Yay, a meme!

• What anime are you watching now?

None. I again tried watching Lucky Star last night but just didn't get into it. Tomorrow my copy of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha will be delivered, but as for today not really anything.

• What is your favourite time to watch?

When I'm not asleep.

• And your favourite place?

I always watch on my computer. (I don't have a TV.)

• Who is your favourite auteur?

No one really springs to mind. Nabeshin, maybe. Or the guy who directed Shingu. But there isn't anyone who has a string of shows that I like all of.

Well, Toriyama, yeah, but except for him.

• Your favourite OST?

I don't do that. But if I did it probably would be the music for Tenchi Muyo: GXP.

• What is the most difficult anime you’ve ever watched?

Serial Experiments Lain. But it was worth it.

• What was the first anime you remember watching?

Lensman. I was a big fan of the novels, and my girl friend bought me the video tape. (What I got wasn't any 107 minutes long, and it didn't really have a good ending, so I think it may have been the first episode of the TV series rather than the movie.)

• Do you have a comfort show that you re-watch?

Dragon Ball Z.

• What is the most erotic anime you’ve watched?

Not anything I've ever been interested in. I've bought a few hentai DVDs, but found them more gross than anything.

• Which classic should you have watched?

Nothing really springs to mind.

• Which series did you never want to end?

I want them all to end. Part of why I like anime is that so many of the series have real series-level stories with genuine endings.

• What is your most overrated anime?

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu

• Which character could you have an affair with?

You're joking, right?

• Who is your favourite character?

Vegita (DBZ)

• Which character do you most dislike?

Jinnai in El Hazard: The Wanderers. Closely followed by Hanagata in Saber Marionette.

• Which character do you identify with most?

Not really any.

• Which anime changed your life?

You really are joking, right?

UPDATE: Wonderduck joins the crowd.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 01:46 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
Post contains 382 words, total size 3 kb.

1 I am a fan of the Lensman books, but I've heard the anime is terrible. Do you still like the books? They do not seem to be the sort of thing you look for in anime.

I think it is possible for anime to change a life. After all, certain of the written works of Denbeste, Kipling and Ringo were major influences in my choosing to go to engineering school, which might prove to be a life changing experience. So, it should be possible, but I doubt it would be common enough that it can just be assumed yes in a meme.

Posted by: PatBuckman at December 03, 2008 04:05 PM (jz8wZ)

2

I do like the books but I don't have my copies any longer, and anyway I no longer do much reading.

I started watching anime when I was 50 and no longer able to work. It's a bit late for anything to be changing my life.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at December 03, 2008 04:33 PM (+rSRq)

3

As to the Lensman anime, I didn't watch it more than once, and that was 20 years ago, but I do remember thinking that it didn't bear more than a slight resemblance to the books. It starred Kinnison, of course, except that he got his lens by being given it by a lensman who was dying because of a crash of his spacecraft.

Which is utterly non-canon. In the books, the lenses are created by the Arisians and every lens is tuned to its owner. If anyone touches a lens they don't own, they are killed instantly, and if the owner of a lense dies, his lens vanishes immediately. That's why everyone is really careful about using insulating gloves or tongues when handling someone else's lens.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at December 03, 2008 04:44 PM (+rSRq)

4 What I saw of it felt like Shounen Green Lantern Corps, with names taken from the Lensmen novels.

-j

Posted by: J Greely at December 03, 2008 05:27 PM (9Nz6c)

5

I did a bunch of typos in there. That should have been "tongs", not "tongues".

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at December 03, 2008 06:04 PM (+rSRq)

6 Steven

My copies are from a fairly recent printing. While checking the dates, I was suprised to see that they were published ten years ago. Some of the Skylark books have been reprinted more recently.

Those issues you mention with the adaptation were part of what I'd heard of that made me put it in my 'terrible, avoid' category.

Oddly enough, I had a similar thought about it being a bit late in life for me to experience a life changing event from an anime alone. In my case, it is more of a situation where I had read much before seeing my first anime, which was Dragonball Z. Having continued reading since, it seems very unlikely that an anime alone could contain data that would significantly alter my perspective. However, as I am a wet behind the ears punk, it is very likely that actual life experiences will have an effect.

Is the reason you are no longer reading so much because of the issues relating to your early retirement, or is it because you don't care for the new reading material?

I didn't notice the typoes, partly because I knew exactly what you were talking about.

Posted by: PatBuckman at December 03, 2008 06:08 PM (jz8wZ)

7 J Greely,
I read somewhere that Green Lantern tends to match the Maho Shoujou magic warrior formula pretty well. I've also read that Bleach does too. Of course, Green Lantern and Star Wars can both be seen as being knock offs of Lensmen.

On the other hand, it would have been really hard to do an adaption good enough for the fans of the original. Add on top of that the language barrior, and the unfortunate for the Japanese market metaphors that would develop out of the planet busters...

Posted by: PatBuckman at December 03, 2008 06:17 PM (jz8wZ)

8 I've read the Lensmen series myself, and like ( I think ) everyone else here, heard that the anime was atrocious.  That also one of the most blatant rip-offs ( from the silver age Green Lantern ) I've heard of.

Just my opinion, but I think Lensmen was superior to Skylark, even if Skylark had one of the best cinematic villains ever. . .

Posted by: metaphysician at December 03, 2008 07:19 PM (h4nEy)

9 I can claim that anime changed my life, though it's more like "completely rerouted it"...

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at December 03, 2008 08:46 PM (7TgBH)

10 Second that note about the Skylark villain.  He was just a bit more than ordinary in the first book, but he developed excellently. What made him so good. was that he wasn't in it for fame, fortune, riches, or avarice.

He was out for the betterment of mankind... un-encumbered by anything resembling a scruple.  If he chose to be a mass murderer, it was highly selective, like in Death Note.  And if he chose not to be, well, it was because he didn't want to kill just for the sake of killing.

Even trying to kill the heroes was just because they were in the way.  He started his despotic rule by ending violent crime -- not because it was a good thing to do (albeit without trial or jury), but just because it was good press and a way to start off his rule on a positive note.

  I especially enjoyed his method for dealing with the world's navies.

Posted by: ubu at December 03, 2008 10:21 PM (i4ujc)

11 Avatar, that's because it's your job. Not the same.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at December 03, 2008 10:28 PM (+rSRq)

12 It might come off as a rip off of silver age green lantern in part because silver age green lantern was partly a rip off of the source material. This is the price of being one of the early defining works of a genre. Almost everything Space Opera is inspired, at least in part, by Doc Smith on some level

In regards to Death Note, I think the anti-villain of that is an idiot. Sure, I'll grant the idea that if certain individuals were dead, the world would be improved, but his ability to identify them is dubious at best. The author saying, 'oh, he is a genius and did his research' is crud and a cop out. The author's statements about what made the killing magic usable on a mass scale are much more valid for Japan then for the third world, where consumer electronics are rarer and the kelptocrats may be difficult to distingush from the true leaders. This also neglects the issues of people who already conceal their true name to avoid having magic done with it, the difficulty of getting away with using a camera if bodyguards consider it akin to a gun, and what the United States would do to avoid being dictated to. Blackie and Doc Smith were much brighter, in my outrageously arrogent opinion.

Speaking of Skylark, if you like Blackie , you might want to read Ryk Spoor's Grand Central Arena when it comes out.

Posted by: PatBuckman at December 04, 2008 07:51 AM (jz8wZ)

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