Mercurial Morpheus

I'd been following this for awhile out of morbid curiousity. Aside from the trailers, I've seen ome of HG's con presentations. Anyone else seen these? They kind of explain why it's turning out this way. Basically, whomever's running it details what's gone into, how it came to be, etcetera. I remember the Sac Anime one about seven or so monthes back. Sac-Anime's a small con, so there was little reason to miss it. I almost won another Max MPC (the only one I have) if I hadn't confused D.R. Movie with DR Master (I kept saying Dr.). I watched it with bemusement at the marketing, and some was rather appalled when he showed clips of Mospeada and said, "this was the state of the art in 1984". I take it he's never heard of Nausicaa or Macross: Do You Remember Love? At the panel, he explained that the Japanese studios told them to outsource to Korea. So they found D.R. Movie, and he mentioned some of their work. He did mention Yukikaze. Unfortunately, it seems most people came to the understanding that they did all of the CG work in it, which isn't true. Most of the important stuff was handled by a much more (I can't believe I'm saying this) compentent company. He then showed the clip. First thing I noticed was the shear amount of CGI. I'm not a big fan of CGI for the sake of CGI, and this was a prime example why. Apart from the Invid launch, I really saw little that couldn't have been relatively easy to do by hand in that preview. I actually asked if all the ships would always be CG. I think he said mostly, but sometimes not. Seeing the motionless Alpha on the ground in full CG for no reason didn't build my hopes of that though. This was all pretty early footage, so I gave the look of it some slack. The hand animation looked decent. All in all, i was largely underwhelmed. Talking to the rep later, along with some of what he said at the panel gave me a good idea why this happened. I'd asked about the abundence of CG in private, and he gave the good old "everybodies doing it" speech. Basically, they were of the notion that CGI battle scenes were the hip and cool thing to do, so they went with it. All in all it was well recieved, with some kids saying it was the greatest animation they'd ever seen (compared to the like of Yu-Gi-Oh or something, I forget exactly). I loathed the overuse of CG, and thought the character design was a bit too lean. Everyone looked guant and musculer. Basically the whole selling point was how much more cutting edge the animation was compared to a 22 year old property (ya think?), and how great the vocal cast and studios working on it were. I saw another trailer at Ani-Magic with a far more respectable rep and Tony Oliver. He played it first, then answered questions. This one was completed animation. The CGI had improved, but I still thought it blended terribly and lacked purpose. This was far from Macross Zero in both looks and usage (M0 actually used hand animation when CG was unnecessary, this doesn't). Basically, it looked like Xenogears. 2D characters in stark 3D enviroments. It wa just there to be there. Because CG is "the thing" now. Yet they didn't really put it to good use. The best direction was still the Invid launch. JustVinnie, the two reviews I've read did pan the CG. Hard. It elates me to no end. The straight scenes sans CG looked pretty good. Personally, I too find the CGI beneigth some fan efforts. Take this for example. The YouTube quality doesn't do it justice, but it's quicker this way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f1nRjD9PhA This one had voice acting involved. Here's a simple question maybe someone can answer. Why does this show sound like a dub? It still has that rough, floating voice sound and stiff performance of something not in its own language. I've never seen a cartoon sound like this. Especially bad was the girl with short, pink hair. She sounded completely unnatural. I've heard fandubs with better mixing than this. Knowing I was in a room of Robotechies, I kept my mouth shut about it. Still, it irked me more than the CG in ways. That Chase Masterson line in the trailer was a prime example (Lita, why?). Hopefully it will improve. I doubt it. The rep was much more understanding afterwards (Tom Bateman I think). He could completely understand my disapproval of the abundance of CG. We actually got to talking about Orguss. I asked why it wasn't choosen in favor of Mospeada. He wasn't sure, but remembered something about Carl Mecek supposedly hating the show. He'd never seen it, so i burned him some fansubs. All in all, I'm still morbidly curious about it. Though I know to keep my expectations down (though I've always known to be wary about US produced anime). I'm hoping to be plensently surprised, but expect to feel about the same as watching a GONZO production where they went computer happy. I haven't even finished the Macross Saga of Robotech (switched to the real thing, and never looked back).

