Bear Ribs
Well-known member
That's fair enough, we're all entitled to our opinions and yours is just as valid. I personally dislike boobs and blood onscreen at the same time/in rapid succession. If it works for you this is a good show for you.
Anime & Manga Teh CX Anime Review Thread
- Thread starter Captain X
- Start date
Terthna
Professional Lurker
Thing is, I only ever read the manga. I always intended to check out the anime, as it does look like something I'd enjoy, but after the death of the original author and the cancellation of the source material, I know I'd get irritated when I watch the last episode knowing there is never going to be an ending to the story. I hate it when anime adaptations just end after a season or two without resolving anything; but to be fair, that happens often even if there is more material to adapt.
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It's not that I'm associating fan service with comedy, it's that in HotD, that's the tone its fan service is setting, which is more often than not a whiplash from the tone being set by the scene that it suddenly appears in or just afterwards.
I'm guessing you're not a fan of Elfen Lied then.
A lot of anime tends to be that way because usually it is made with the intent to get more people to read the manga anyway.
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
... Well on the one hand fair, on the other hand, I can count the number of anime with solid satisfying endings without taking my shoes off. Ending things well is really not the medium's strong suit.
Imma also note, using boobs as a gunrest. I can't take that as anything but comedic.
Dropped it, like, ten minutes into the first episode.I'm guessing you're not a fan of Elfen Lied then.
HoD has another problem - it could not be ended,becouse author of manga died.Pity,i really wonted to knew which girls would form MC harem.
Now,2 anime:
1.Monster Girl doctor,12 episodes.
Do not look for that,i am monstergirl fan and even i do not liked that.
Human doctor Glenn Litbeit with his lamia assistant who wish be his girlfriend start cure monstergirls,result - by the end of anime,we have at least 6 more harem canditates.
I have nothing against harems,but author should decide what kind of story he wont.Now,we have bots of romance,slice of life,politic and philosophy about how everybody should love others - but without any proper order.
Good chance wasted.3/10,but 3 only for monstergirls.
2.Asobi ni iku yo - 12 cepisodes.
Not bullied or shy japaneese boy Kio Kakazui meet alien catgirl Eris who is officer on catgirl warship which come to end to play with humans.Yes,they really do not want anybody else.
We have 2 human childchood friend who try interfere and end as part of his harem in result,various agencies who want dissect aliens or at least catch them,rich girl worschipping catgirls,evil dogwoman who want use catgirl ship to destroy Earth,but finally we have good end.
You knew - it is even good.If you want some relax,try that.6/10 - without catgirls it would be 5/10.
Now,2 anime:
1.Monster Girl doctor,12 episodes.
Do not look for that,i am monstergirl fan and even i do not liked that.
Human doctor Glenn Litbeit with his lamia assistant who wish be his girlfriend start cure monstergirls,result - by the end of anime,we have at least 6 more harem canditates.
I have nothing against harems,but author should decide what kind of story he wont.Now,we have bots of romance,slice of life,politic and philosophy about how everybody should love others - but without any proper order.
Good chance wasted.3/10,but 3 only for monstergirls.
2.Asobi ni iku yo - 12 cepisodes.
Not bullied or shy japaneese boy Kio Kakazui meet alien catgirl Eris who is officer on catgirl warship which come to end to play with humans.Yes,they really do not want anybody else.
We have 2 human childchood friend who try interfere and end as part of his harem in result,various agencies who want dissect aliens or at least catch them,rich girl worschipping catgirls,evil dogwoman who want use catgirl ship to destroy Earth,but finally we have good end.
You knew - it is even good.If you want some relax,try that.6/10 - without catgirls it would be 5/10.
Terthna
Professional Lurker
Actually from what I've been told, the entire third movie basically punishes Shinji for not being a whiny, useless bitch; because apparently whenever he tries to take charge of his own life, bad things happen. There has been speculation that this is meant to be Anno's meta condemnation of those who took issue with the fact that Shinji was a whiny, useless bitch in the original series; basically "I'm gonna give you what you philistines want, but in the worst way possible; because how dare you criticize my artistic vision!"
