From 10c6faaab1155e3817709b1a098695b6d7045d13 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: dakkar Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:25:25 +0000 Subject: more review --- src/anime/review/berserk-1/.gitignore | 2 + src/anime/review/berserk-1/document.en.rest.txt | 73 +++++++++++++++++++++ src/anime/review/berserk-1/du2html.xsl | 1 + src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/.gitignore | 2 + src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/document.en.rest.txt | 59 +++++++++++++++++ src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/du2html.xsl | 1 + src/anime/review/towa-no-quon/.gitignore | 2 + src/anime/review/towa-no-quon/document.en.rest.txt | 74 ++++++++++++++++++++++ src/anime/review/towa-no-quon/du2html.xsl | 1 + 9 files changed, 215 insertions(+) create mode 100644 src/anime/review/berserk-1/.gitignore create mode 100644 src/anime/review/berserk-1/document.en.rest.txt create mode 120000 src/anime/review/berserk-1/du2html.xsl create mode 100644 src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/.gitignore create mode 100644 src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/document.en.rest.txt create mode 120000 src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/du2html.xsl create mode 100644 src/anime/review/towa-no-quon/.gitignore create mode 100644 src/anime/review/towa-no-quon/document.en.rest.txt create mode 120000 src/anime/review/towa-no-quon/du2html.xsl diff --git a/src/anime/review/berserk-1/.gitignore b/src/anime/review/berserk-1/.gitignore new file mode 100644 index 0000000..08d33d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/anime/review/berserk-1/.gitignore @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +/document.en.du.xml +/document.it.du.xml diff --git a/src/anime/review/berserk-1/document.en.rest.txt b/src/anime/review/berserk-1/document.en.rest.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..85604d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/anime/review/berserk-1/document.en.rest.txt @@ -0,0 +1,73 @@ +====================== + Berserk - movie 1 +====================== +:CreationDate: 2013-01-21 21:15:33 +:Id: anime/review/berserk-1 +:tags: - anime + - review +:rating: 3 +:original: http://www.easternkicks.com/reviews/berserk-the-golden-age-arc-1-the-egg-of-the-king + +A boy born from a hanged woman. A sword capable of defeating +semi-divine beings. A beautiful mercenary leader. Ambition so +all-consuming that it destroys souls, friendships, love, and the +barrier between worlds. Mythological creatures walking the earth. + +MIURA Kentarou (三浦 建太郎) started writing his epic manga in 1990: +the first few chapters look like a supernatural splatter horror story, +with the main character Guts felling monsters with his huge sword. By +the third volume we get to see a 11-volume long flash-back: how Guts +became a mercenary, how he got recruited into Griffith's "Band of the +Hawk", how Griffith got induced into the group of semi-divine beings +known as the God Hand. There follows and increasingly confused series +of battles, wars, political ploys, and various levels of magic. We're +now up to the 36th volume, with on end in sight. The pacing of the +manga is very variable: sometimes dozens of pages are spent on a +battle that lasts only a few minutes, sometimes weeks pass between +pages; we may get very detailed briefings on socio-political +situations, or we may just get "this is the king, he's evil". Despite +this, the manga is still gripping, and I'm still buying it (we get +about 1 volume a year…). + +The first part of the story, up to about volume 14, was adapted as an +animated series between 1997 and 1998, to a mixed reception. To fit +the story into 25 episodes, much had to be cut and reworked, which +didn't please some fans, even if all changes were approved by the +author. + +Now, a relatively unknown production company has embarked in a much +more ambitious project: adapting the whole story into a series of +movies. During the opening credits, we see images of most of the +characters, including some that were introduced in the last few +volumes published, which at the very least shows that the production +is committed to the whole project. + +The first movie covers about 6-7 volumes' worth of story starting from +the 3rd volume, compressing some spans of time, skipping over some +sub-plots, relegating some back-story to flash-backs. I suspect that +someone who's not read the manga would not get the whole significance +of some of these flash-backs (Guts' relationship with his father, for +example), but maybe they were considered just important enough to +include, but not enough to devote much time to. + +Of course, this is a first movie in a trilogy, which is itself only +going to cover a third or maybe a fourth of the manga. There's no way +to get proper closure, but it still stands pretty well on its own: you +want to see the