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01-16-2014, 11:27 PM | #181 |
Yokai trainer
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Alola
Posts: 9,659
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I'm watching Armor Hero, this is so stupid... but i can't look away.
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01-16-2014, 11:45 PM | #182 |
Banned
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Central Minnesota
Posts: 10,390
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GoseiWonder |
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01-28-2014, 12:57 PM | #183 |
Big Bad Wolf.
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Raiding tombs.
Posts: 9,529
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Just watched the first episode of Tekkoki Mikazuki. It was absolutely brilliant. A convoluted mythology, and slapdash pacing don't ultimately hamper such an insane, and fun experience. The first episode is about a boy, his giant robot and a firebreathing one hundred foot long piece of watermelon. Yes, it is just as wonderful as it seems. Especially considering, although spotty, the production values are mostly pretty impressive. I mean sure, it seems to constantly feel like a lost straight to VHS flick from forty years ago, not fifteen, but Inoue and Amemiya blur together a wide range of famous tokusatsu elements and wrap it in this surreal psychedelic haze, creating one nightmare you don't wanna wake up from. Perhaps best of all though, is the giant stuff isn't shit. I've never been much of a fan of the giant toku stuff, yes even Godzilla, I dunno. I know part of tokusatsu's charm is it rises above its inherent cheapness with imagination but I dunno, seeing obviously rubber suits stumble about cardboard buildings on an obvious soundstage is the only time really where no amount of imagination can paint over the cracks because it is just that shit. Here the miniatures are just as obviously miniatures - there is one point where an ultimate weapon is revealed and they make no attempt at all to hide its plasticiness, so it becomes unintentionally laughable - and the cardboard buildings are still obviously cardboard, but the show adds weight and more naturally mech like movement to the giant robots (rather than say sentai robos, which move with all the complexity and freedom of humans for no adequately explained reasons, like you think they'd build stuff less flimsy, right?) and it also utilises lots of very detailed close ups, and semi-decent close ups to help heighten a sense of reality to the proceedings. The giant action is also ridiculous, in the best possible way. When Kazeo first pilots Mikazuki, they take down a whole city block just by landing, right before the Idom chucks a building at them and the two giants show off their explosive, raw power. Sure I wish it looked a bit more convincing, but this is just glorious. Just watched the second episode, which was sadly, not nearly as good as the opening one. The second episode is also shorter, by almost half an hour, which is a shame as if anything this episode needed more time, as it has to both deal with the fallout of the previous episode and continue the battle as well. The shorter length seems to actively undermine the episodes point. Idea Monsters are shaped by our most poignant memories, and so to suddenly involve a member of AIT without any context or build up, made it feel emotionally flat when it was trying so hard to make it emotionally engaging. And then just when it seemed to reach a head, it ended, assuming bland imagery played in slow motion = emotional resonance. And that isn't even mentioning the fact of how fucked up it all is. Especially considering the goofy fun of the first episode, honestly, tonally, the episodes are so different it feels like they could be from two entirely separate shows Luckily the action is still great, considering this weeks IDOM was basically just a door, it looked really impressive and The Presidents collection of claptrap robots are pretty awesome. It just had so much going on, especially when AIT randomly turned up with three futuristic jets and joined in on the action. Perhaps most enjoyable though, is like GARO, most of the fighting takes place in populated urban environments, to heighten the sense of threat and reality. I really liked the ninja dude as well, both because he had a cool design, but it also made the episode feel so epic that there was this giant war raging in the city, and then there was, running alongside it, a much simpler but emotionally much more powerful battle raging at the same time. Ironically perhaps the worst fight in the episode was when Mikazuki himself got involved. The suit limits movement in mostly logical ways considering he is a giant robot, but in some ways it just looks a little awkward. His face, I only just noticed, is super derpy and the choice to do most of his movement with CGI is a blessing in that he can actually move freely, but it looks really really bad. 2014 toku cgi is at the quality of early 00s CGI from the US. So toku CGI from nearly fifteen years ago, dates the show by like an extra twenty years. Not to mention that this fight was much, much shorter, and not nearly as much of a spectacle of raw awesome power. Episode three of Mikazuki is best described as problematic. Mainly because, in many senses, this was both the very best, and the very worst episode, all at the same time. The main problem, and the main plus, was there was just so much going on, and although everything going on was interesting, it also felt a bit like the show was chucking shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. First we learn that Kiba, a character who has predominantly stood in the background so far and has done more as a suit actor, than a character, is dealing with the