Hideaki Anno has always hated his audience; and anyone who honestly enjoys his work at this point without reservation is probably a masochist.
The Vision of Escaflowne
(26 episode series)
My first experience with this series actually came with the heavily edited version that Fox Kids aired during the summer before my senior year of high school. As soon as I saw it I was interested in it, but soon afterwards Fox cancelled it, much to my disappointment at the time. I actually went looking for the series on DVD, but since Fox Kids had changed the name along with everything else, I didn't realize what I was actually looking for. As you can see, though, I eventually figured it out and I've finally gotten around to watching it the way it was supposed to be seen. The story is definitely better and makes a bit more sense, but I have to admit that I liked the Fox Kids opening better than the original one.
The setting of this show is kind of an anachronistic mix between a medieval fantasy land with dragons and a kind of steampunk world that uses technology that is seemingly out of place there. This is how they're able to have giant mechas in an otherwise non-technological setting, I guess. Actually it's kind of cool because the story lets itself touch on various aspects of how these things came to be, and a lot of it has to do with the main antagonist, Emperor Dornkirk of the Zaibach Empire. They also have a kind of natural levitating stone that many of the locals have used to harness the power of flight for everything from a small plane-sized craft up to floating castles.
The series itself focuses on a female protagonist, Hitomi Kanzaki from Japan. She was a mostly typical high school student (those sure do seem common in anime) up until the male lead, Van Fanel, king of Fanelia, appears in a pillar of light, followed shortly afterwards by a dragon. I say "mostly typical" because the series explains that she's always had something of a psychic gift, though until the series starts, this has been limited to tarot card readings. Shortly before Van shows up, she starts having full on visions. To make a long story short, she ends up being taken back with Van to his home planet, Gaea, on the surface of which can be seen both the moon and Earth, which the locals call the Mystic Moon. And if the dragon showing up wasn't weird and threatening enough, some furries show up and greet them.
At first there isn't a whole lot that happens, but soon Fanelia is invaded by invisible mechas, called guymelefs, from the Zaibach Empire. This also introduces us to Dilandau Albatou, a rather young and bloodthirsty antagonist who leads a special forces group called the Dragon Slayers on this attack. Fanelia falls and is burned to the ground, but Van and Hitomi escape. This actually provides much of the excitement and drama early on, as Van and Hitomi try to escape from Dilandau and the other Zaibach forces that have been sent after them by Emperor Dornkirk. Dornkirk has some kind of massive "fate" machine he is using for seemingly evil ends and he sees Van's guymelef Escaflowne as a threat due to its somewhat mystical nature. It's actually technologically inferior to Zaibach's guymelefs, which can shoot fire and use a liquid metal to form spikes and swords not unlike the T-1000 from Terminator 2. Van also isn't exactly the best fighter either, but Hitomi is able to help level the playing field with her psychic abilities, such as being able to see through the invisibility cloaks Dilandau and his forces use.
Once Van and Hitomi meet up with second male protagonist Allen Schezar, the story becomes much bigger, as there is now a fight on with the entirety of Gaea at risk. Not only is Zaibach seemingly bent on world conquest with a technologically superior military, but the planet itself is apparently at risk from the same technology that had destroyed Atlantis.
That's right, Atlantis was apparently behind the creation of Gaea, following the destruction of Atlantis itself. This is also why there's apparently so much going on with dimensional rifts on Gaea, as well as between Gaea and Earth. Van's mother was actually one of the decedents of the Atlantians, called Draconian by all the normal humans on Gaea due to the wings they sport and the seeming black magic of their technology and abilities to alter luck and fate. This means that Van himself, as well as his apparently turncoat brother, Folken Fanel, also sport wings.