rest of the story, but you don't feel short-changed +for it. + +What I *did* feel short-changed for, though, is the quality of the +animation. It's completely computer-generated, and if I had to hazard +a guess, I'd say there was very little motion capture involved (more +probably none at all). Movements and facial expressions are wooden, +acceleration curves are unnatural, the lighting model feels +wrong. It's very similar technology to that employed for the recent +Appleseed movies: it looks like cell-shaded machinima, not +feature-quality animation. I was repeatedly jarred out of the story by +some shortcoming of the animation, and I feel this lets down the +entire movie. + +If you like that kind of animation, or are better at ignoring its +problems than I am, you'll find this a very good movie. But even with +its visual flaws, it's still a promising beginning to a hugely +ambitious project that I'd love to see to the end. diff --git a/src/anime/review/berserk-1/du2html.xsl b/src/anime/review/berserk-1/du2html.xsl new file mode 120000 index 0000000..371d03d --- /dev/null +++ b/src/anime/review/berserk-1/du2html.xsl @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +../../../../templates/du2html-review.xsl \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/.gitignore b/src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/.gitignore new file mode 100644 index 0000000..08d33d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/.gitignore @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +/document.en.du.xml +/document.it.du.xml diff --git a/src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/document.en.rest.txt b/src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/document.en.rest.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e8654b --- /dev/null +++ b/src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/document.en.rest.txt @@ -0,0 +1,59 @@ +============== + Ninja Scroll +============== +:CreationDate: 2013-01-21 21:15:16 +:Id: anime/review/ninja-scroll +:tags: - anime + - review +:rating: 2 +:original: http://www.easternkicks.com/reviews/ninja-scroll + +You know I don't like action movies, and I hope nobody is surprised +that I didn't like Ninja Scroll very much. All the positive reviews +I've read seem to find it good mostly because it's the first anime the +reviewer has seen. Sorry, I've been watching anime since 1982, when I +was five, and Ninja Scroll is really nothing special. + +The story: the Toyotomi family hires a group of demonic ninjas to +retrieve a large amount of gold, to be used to wrestle power back from +the Tokugawa (which dates the action between 1600 and 1615). An +elderly ninja working for the Tokugawa tricks the main character, +Juubei, a mercenary, into helping him figure out the whole +story. Super-powered fights ensue, an old enemy (presumed dead) +resurfaces, all the plots fail spectacularly, the gold is lost, the +power structure is untouched. + +Nothing particularly new there: ninja stories were very well +established in manga and anime, a good example would be The Legend of +Kamui (カムイ伝) by SHIRATO Sanpei (白土 三平) was published between +1964 and 1971, and transposed into anime as Ninpuu Kamui Gaiden (忍風 +カムイ 外伝) in 1969. The supernatural, super-powered aspect is not +very new either. The story progresses just like video games had been +doing for decades, with the enemies attacking one by one, even when +clearly outmatched, and the boss fight at the end. The characters are +very stereotyped, probably to save time building them, and use it on +the action scenes instead. + +I've read that many consider the animation to be very good. I'll just +point out that Ninja Scroll was produced in 1993; Akira came out 5 +years earlier; the two Patlabor movies are from 1989 and 1993; +Miyazaki had already directed Castle of Cagliostro ('79), Nausicaa +('84), Laputa ('86), Totoro ('88), Kiki ('89), Porco Rosso ('92). So +no, the animation is not above average for a movie of that time. + +The director, KAWAJIRI Yoshiaki (川尻 善昭) was already an old hand at +action movies: he had directed Wicked City ('87), Demon City Shinjuku +('88), Cyber City Oedo ('90), even a Lensmen adaptation (SF New +Century Lensman, SF新世紀 レンズマン, '84). Interestingly, he had also +directed the third chapter of Kadokawa's adaptation of Tezuka The +Phoenix ('87), which is definitely not an action-based story. In Ninja +Scroll he shows very well that he knows what he's doing, but doesn't +really shine. + +One interesting details that I liked: there is at least one homosexual +and one bisexual character (Yurimaru and Genma), and this is treated +as completely unremarkable. + +In conclusion, this movie scores high on the "action packed", "gory", +and "nostalgic (for some)" scales, and I don't doubt that many people +really like it. It's just really not my kind of product. diff --git a/src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/du2html.xsl