Anime: Bleach, Naruto, Samurai Champloo, Damekko Doubutsu, Zatch Bell

[thistlechaser]

I've not mentioned anime foo in a while, so since I needed to ask about Bleach anyway, I decided to make a whole post of it. Updates on the various series I follow:

* Anyone know what's up with Bleach? Anime-Keep hasn't released an ep in almost a month. Their website says they need translators, but are they totally dead in the water till they get some? Or just slowed down?

If one were to download from one of the "speed subbing" groups, is there a difference in quality between Bleach-Society and LunarAnime? I'd much rather stick with Keep, but man, I've not seen an ep in a month now...

* Naruto: My god, these filler eps are just totally unwatchable. I have five eps waiting for me, so I'm trying to watch one (#137) now to catch up, but it's just so... ugh. Why in the world are the minor characters so poorly designed? I could draw a better character myself! And the story is so darned predictable! Mumble. I'm considering just deleting these and waiting till someone says the filler arc is finished...

* Samurai Champloo: Very strangely, I've lost all interest in this series. I have no idea why, as I did like it early on. I've had the last four eps downloaded forever, but I have no desire to watch them. I'm suspecting I'll see them dubbed on CN before I get around to watching them subbed...

* Damekko Doubutsu: What kind of excuse can I give for not keeping up with a series whose eps are only 10 minutes long? I guess a lot of the shine has worn off for me -- the silly stories and characters were amusing at first, but "silly" isn't what I look for in anime. I have 3 eps downloaded and waiting, and I'm behind in my downloading of the series.

Zatch Bell: Though I'm only following it on CN, basically the same thing I said about DD applies to it: The silliness is just totally killing my interest in the story. Zatch's voice makes me want to claw my ears off, and (as far as I can tell) there's no depth or character growth. (Zatch wants to be friends with everyone! The kid he works with (forgot the name) is standoffish! Oh no! Conflict!) I could be wrong about the 'no depth' thing, as I haven't closely watched the last few eps. Mostly I just leave it on in the background while I do other things.

I decided to use an anime icon for this post (duh), and this one has me thinking. I've wanted to re-watch Get Backers for so long, I really should make time to do it. It was one of the first series I watched, and I had liked it so much. Now that I'm more experienced with anime stuff, I wonder if I'd like it more or less?

Comments

[niffy.livejournal.com]

The last three Champloo are really really good. ^^ Definitely finish.

[chichiri.livejournal.com]

For Zatch Bell (Called Gash bell in japanese), I LOVED it at first, then and to FORCE myself to watch the filler eps, and then it got into some great plot. Bottom line, I've seen 39 eps and I adore it.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah? Okay then, I'll have to make the time to watched the subbed version! :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Boo filler eps. I suppose I'll stick with it a while longer, since watching it on CN is effortless...

[hamburger.livejournal.com]

See, here's where you and I differ: I love silliness. Hence why the 'Parco Fulgore' episode was my favorite so far.

I'd disagree about Zatch having no depth. I think what you mean is he has no 'angst'; I don't find those to be the same thing at all. All Zatch wants to do is play and enjoy life-- and yet that's not what is expected of him as a 'mamodo'. He's expected to beat up every other mamodo he comes across no matter if he likes them or not or else he gets sent back to the world he came from. From what I've gathered that world isn't too nice of a place. While some might become filled with rage or overcome by a desire for power (as we've seen in a few of the mamodos that have been defeated) under these conditions, Zatch somehow remains the same caring and optimistic little boy. He can kick ass and then go back to begging Kyo to play with him. What I get from it is: In life you can either going around feeling sorry for yourself and taking your anger out on others or you can try and find happiness in anything you can. You can only hope that maybe your outlook will rub off on others.

But since when have we seen eye to eye on any anime? :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

See, here's where you and I differ: I love silliness.

Exactly. :) I was thinking about you when I wrote that!

I'd disagree about Zatch having no depth. I think what you mean is he has no 'angst'; I don't find those to be the same thing at all.

Hmmmm. While I do enjoy angst, I never considered that I might think angst = depth. That seems to fit though, at least in my mind.

under these conditions, Zatch somehow remains the same caring and optimistic little boy. He can kick ass and then go back to begging Kyo to play with him.

See, to me, that doesn't make sense at all. His homeworld is hard, he has to fight (to the death?) all others of his race. He's not even a good fighter, and he never knows when he'll have to fight. For me, it's annoying that he's still perky and friendly through all that -- annoying and unrealistic.

But since when have we seen eye to eye on any anime? :)

Exactly. :)

[draymor.livejournal.com]

zomg. Getbackers 4TW!!

It's such a shame it's so short (39 episodes onry?! orz!), I've been trying to find the manga, but you're probably {not interested} =P

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah. In general, I don't have much interest in manga. The exception to that would be if there was more story in it that hadn't made it into the anime.

[draymor.livejournal.com]

Oh the manga that I've seen (in Taiwanese versions of Jump) goes quite far, unfamiliar characters and the whole shabang. I've yet to find it anywhere else tho... =X

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Huh! Now that I'd be interested in seeing, if you ever find it online anywhere.

[mark356.livejournal.com]

The last episode of Naruto felt like the end of the filler arc to me; you can probably start watching again from next week. Still, I can't understand how they can go on even after they've caught up with the manga; I thought that one chapter of manga turns into less than one episode of anime, so even if there's a new chapter every week, after they catch up they'll never fall behind again.

I have to say I adore silly series, but they can really only keep their silliness pure for a few episodes.

I found Samurai Champloo irritating (even though i did watch it to the end), so I'm not surprised if you lost interest in it, but definitely watch the last three episodes; they really tie everything together.

Re Get Backers, I was going to watch it two years ago, but I didn't find it as appealing as the other series that my cousin was using to try to get me into anime (Naruto, Hikaru no Go), so I stopped watching it after one or two episodes, and now that it's been liscensed, I'd have to deal with a huge gap between the DVDs that are available and the episodes on CD that the anime club hasn't pulled from circulation due to liscensing. Would it be worth trying anyway?

[morinotokei.livejournal.com]

*weeps* Why won't you give Hikaru no Go a try? You still haven't watched it yet right? This is one series that I really think you'd like. If you like Naruto and Hunter x Hunter, you'll like HikaGo.

Also, I want to kill the current Naruto filler. I couldn't even get past the first two eps of it. *stabstabstab* I cling to the manga as my lifeline.

And you know me. I love my crack, but I also like a bunch of stuff that's more along the lines of what you'd like. =)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I have watched some of Go! And I did like it! I'm not sure why I stopped (likely time issues), but I did like the series quite a bit. I think I saw... 20 eps? Around there? I'm not sure if I still have more downloaded and un-watched or not.

Also, I want to kill the current Naruto filler. I couldn't even get past the first two eps of it.

All Naruto filter is bad, but I swear that this is the worst of it. Just utterly unwatchable. Hopefully it'll be over soon!