I don’t think there's much more I can say about the story and the setting without just summarizing the entire series, so I'm going to stop while I'm ahead. I'll just say that it was a really interesting story that took place in an intriguing world. The pacing of the story itself was nice and even, never dragging too slow as it explained and set things up, or surrendering entirely to the action and battles that also took place.
The characters were also very interesting, and even though there are quite a few of them, they all tend to stand out on their own enough to be memorable. As you might guess, not all that many of them get developed much, but what development does take place is, for the most part, pretty good. Hitomi herself is a refreshingly different female protagonist in that while the male leads at times get pushy and want to exploit her powers more, she will stand up for herself and refuse. She does tend to get kidnapped a lot, and can't really defend herself outside of her psychic abilities, but it's worth noting that she wasn't at the complete beck and call of the male leads either, especially since the visions she was having had taken something of a toll on her.
Van and Allen are also somewhat interesting characters with complex backgrounds, though at times they seemed a little underdeveloped. Allen is basically the noble knight type, a natural leader who's easy to like. However, he hates his father for going off in search of the Mystic Valley of the Draconians and never returning, as soon afterwards his mother also died and left him and his sister alone. Then not long after that, his sister disappeared. This did serve to give him a connection to Van, however, as Van's mentor also finds Allen and mentors him. As for Van, he's somewhat different in that he doesn't like to fight, though he is soon hardened by having to do so.
The antagonists are also given somewhat interesting backgrounds, too, and even made not so completely evil. Take Van's brother, Folken. Not only did he defect to Zaibach when he was supposed to be doing the dragon hunt we later see Van go on in order to become king, but he also ends up leading the attack that would end up razing Fanelia to the ground. Van ends up hating his brother for good reason because of that and because of his continued efforts to capture Van along with Escaflowne. But it's also completely obvious that Folken still cares for his brother, and after Emperor Dornkirk shows what a cold bastard he is, Folken later comes over to his brother's side.
Then there's bloodthirsty Dilandau. He totally comes off as the stereotypical stuck up royal pain in the ass to go along with being a completely evil bastard who likes killing and destroying. But he also has an interesting background, and even before we learn it, the series actually manages to paint him in a semi-sympathetic light by having him go through a mental breakdown following the wholesale slaughter of his Dragon Slayer squad by Van. And then we find out "he" is actually Allen's lost sister, who was turned into the bloodthirsty Dilandau by Dornkirk's scientists through cruel experimentation. It also kind of complicates things when this is revealed to Allen.
Hell, even Emperor Dornkirk is given some ambiguity to his character, even though he's easily still one of the most evil of the main characters. It's strongly hinted at that he's actually Isaac Newton, resurrected on Gaea through sheer force of will alone upon his death on Earth. When he first appears in Zaibach, it's basically a third world country, and he helps them to become a world power through his scientific knowledge. So basically he's a Hitler analogue, but unlike Hitler he isn't after world domination so much as he actually wants to create a peaceful world where everyone can be granted their wishes. Unfortunately, he's so obsessed with the Atlantian technology to make this happen that he no longer cares about human life, and will kill anyone who gets in his way. His conquering of other kingdoms is solely aimed at getting what he needs for the machine he's built, but that doesn't change the fact Zaibach has devastated so much of Gaea.
What it comes down to is that everyone is given believable motivations for what they are doing during the story.
That being said, this series isn't without its own weaknesses. The first one is kind of understandable in that while the pace wasn't exactly all that fast, they didn't want to slow things down too much. This resulted in a lot of things happening solely for the benefit of the story. Right off the bat, there's no explanation for how or why Van and the dragon ended up on Earth, or most of the other times they're conveniently transported somewhere by a beam of light. Then there are things like Dilandau/ Celena ending up where he/she need to be so Allen can see the change take place to know that Dilandau is actually his sister, right before being conveniently beamed back to Zaibach.