weight of his fathers suicide, and his lack of understanding leading up to it and after it also. It's compelling stuff, and beautifully realised, but the show had made no attempt to make me care about Kiba, and as this plot arc has little to no wider ramifications, it just came off as sort of graititious. this episode should have been his, not the President's. Baka, trying to go for the martyr end to his character, in an episode that isn't even his! Yes, that is the other problem, this episode should have been his, not the President's. The image the IDOM takes, is actually something much more personal to Kiba and his character arc this episode is far more compelling than the Presidents marriage interview, comedy missfire thing, but I guess the President is hot so it should be her episode or something. Then, tacked on for good measure, there is the drunk leader of the not sentai team, who is trying to repair his marriage and eventually has a crisis of faith in his abilities, which all primarily takes place off screen. Wonderful. It's true GARO rose above its flaws by having such strong characters, but their character arcs felt like they were directly woven into the plot at hand, not just awkwardly layered around the sides, for the show to detour down when it got bored with its main plot. Longer episodes, shouldn't mean more time wasting. Still, the episode did create a pretty believable explanation for why the whole thing is so Small World, where the danger constantly clings to them, and goes after all the main characters or the people in their immediate vicinity that care for them. Plus the clusterfuck nature of the episode, really suited the action. This felt like the most epic battle yet, with the amount of footage recorded from real city streets using extras, rather than seeing bits of polystyrene falling on toy cars, acting as collateral damage. Plus it's also nice that as the show is so short, we can have the enemies make a direct attack this early on. Mikazuki's subtle transformation into a Flying Form was pretty sweet as well. Episode Four of Mikazuki. What is it about Akane and sending the show off track? Sure the stalker stuff was suitably weird and creepy but it was also pointless. And although the stuff involving the boy and his girlfriend isn't technically filler, the boy is such a terrible actor and is as much in the background as anyone else, I found it hard to care. Luckily everything else about the episode was just wonderful. We learnt more about Mikazuki, some things unspoken, other things that the show forces you to assume. All I know is, this is a show about so much more than a giant robot now, and I'm so excited to see where the show is taken for the last two episodes. The action was incredible this week, the IDOM was a bit of a Godzilla rip off but that was largely on purpose and the suit was really awesome. He mainly existed to show off a few things though, really, so it was lucky both of those things were awesome. First was the new Gekkouki model, which was pretty sweet but also totally pointless. And Singetsu, whose introduction was just so fucking cool. Episode five of Mikazuki. Episode five was one of the toku episodes, where the action was so great, it largely alleviated beyond how shitty the actual plot was. First we have the return of that awesome cyber ninja thing, in an admittedly crappy location of a child's playground, but I'm grateful to have a non giant fight. The giant fight involved a giant out of control robot, which moved like any second he was going to topple over, but this show does the giant stuff even better than Go-Busters did, so its little rampage really was very enjoyable. Especially as Singetsu flew off to stop a Nuclear Missile, leaving Mikazuki behind to clean up. It really was epic stuff. Although sadly undermined with Singetsu being turned evil almost immediately afterwards. But then, seeing the two Giant Magic Golems clash has been what we've been waiting for, right? And man was it worth the wait. But yes, I can't really ignore just how poorly written this episode was. In itself the core plot was fine, it dealt with the ramifications and repercussions of there now being two giant super golems, as we see the characters contemplate the future and the direction this will steer their lives. This is especially true of Akane, who is carrying the weight of an entire company on her back, and is also simultaneously running it into the ground. The problem with all this, however, is it is so painfully drawn out and meandering that any poignancy from the plot is wasted.
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Last edited by Baltan II; 03-01-2014 at 12:15 PM.. |
01-29-2014, 04:15 PM | #184 |
「蝙蝠騎士の魔界<ブラム>」
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: The Catacombs of Ohio
Posts: 12,794
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Any suggestions for some metal hero series? I love the B-Fighter series and want to branch out to some of the other MH shows.
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01-29-2014, 04:18 PM | #185 |
Blader than Brave
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Beyond the Sun
Posts: 4,983
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The ones that are fully subbed. So, none.
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01-29-2014, 04:20 PM | #186 |
「蝙蝠騎士の魔界<ブラム>」
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: The Catacombs of Ohio
Posts: 12,794
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I really don't care if they're subbed or not
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01-29-2014, 04:24 PM | #187 |
Blader than Brave
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Beyond the Sun
Posts: 4,983
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Mad man! MAD MAN!
So, uh, I hear Metalder's good?