Plenty of anime to hate? Nope, I'm just thorough in my explanations. I mentioned all of four shows. If counting those I didn't mention, that bring the total up to about five or six (I loathed Blue Sub 6 when I saw it ages ago). Considering that I've seen over six hundred different titles in whole or part, I'd say that there's far more to love. It's just that that's not what this thread is about. Well, like I said, I liked the second arc (except for the lame, nonsensical last scene). My problem was that, in the case of the first arc, when you are just being introduced to these characters, it doesn't help when they act erractically. This is something that would've worked better had it been the second or third arc. I'm sure that if I had started on the second arc, I'd probably be enjoying it more, as the SoD would have been set up. It's just hard for me to care about what's going on when I have no feeling for the characters. It's kind of impossible to feel sad about fiendships being destroyed, when you don't really see the fiendship in the first place, and the balance between funny and psycho was not the best executed. Groundhog Day is something of a poor analogy, as one gets a feel for the character before the weird stuff goes down, and it's the same story each time with him taking a different approach. Whereas in Higurashi, no time is really given on feel, and it's a vastly different story each time. It's kind of hard when you develop your cast one at a time by having them all act differently each time. So basically it's one of those that's impossible to truly enjoy until the whole thing is done, or so I've been lead to believe. These work best when one is given clues to work with, but the shows so vague... Don't get me started on the ridiculous "TIPS". A show should be able to be understood without reading a novelette of background material. ;; Like I said, I really do want to like this show, and actually knew what I was getting into (the story arc thing, and had heard a few things about psychoness) it's just that I've never before been so badly derailed by the directing of a show (except maybe GANTZ, with it's lousey camera work, crummy CGI, and the fact that all the TV censorship caused plot holes). I've stopped watching it once the second arc was done, to give me some time to maybe approach it with better, and more accurate expectations (like how I planned to wait on Last Exile until the hype died down). I hear the third arcs the make or break one anyway. Actually, they just finished the game, or so I hear. I also can never understand why so many animes are based off of mangas with tightly knit stories, yet are unfinished. It's like reading the story of a lifetime, then ripping the last chapter or two out of the book. Again, I don't hate it, nor do I really think it's among the worse, but I certainly don't see where all the praise is coming from with such poor execution. I really think it probably has more to do with its originallity than its quality. Anime seems to always sell better on style than substance.

The Hi-Nu news is awesome. Especially in how the design work will be done by Izubuchi.