For me, though, the biggest weakness of this series was the soap opera romance story. Basically Hitomi already likes a guy on Earth when she ends up being spirited away to Gaea. It also just so happens that Allen looks a lot like this guy, so she ends up having a crush on him. But then, Van is the male lead and the first guy from Gaea she ever met, and since they both end up saving each other's lives more than once, she also has a crush on him. So the series tries to make this dramatic by bouncing her between her love for each of these three guys, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at all of it. I can tell that this was a story element aimed at the teenaged girls in the audience, but in my opinion it rang false and actually hurt the story and the characters a bit. It was also completely obvious who she was going to end up deciding on.
Oh, and just in case the teenaged male demographic felt left out on the whole pointless fan service area, the show gave them this:
Not only are they furries, but they're twin sisters. I'm sure some people will like this, but I didn't. At least the bottom one there wasn't really into it. Eh, it's not like they end up being all that important anyway, aside from helping Folken to switch sides again.
Anyway, I can definitely say that for the most part I really like this series. It has something that can probably appeal to most anyone, and even though its age is showing a bit, it's still very enjoyable to watch. I would definitely recommend this series, especially if you can get into medieval fantasy stories. 8/10.
(26 episode series)
My first experience with this series actually came with the heavily edited version that Fox Kids aired during the summer before my senior year of high school. As soon as I saw it I was interested in it, but soon afterwards Fox cancelled it, much to my disappointment at the time. I actually went looking for the series on DVD, but since Fox Kids had changed the name along with everything else, I didn't realize what I was actually looking for. As you can see, though, I eventually figured it out and I've finally gotten around to watching it the way it was supposed to be seen. The story is definitely better and makes a bit more sense, but I have to admit that I liked the Fox Kids opening better than the original one.
The setting of this show is kind of an anachronistic mix between a medieval fantasy land with dragons and a kind of steampunk world that uses technology that is seemingly out of place there. This is how they're able to have giant mechas in an otherwise non-technological setting, I guess. Actually it's kind of cool because the story lets itself touch on various aspects of how these things came to be, and a lot of it has to do with the main antagonist, Emperor Dornkirk of the Zaibach Empire. They also have a kind of natural levitating stone that many of the locals have used to harness the power of flight for everything from a small plane-sized craft up to floating castles.
The series itself focuses on a female protagonist, Hitomi Kanzaki from Japan. She was a mostly typical high school student (those sure do seem common in anime) up until the male lead, Van Fanel, king of Fanelia, appears in a pillar of light, followed shortly afterwards by a dragon. I say "mostly typical" because the series explains that she's always had something of a psychic gift, though until the series starts, this has been limited to tarot card readings. Shortly before Van shows up, she starts having full on visions. To make a long story short, she ends up being taken back with Van to his home planet, Gaea, on the surface of which can be seen both the moon and Earth, which the locals call the Mystic Moon. And if the dragon showing up wasn't weird and threatening enough, some furries show up and greet them.
At first there isn't a whole lot that happens, but soon Fanelia is invaded by invisible mechas, called guymelefs, from the Zaibach Empire. This also introduces us to Dilandau Albatou, a rather young and bloodthirsty antagonist who leads a special forces group called the Dragon Slayers on this attack. Fanelia falls and is burned to the ground, but Van and Hitomi escape. This actually provides much of the excitement and drama early on, as Van and Hitomi try to escape from Dilandau and the other Zaibach forces that have been sent after them by Emperor Dornkirk. Dornkirk has some kind of massive "fate" machine he is using for seemingly evil ends and he sees Van's guymelef Escaflowne as a threat due to its somewhat mystical nature. It's actually technologically inferior to Zaibach's guymelefs, which can shoot fire and use a liquid metal to form spikes and swords not unlike the T-1000 from Terminator 2. Van also isn't exactly the best fighter either, but Hitomi is able to help level the playing field with her psychic abilities, such as being able to see through the invisibility cloaks Dilandau and his forces use.
Once Van and Hitomi meet up with second male protagonist Allen Schezar, the story becomes much bigger, as there is now a fight on with the entirety of Gaea at risk. Not only is Zaibach seemingly bent on world conquest with a technologically superior military, but the planet itself is apparently at risk from the same technology that had destroyed Atlantis.