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02-03-2014, 01:36 AM | #188 |
「蝙蝠騎士の魔界<ブラム>」
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: The Catacombs of Ohio
Posts: 12,794
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Garo: Yami o Terasu Mono Episode 1
Oh my God that opening sequence was fucking amazing! The visuals, the music. Just all around awesome! So this Ryuga, he's uh, quite the guy. That was a hell of an opening scene. Dude just straight up crashed a wedding and murdered a girl (yes I am aware she was a horror). Though how (at the point I'm at in the episode) is he not going to get caught? I mean a lot of people saw his face and could probably describe him really well. You know unless they partake in the no snitching rule. Nevermind. SG-1, they uh, don't look like your friendly neighborhood police department now do they? Damn! That chase scene and rooftop fight was (get ready to see me use this a lot) awesome! The action was just so fluid and dynamic. The stun work looked really good and is definitely not the type of stuff I've seen in Kamen Rider o Sentai. Just damn! I see that the news in Volcity covers up stuff. Just like over news stations most of the time Why was somebody like you asked to go to Volcity? Maybe because you hunt horrors, and there was a horror reported or detected in the city? So you know, they sent you to do your job? I'm really hoping the whole "I'm alone and have nobody" thing doesn't get to out of hand in the show. I tend to really dislike characters who are constantly talking about how they're so "alone" and whatnot. I like Ryuga. He seems a bit cocky (and with the whole alone thing could possibly become a bit pretentious) but I like him. He genuinely seems like a good mannered and natured man, he here to do what he has to. I really like the scenes of him just walking about and interacting with the people (though why that lady gave him her sandwich I don't quite understand). Wait what? He can hear what statues are thinking? That's an odd power. And it's not just statues but flowers, and I guess any object? Okay then, guess it's a side power of being a knight. Holy hell was that reveal of the face scary! Like a friggen facehugger and shit. How come the blood is CGI? Could they not do physical fake blood? As far as I know (and been told by a friend in Japan), blood isn't that big of a deal. And I would especially think so considering this is an adult late night show. But eh, no biggie. What's this point stuff about? They trying to see who can get the highest score on kills or something? Not sure about Burai and the other two feelings wise though. I do like how Burai's cape acts as like a portal, and the blonde guy does seem kinda cool going off of this. But considering they just now popped up I can't say much. Ryuga may have just shown up as well but the whole episode was centered around him, so it's easy to already form an opinion of him, where as these other three just popped up at the end. But I digress. Well, I loved it! It was a great episode. It had beautiful fight/stunt work and choreography, the acting was good, the effects were gorgeous (though you can obviously tell that they are indeed effects), and the music is just epic. It's got a nice blend of classical, rock, and some country/Spanish music. I like Ryuga, and he's the only character I can really speak about at the moment. So all around I quite enjoyed my first episode of a Garo show. I am definitely going to watch more of this show and the others!
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02-06-2014, 02:57 PM | #189 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 1,527
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Quote:
Just watched the first episode of Tekkoki Mikazuki. It was absolutely brilliant. A convoluted mythology, and slapdash pacing don't ultimately hamper such an insane, and fun experience.
*snip* I mean sure, it seems to constantly feel like a lost straight to VHS flick from forty years ago, not fifteen, but Inoue and Amemiya blur together a wide range of famous tokusatsu elements and wrap it in this surreal psychedelic haze, creating one nightmare you don't wanna wake up from. *snip* The story reminded of a 6-year-old slamming his Sentai action figures against his Godzilla models. And oh, hey, here's a random slice of watermelon that's lying around. Let's get that in on the action, too. Sure, once Mikazuki is introduced, the action is super badass. And yeah, there are some interesting visuals. But that is not fucking enough for me. Mary Sue Fanfic Boy and his vapid military pals are not a cast I can route for. *Cheapness isn't usually a problem for me. In fact, I usually find it charming. But something about this show's "this is how a toku show should be done, you idiots" attitude makes the budget limitations off-putting. If you're gonna be arrogant, your production better be flawless. I watched the first 15 minutes the other night before falling asleep. I actually liked it better than the first episode (even with its dumbass "oh, what a coincidence that an AIT member is responsible for the Idom" element) because it presented a modicum of character development. Of course, it wasn't enough to keep me awake, but it may have been enough to get me to give the rest of the series a chance. Once the foul taste of the first episode is washed out of my mouth. Last edited by Kamen Rider Lucha; 02-06-2014 at 03:55 PM.. |
02-06-2014, 03:13 PM | #190 |
Big Bad Wolf.
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Raiding tombs.
Posts: 9,529
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I did a film degree for three years, and film studies for two years before that, I'm at the point in my life where if the action is fun I can ignore everything else.
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