Like Mr March, I can usually tell if I'll like something within the first seven or so episodes. Though if I see potential, I'll usually stick with it as I know some things develop slowly. I've rarely been wrong in this. I just don't like judging something too soon (mostly because I tie of people on forums that drop shows ater one episode [and I'm not talking about extreme cases like the above]). That said, I rarely come across shows I hate. The worst I can think of is Baku Ten. I wanted to like this show. I've always had a problem with GONZO and their obsession with CGI, so I was looking at their recent titles for something I'd like. This show is really awful. It's one of the only shows that I did judge after seven episodes. The CGI is awful and barely blends (I dislike CGI hybreds in general so take that with a grain of salt), the plot seemed to be going nowhere (it's one o those where it's episodic until the last few episodes). The characters were the most cliched stereotypes I'd seen in a long while. This has always been a big thing for me. Usually, if I like the characters, I'll enjoy a show no matter how weak it is (with the exception of the exceptionally). Here you had the mysterious, tough girl (Jo), the exuberent, wild girl (Meg), the smartalec, smart girl (I can't remember her name) [i remember a rather uncomfortable moment fcused on her that also helped to turn me against this show], and of course, the no nonsense, sexy leader (Sai). The worse or me though is that, out of all the bad, I love the character designs. So I'll probably wind up with figurines of these generic characters. That was a few years back. About the worse recent one I can think of is Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. It's told in arcs, each seperate stories, and is one of those "nothing is as it seems" shows. So the first arc is four episodes. In this, you have scenes that work best with well developed characters, being executed with undeveloped new ones. The lead acts ather erratically. Sometimes he's paranoid, other times he's not. It starts all cute. Then he jokes with a perfect stranger about murder and learns that there is an unsolved case. Suddenly, he's all paranoid and suspects his own friends. It doesn't help that his friends start acting crazy as well.Apparently you have to watch the answer arc to understand. The second arc was better. The characters acted, for the most part, consistently, and it was less bull. The ending kind of ruined it. Spoilers some jerk who actually wants people to love this show revealed confuse me a bit about the storyline. I basically hear that most people who don't become true believers usually are either hooked or finally certain they hate it come the third arc. The really sad thing is that I really want to like this show. My friend had been raving about it, it's described as one o the underappreciated gems of the year, and so far all I can see is some really bad direction and storytelling ruining a very promising concept. It's all about suspension of disbelief with me, and this is one of the few shows that didn't execute that well as I couldn't get into the character in that all important first arc. There's a manga and a game series. I have heard that the anime cuts a lot of material and is unfinished. So I may enjoy this in a different format. I don't hate this show, and don't exactly think it's the worst. The verdicts still out. {ok, something happened, and I lost everything up to this point, will try to remember} I agree 100% there. I watched a few and thought the characters were really lame, and the story uninteresting. It's set up as half monster of the week, and half coherent plot. Problem is that to get to the plot you have to sit through episode after episode of pointless story featuring character with about as much personality as a twig (except the blond [i think her name was Dojima], she was amusing), with bad character designs and cheap CG backgrounds with a color palatte of five shades of grey, black, and brown. It was touted as the mature, adult alternative to the recent fluff. I've seen said fluff exhibit far more engaging plotlines than this supposedly adult anime. Apparrent in order to be considered mature, a show most be shallow and dull with a seemingly dark tone. I actually liked Aquarion, though I've yet to finish it. I do wish I'd have watched Eureka Seven instead, as I too have difficulty getting into the flavor of the month. Hype has a very adverse affect on me unless I'm already a fan. Same thing went for Last Exile. I got really tired of a show that used CG as a crutch being proclaimed "the most beautifully animated TV show ever". Great character designs do not make up for poor integration. So I haven't really watched that one. One show I have been enjoying recently is related to an old show that I though was horrible. An uber popular show you might have heard of called Hellsing. I don't know when or how I wound up hating this thing, and do attribute my then hatrid of GONZO in part to it. Even when I tried to watch it with an open mind, I found it comically bad. The plot goes nowhere and is mostly uninteresting. The characters are undeveloped and shallow. Not quite the stereotype of BakuTen (with the exception of one), but close. A really cool concept (a youn girl becoming a vampire) is left largely unexplored and mishandled. The animation is bland and is covered up with a vague attempt at style. The only thing going for this show was vampire, a smattering of action, characters that could've been good but aren't, and a quirky soundtrack which is okay on it's own, but rather weak as a soundtrack. This show horrid. The worst part is that thanks to a well orchestrated ad campeign by Pioneer, it became one of the most popular shows of it's time. Everyone seemed to love this dreck. Alucard and Celes cosplays were everywhere (and mostly still are). The worst for me is Alucard. Everybody spoke of him as if he were one of the greatest fictional characters of our time. Apparrently all a character need be to be popular is to be a badass. No development, no depth needed, just ass kicking ability. Alucard was easily the worse main character in any show I'd ever seen. He's one dimensional, over powered, and just plain psychotic. There's no real explaination as to why he's with Hellsing, why he took Celes under his wing, and what his motives are outside of a hatrid for fake vampires and the obsession for a challenge. So he's a one trick pony whose only purpose is to be the egnigmatic cool character. Yet without any depth, and no allusion ro any existing, I found him rather lame, boring, and simply a characature. Yet people loved him, which drove me nuts. Worse, The dub is really populat, and I felt that Crispen Freeman's vioce only solidified that Alucard was a psychotic jerk. At least the japanese actor brought some sort of balance and gentlemanliness to him. All gone in the dub. I found out at AX 05, that I actually wasn't along in my hatrid of the show. The manga creator actually hated it too. Hence , with the show's inexplecable popularity, they were able to redo it as an OAV. I approached it with an open mind, and was amazed to find that it was mostly GONZO's fault for why the show was so bad. This version actually has a coherent, advancing plot. It has insinuations that it will actually go somewhere. Better, the characters are actually showing signs of personality. It subtile, but there. Celes is no longer whiney about her position for the sake of charactrization (the best GONZO tried to do). Integra seems to have some depth to her outside of just the tough leader, though this still remains to be seen. The biggest improvement has gone to the character most in need - Alucard. While still weak overall, there's a bit of motivation added to him, as well as nightmares that he has, giving him significantly more depth than before. Sadly, Crispen Freeman will be returning for the dub, though I wouldn't be watching it anyway. All in all, the OAV is leaps and bounds over the old show, which should be buried and forgotten.