That's right, Atlantis was apparently behind the creation of Gaea, following the destruction of Atlantis itself. This is also why there's apparently so much going on with dimensional rifts on Gaea, as well as between Gaea and Earth. Van's mother was actually one of the decedents of the Atlantians, called Draconian by all the normal humans on Gaea due to the wings they sport and the seeming black magic of their technology and abilities to alter luck and fate. This means that Van himself, as well as his apparently turncoat brother, Folken Fanel, also sport wings.
I don’t think there's much more I can say about the story and the setting without just summarizing the entire series, so I'm going to stop while I'm ahead. I'll just say that it was a really interesting story that took place in an intriguing world. The pacing of the story itself was nice and even, never dragging too slow as it explained and set things up, or surrendering entirely to the action and battles that also took place.
The characters were also very interesting, and even though there are quite a few of them, they all tend to stand out on their own enough to be memorable. As you might guess, not all that many of them get developed much, but what development does take place is, for the most part, pretty good. Hitomi herself is a refreshingly different female protagonist in that while the male leads at times get pushy and want to exploit her powers more, she will stand up for herself and refuse. She does tend to get kidnapped a lot, and can't really defend herself outside of her psychic abilities, but it's worth noting that she wasn't at the complete beck and call of the male leads either, especially since the visions she was having had taken something of a toll on her.
Van and Allen are also somewhat interesting characters with complex backgrounds, though at times they seemed a little underdeveloped. Allen is basically the noble knight type, a natural leader who's easy to like. However, he hates his father for going off in search of the Mystic Valley of the Draconians and never returning, as soon afterwards his mother also died and left him and his sister alone. Then not long after that, his sister disappeared. This did serve to give him a connection to Van, however, as Van's mentor also finds Allen and mentors him. As for Van, he's somewhat different in that he doesn't like to fight, though he is soon hardened by having to do so.
The antagonists are also given somewhat interesting backgrounds, too, and even made not so completely evil. Take Van's brother, Folken. Not only did he defect to Zaibach when he was supposed to be doing the dragon hunt we later see Van go on in order to become king, but he also ends up leading the attack that would end up razing Fanelia to the ground. Van ends up hating his brother for good reason because of that and because of his continued efforts to capture Van along with Escaflowne. But it's also completely obvious that Folken still cares for his brother, and after Emperor Dornkirk shows what a cold bastard he is, Folken later comes over to his brother's side.
Then there's bloodthirsty Dilandau. He totally comes off as the stereotypical stuck up royal pain in the ass to go along with being a completely evil bastard who likes killing and destroying. But he also has an interesting background, and even before we learn it, the series actually manages to paint him in a semi-sympathetic light by having him go through a mental breakdown following the wholesale slaughter of his Dragon Slayer squad by Van. And then we find out "he" is actually Allen's lost sister, who was turned into the bloodthirsty Dilandau by Dornkirk's scientists through cruel experimentation. It also kind of complicates things when this is revealed to Allen.
Hell, even Emperor Dornkirk is given some ambiguity to his character, even though he's easily still one of the most evil of the main characters. It's strongly hinted at that he's actually Isaac Newton, resurrected on Gaea through sheer force of will alone upon his death on Earth. When he first appears in Zaibach, it's basically a third world country, and he helps them to become a world power through his scientific knowledge. So basically he's a Hitler analogue, but unlike Hitler he isn't after world domination so much as he actually wants to create a peaceful world where everyone can be granted their wishes. Unfortunately, he's so obsessed with the Atlantian technology to make this happen that he no longer cares about human life, and will kill anyone who gets in his way. His conquering of other kingdoms is solely aimed at getting what he needs for the machine he's built, but that doesn't change the fact Zaibach has devastated so much of Gaea.
What it comes down to is that everyone is given believable motivations for what they are doing during the story.
