn't.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at February 04, 2009 08:39 AM (/ppBw)

10 The joke in Nerima is worn thin by pretty much the point when the second episode starts. I do think the first episode is brilliant, and that the show would probably have made a great OAV, but the concept (nor the music budget) doesn't stretch to a full TV show.

As far as Negima!? goes, you may want to check out the recently released Spring/Summer OAV double pack before the TV version - seeing some of the first volume of the Xebec season should have informed you enough to understand what's going on, and given that those episodes are beach and onsen-centric, there's no shortage of fanservice. It should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect from an Akiyuki Shinbo directed Negima as well, though it's not really !? series canon as such.

They aren't as good as the recent Negima Ala Alba OAV series either, but that's largely because Ken Akamatsu has actually be writing on those. Bodes well for the rumoured third series.

Posted by: DiGiKerot at February 04, 2009 11:15 AM (UNZ2Z)

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