Cool tidbit from the official site. Apparrently Honneamise has made a special agreement with Kinokuniya Booksellers. They've decided to release a limited R1 version of the R2 remastered set. It's exactly the same outside of the region coding. So it's basically for those that absolutely can't wait.

Man, you guys are making me jealous. I'm definately picking at least one up when I can afford it. Good to hear it's been worth the wait.

Those look great Jonwayne. Especially the DOM. While I generally go flat for my model schemes, some look great in metallic. Where might one get these kits. That Dom would look great against my G-3.

He didn't. It's just at a nausiating angle now.

You can get it on MySpleen. I highly recommend both it, and Building Empire.

I think that's the first I've seen someone not recognize that word. I sympathize, Gaijin.

I wouldn't worry about being shut down. It's a fan site, and does still fall into fee-use. You're basically promoting them. Now, if you were offering direct downloads of the show, or full scans of artbooks or mp3s, I could see there being a problem. About time the site was up. I forgot all about it yesterday, otherwise I would've stumbled upon it sooner. I kept checking daily. Damn elections. The boxset is interesting in it's look. It's similar to the Patlabor ones in it's simplistic stylings focused on model like mecha. I too can't say I'm too pleased with the modern Mikimoto stuff. His new Gunbuster art doesn't appeal to me as much. Though he's still among my favorites. I liked the look of the old US Renditions covers better. It still looks better than Sadamoto's take on the characters as demonstrated above. It's a weird mishmash of both their art styles. Especially Noriko's face, which tries to combine Mikimoto's rounder look, with Sadamoto's angular one. The logo's interesting. Stylized, but not overly so. Interesting incorporation of the emblem. I kind of wish they had labed it by its full name "Aim for the Top: Gunbuster". Oh well. The booklet looks nice. The trailer they had was good. Not too many spoilers and such, plus no annoying narrator. Not much new info from the sites. Still no imput on what the "30 minutes of video material" will be. My guess is the science episodes and three other clips. That doesn't leave any room for the open matte version of "At the End of the Endless Stream". While I'm happy with my videos (seeing as I prefer them ;, it'll be interesting to see it with a less loose translation. I remember hearing something about a major fan being in charge (was that here or at a con?). I know Digital Panic's and Studio ADTRW's subs already had me looking at scenes differently. Namely the episode four discussion between Kazumi and Ohta. Kazumi uses the saying, "Spilt water can not be returned to the cup" to which he replies, "If water is spilt, pour more in". It just feels different than the USR version. Bring on the contests. Hopefully, all of just the people in this thread will enter. I can't see that site getting too much traffic seeing how Gunbuster's been out of the limelight for some time. I know I'll be saving up cash to buy this on the 20th. I may even buy copies for my non-believing friends. I loaned an extra tape (I found a spare Manga tape once) to one and he was interested. He said he'll get it when it comes out, so I wouldn't have to part with my precious USR tapes. It also seems to confirm that there will be no english dub. Thank goodness for that. What appears to be the DVD cover for the movie. I can't read japanese, so I'm guessing .;; http://www2.gainax.co.jp/shop/index.cgi?rm...A1%E04=2%A1%DE0