That being said, this series isn't without its own weaknesses. The first one is kind of understandable in that while the pace wasn't exactly all that fast, they didn't want to slow things down too much. This resulted in a lot of things happening solely for the benefit of the story. Right off the bat, there's no explanation for how or why Van and the dragon ended up on Earth, or most of the other times they're conveniently transported somewhere by a beam of light. Then there are things like Dilandau/ Celena ending up where he/she need to be so Allen can see the change take place to know that Dilandau is actually his sister, right before being conveniently beamed back to Zaibach.
For me, though, the biggest weakness of this series was the soap opera romance story. Basically Hitomi already likes a guy on Earth when she ends up being spirited away to Gaea. It also just so happens that Allen looks a lot like this guy, so she ends up having a crush on him. But then, Van is the male lead and the first guy from Gaea she ever met, and since they both end up saving each other's lives more than once, she also has a crush on him. So the series tries to make this dramatic by bouncing her between her love for each of these three guys, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at all of it. I can tell that this was a story element aimed at the teenaged girls in the audience, but in my opinion it rang false and actually hurt the story and the characters a bit. It was also completely obvious who she was going to end up deciding on.
Oh, and just in case the teenaged male demographic felt left out on the whole pointless fan service area, the show gave them this:
Not only are they furries, but they're twin sisters. I'm sure some people will like this, but I didn't. At least the bottom one there wasn't really into it. Eh, it's not like they end up being all that important anyway, aside from helping Folken to switch sides again.
Anyway, I can definitely say that for the most part I really like this series. It has something that can probably appeal to most anyone, and even though its age is showing a bit, it's still very enjoyable to watch. I would definitely recommend this series, especially if you can get into medieval fantasy stories. 8/10.
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
Escaflowne has some of the most gorgeous visuals in any anime, really top-notch there. I felt like the story was all over the place though, and they more they revealed the more the whole setting started to unravel into increasing nonsense. It was fine as an evil empire wiping out small kingdoms to take over, but then we got Atlantis and angels draconians and reincarnated Hari Seldon/Isaac Newton and it got to be too much in my mind. It's hard for me to stomach that a group that, f'rex, murdered every single living soul in Van's Kingdom (save himself and Hitomi) should be made sympathetic.
Overall I found it really good at the scene-level with beautiful sets, exciting battles, and likable characters but on the world-building scale I thought it fell apart a bit.
It would probably never get imported to the US today due to the "Problematic" trans villain.
Overall I found it really good at the scene-level with beautiful sets, exciting battles, and likable characters but on the world-building scale I thought it fell apart a bit.
It would probably never get imported to the US today due to the "Problematic" trans villain.
prinCZess
Warrior, Writer, Performer, Perv
Really liked Escaflowne when I was younger--it's gorgeous, has a convoluted, 'everything and the kitchen sink' storyline that...kind of works but kind of doesn't but that I enjoyed the campiness of and isn't/wasn't the main draw for me anyways...because most importantly of all it had BOTH a noble, bright, knight-in-shining-armor type with wonderful hair, struggling against his previous losses AND a brooding, troubled hunk whose angsty revenge/combat-growing angstiness could only be contained by the power of vagina love!
...Yeah, I really dug the love story in Escaflowne in my young teens. Even the love triangle.
...Especially the love triangle.😞
Had managed to mentally edit out the incestous catgirl creeps, though. Thanks for reminding me they exist.
On the other hand, they are balanced-out a bit by Merle's mostly-innocent hyperactivity.
I rather doubt it holds up. Hell, I'm tempted at this point to compare it to Twilight, but its been many a moon since I watched Escaflowne (and never read/watched Twilight, so maybe that comparison wouldn't work). Oddly, it's one I do own though--gift from a friend's media collection that they got rid of in a long-distance move--so I do have the power to go back and watch it...And at some point I might. But I do clearly recall the story being kind've scattered and difficult to understand. Maybe watching the subbed version would alleviate that a little?