b/src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/du2html.xsl new file mode 120000 index 0000000..371d03d --- /dev/null +++ b/src/anime/review/ninja-scroll/du2html.xsl @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +../../../../templates/du2html-review.xsl \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/src/anime/review/towa-no-quon/.gitignore b/src/anime/review/towa-no-quon/.gitignore new file mode 100644 index 0000000..08d33d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/anime/review/towa-no-quon/.gitignore @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +/document.en.du.xml +/document.it.du.xml diff --git a/src/anime/review/towa-no-quon/document.en.rest.txt b/src/anime/review/towa-no-quon/document.en.rest.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..267e982 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/anime/review/towa-no-quon/document.en.rest.txt @@ -0,0 +1,74 @@ +============== + Towa no Quon +============== +:CreationDate: 2013-01-21 21:15:22 +:Id: anime/review/towa-no-quon +:tags: - anime + - review +:rating: 3 +:original: http://www.easternkicks.com/reviews/towa-no-quon-complete-series-collection + +Someone at Bones has been reading the X-Men. +============================================ + +Bones is a big name in anime: Escaflowne, RahXephon, Wolf's Rain, +Scrapped Princess, Ouran High School Host Club, Soul Eater. They've +spanned several genres, but some of the "signature traits" are very +detailed animation and a preference for character-centric stories. On +the animation aspect, Towa no Quon does not disappoint: people, +backgrounds, monsters, cyborgs, even the "shadowy powers" who seem to +be pulling the strings, they're all drawn and animated with care and a +very good sense of mood and atmosphere. The story, on the other hand, +feels too familiar and phoned in. + +What's the story about? Well, there are mutant people with +superpowers; when such power awaken, most people can't control them +and they become dangerous to themselves and those around them. An +organisation called Custos employs assault troops and cyborgs to +capture them, and either study or eliminate them (it's not completely +clear). + +Quon is an exceptionally powerful mutant (strength, speed, +regeneration, energy weapons, some kind of telekinesis…) who fights +Custos to protect a large group of (mostly young) mutants, and the +help them learn to control their powers. He's been around for a very +long time (regeneration will do that, just ask Logan), and after +losing his entire village (including his brother Towa), he is +determined to "save everybody". "Saving everybody" has become so +common in anime that it's usually a flag for lazy writing… + +Custos is apparently controlled by The Order, a vaguely-defined power +group whose members appear via tele-presence as shadowy figures. If +this does not remind you of the relationship between Seele and NERV, +let me add that The Order only talks to the head of Custos, Kamishiro, +and that he's got his own agenda which is probably not aligned with +either Custos's purpose, or The Order's wishes. He's way less likable +than Gendou, though: he's not just manipulative, he's clearly +power-crazy and evil. + +Final pieces on the board, the cyborgs used by Custos are very +powerful (they can go head to head with Quon and hold their ground), +but have some interesting emotional instabilities. I don't want to +spoil the only interesting part of the story, but let me say that some +of the cyborgs are the only characters showing actual development. + +In the end, Towa no Quon's story is just not very good, and the +characters feel very flat, to the point that not even director IIDA +Umanosuke (飯田 馬之介) could make the show work, and he was not +without experience: he directed Gundam: 08th MS Team, Hellsing, and +Origin: Spirits of the Past. + +I did not notice the music, which is apparently written by KAWAI Kenji +(川井 憲次), one of the greatest anime musician (from Maison Ikkoku to +Ghost in the Shell to Eden of the East). Either the music was very +well coupled with the scenes, or there was not much of it. I should +probably skim the episodes again paying more attention to the +background tunes. + +In summary: nothing particularly original, an adequate presentation, +plenty of fights. Not a bad product all in all, but very average. + +(Linguistic curiosity: Quon (久遠) means "eternity", and Towa (永久) +means more-or-less the same with a sense of "immortality"; the title +of the series could be read as "immortal eternity" or something like +it). diff --git a/src/anime/review/towa-no-quon/du2html.xsl b/src/anime/review/towa-no-quon/du2html.xsl new file mode 120000 index 0000000..371d03d --- /dev/null +++ b/src/anime/review/towa-no-quon/du2html.xsl @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +../../../../templates/du2html-review.xsl \ No newline at end of file -- cgit v1.2.3