...Yeah, I really dug the love story in Escaflowne in my young teens. Even the love triangle.
...Especially the love triangle.😞
Had managed to mentally edit out the incestous catgirl creeps, though. Thanks for reminding me they exist.
On the other hand, they are balanced-out a bit by Merle's mostly-innocent hyperactivity.
I rather doubt it holds up. Hell, I'm tempted at this point to compare it to Twilight, but its been many a moon since I watched Escaflowne (and never read/watched Twilight, so maybe that comparison wouldn't work). Oddly, it's one I do own though--gift from a friend's media collection that they got rid of in a long-distance move--so I do have the power to go back and watch it...And at some point I might. But I do clearly recall the story being kind've scattered and difficult to understand. Maybe watching the subbed version would alleviate that a little?
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gral
Well-known member
Never fully watched Escaflowne, even though it was BIG in the Brazilian anime scene in the late 90's - it was one of the first anime series, maybe the first, which got translated and subbed just after it was released in Japan. Escaflowne was first aired in Japan in 1996, with episodes becoming available in Brazil in late '97, early '98 - a big thing when 'subbing' entailed buying the released tapes, doing analogical video editing and recording the final result on VHS - there was a guy who did that and mailed the tapes all over Brazil. Somehow, the story never gripped me enough to buy it(I did buy the whole Gundam Wing TV series from that guy, though).
Val the Moofia Boss
Well-known member
I thought Escaflowne was a heavily flawed gem. The art of the show is gorgeous. Very immersive setting and aesthetics. Loved the mecha swordfights to the sound of tense violin music, and the airship battles. Allen is awesome. Dillandau and Folken were great villains. Got some FF4 and FF9 vibes of being an underdog leading a resistance against the encoraching empire. Unfortunately the Hitomi/shoujo stuff is bloated and drags down the show, and then the animation studio ran out of budget at the episode 20 mark and had to rush the last 6 episodes (it was supposed to be a 36 episode series, so after episode 20 the story tried to cram 16 episodes of story into 5).
When Allen led the alliance against the Empire I was so hyped for an epic war arc, but then it stalled out when the Emperor activated his machine and then Allen and Van fought each other and then the sister reveal happened and it just sorta faceplanted.
Van was a twit. If Hitomi was to get with anyone, I'd prefer it to be Allen, though that'd require a story rewrite as he wasn't really interested in her during the story, which is understandable given he is under an immense amount of pressure, trying to recover his brainwashed sister, being tangled up in the awkward situation with the bastard prince and his sister-in-law who wants him too, and trying to lead a resistance against the empire. That man does not need more complications in his life at the moment.
I felt that Van's character potential was wasted. Almost his entire kingdom was destroyed, and yet he never really despaired over that. He didn't try looking for survivors or hoping of one day rebuilding his kingdom, or feel an undying hatred for the empire. He was just whining about Folken for petty reasons. He reacted almost as if the destruction of his homeland never happened.
Pointless nitpick: the Guymelefs aren't steampowered. We are shown that the Escaflowne is piloted by a dragon's heart, but we are never shown what powers the Guymelefs. They don't emit steam either. Seems like they are like the automail limbs from Fullmetal Alchemist situation where they just inexplicably move.
Eh... I understand that the psychic thing was added to at least try to make her be able to somewhat contribute to the plot (outside of doing the feminine thing of taming the men and getting them to do good things), but I felt they really botched the Hitomi/psychic storyline. The storyline really took up far too much screentime (at the expense of the much more interesting intrigue and the adventure and war stuff and exploring the setting) and... just wasn't exciting or interesting.
Yeah. Should have just focused on the war storyline.
It got a new English dub from FUNimation and a new blu ray box release a few years ago.
When Allen led the alliance against the Empire I was so hyped for an epic war arc, but then it stalled out when the Emperor activated his machine and then Allen and Van fought each other and then the sister reveal happened and it just sorta faceplanted.
Van was a twit. If Hitomi was to get with anyone, I'd prefer it to be Allen, though that'd require a story rewrite as he wasn't really interested in her during the story, which is understandable given he is under an immense amount of pressure, trying to recover his brainwashed sister, being tangled up in the awkward situation with the bastard prince and his sister-in-law who wants him too, and trying to lead a resistance against the empire. That man does not need more complications in his life at the moment.
I felt that Van's character potential was wasted. Almost his entire kingdom was destroyed, and yet he never really despaired over that. He didn't try looking for survivors or hoping of one day rebuilding his kingdom, or feel an undying hatred for the empire. He was just whining about Folken for petty reasons. He reacted almost as if the destruction of his homeland never happened.
Pointless nitpick: the Guymelefs aren't steampowered. We are shown that the Escaflowne is piloted by a dragon's heart, but we are never shown what powers the Guymelefs. They don't emit steam either. Seems like they are like the automail limbs from Fullmetal Alchemist situation where they just inexplicably move.
Eh... I understand that the psychic thing was added to at least try to make her be able to somewhat contribute to the plot (outside of doing the feminine thing of taming the men and getting them to do good things), but I felt they really botched the Hitomi/psychic storyline. The storyline really took up far too much screentime (at the expense of the much more interesting intrigue and the adventure and war stuff and exploring the setting) and... just wasn't exciting or interesting.
Yeah. Should have just focused on the war storyline.
It got a new English dub from FUNimation and a new blu ray box release a few years ago.
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
The other Guymelefs are also powered by dragon hearts. At one point Van winds up in a sanctioned duel against three of them at once and the king running the duel notes that Van's going for their dragon hearts and precisely disabling the other 'melefs rather than risking killing the other pilots.
Oh, incidentally, when I use the term "steampunk," this isn't typically a reference to steam power so much as a reference to the aesthetic of something that looks old-fashioned but actually represents a form of advanced technology that would be difficult or impossible to accomplish with modern technology.
I saw VoE when i was young,and i liked it.Althought i now find it difficult to belive that medieval or even steam era countries could build mechs.
Now, - Kore wa zombie desu ka - 2 seazons,12 episodes each.I saw only first.
Ayumu Aikawa is killed by murderer/agent of Underworld and cute girl/ ,but ressurected as zombie by cute Necromancer ,who start live with him.
He also become capable of becoming magical girl and fight monsters from Underworld.
Bad Underwold,good magical girls? not exactly true,Villiers who control magical girls/except our hero/ plan to invade Earth,just like Underwold.And cute Necromancer is from that place,too.
So,we have monster fighting and political struggles,but mainly it is slice-of -life of our MC with his growing harem,which include vampire ninjas,too.
Silly? yes,but it was made as parody,and is well made.I liked it,becouse good parody is harder to made then good zombie anime.
All in all,if you have free time,see that.Or at least see fragment where MC turn into magical girl.
I would say - 7/10.
Now, - Kore wa zombie desu ka - 2 seazons,12 episodes each.I saw only first.
Ayumu Aikawa is killed by murderer/agent of Underworld and cute girl/ ,but ressurected as zombie by cute Necromancer ,who start live with him.
He also become capable of becoming magical girl and fight monsters from Underworld.
Bad Underwold,good magical girls? not exactly true,Villiers who control magical girls/except our hero/ plan to invade Earth,just like Underwold.And cute Necromancer is from that place,too.
So,we have monster fighting and political struggles,but mainly it is slice-of -life of our MC with his growing harem,which include vampire ninjas,too.
Silly? yes,but it was made as parody,and is well made.I liked it,becouse good parody is harder to made then good zombie anime.
All in all,if you have free time,see that.Or at least see fragment where MC turn into magical girl.
I would say - 7/10.
It was always my intent to have this just be for my reviews, but I've never much cared if other people want to discuss stuff, too. I would very much like to maintain this as a thread for my reviews, though, which you'll note contains an index with links to reviews I've posted in the OP.