I used a Gundam marker once on a toy of the Albion I have. While I like the paneled look, it was far darker than I'd have liked. I can't seenm to get my local shop to stock any grey ones. It never occured to me to use pencil. I'll have to give that a try. I did use the marker again (I though I had fully dryed it out by accident, but was wrong) on my RXF-91. while it's still somewhat darker than I'd like, the drying out seemed to help, as it looked much better. I just got tired of it not having a head (I wanted to line that piece before assembly). I even lined a rail gun, and it wasn't half bad. Though I still would like it thinner and less noticable. The lines scream for attention on my Albion. It still looks good, but it's an obvious first attempt.

I've watched some of Dancouga. It's an awesome series. Evan if it did mess up on what certain U.S. cities actually looked like. Yes, it's not fully formed until several episodes in. I've seen about half, but it's been awhile. Interesting to here it's toy is being reissued. Maybe I''l have a chance to pick one up.

I know what you mean. I wound up watching episode three thinking I'd already seen two. I saw von Kuspen and thought, "who the heck is that guy?" "What's up with Monique?". I can't say that's really happened before. I still haven't gotten around to two.

The correct term is "Buster Home Run". I just refer to them as the shoulder pieces. I know I'm getting it as soon as I can afford one. Anyone figure out the best place to buy yet?

Those are great pic. Thanks for the find.

Cool, they're making an Ideon. While I've only seen a little, I'd probably pick one up. Those wanting to see it, don't go to the only Ideon site on the web if you don't want massive, and I mean massive, spoilers. I told my friend about it, and while watching the fifth episode, he browses the site and reveals the ending. I could still justifiably kill him for it. Keith, I too worry for the 4th disc. If it comes then it comes I guess. I doubt there'll be two releases for this though.

Damn, you beat me to it. I read about it on ANN as I avoid AOD. February 20th release. * Newly translated English subtitles for all six episodes * Bonus clips totaling 30 minutes * 24-page color booklet * All packaged in an original deluxe art box imported from Japan 30 minutes of "bonus clips"... That should mean the science eisodes and possibly the shorter clips from the box. The puzzling thing is that that's a bit too short to include the open matte version of episode six. It'll be disappointing in that respect if it's not there. Oh well. I like how it's two episodes a disc. The last thing I would've wanted is them jamming it all on one. I know some companies *cough*ADV*cough* would've probably done so.

There's no info yet on how lng it is. Here's the resource site I got it from. That's easier than just posting each new release. http://www.manganews.net/seriesinfo.php?id=5321 A Chapter Extra was just put out too.

There appeas to be a translation of a Diebuster manga. You can get it here. http://dreamorabt.com/download.php?id=1552...%5D.zip.torrent I still haven't finished Diebuster itself.

Holy... That is the funniest thing I've heard in ages. That stays on my HDD. Thanks Noriko.

Sounds interesting. I recently completed a Mk-II AEUG version I got at AX for 27 bucks. I'm not sure the difference mentioned, but I have no complaints with this kit as far as posability is concerned. I didn't know there was a difference between the two. I just chose based on the colors. Basically, I've got a great kit of the Mk-II as piloted by Emma Sheen (made more sense to paint the pilot this way).

I'd love to watch these fights. Sounds like it might to fun to watch.

Being as my grandfather worked on B-17s during WWII, I've always been more partial to prop planes in terms of design like the afore mentioned P-47 and P-51. The B-17 will always be my favorite overall. As a kid, I didn't really find jets all that cool, looks wise or other. I thought most of them looked the same. I still get a smirk out of this one pic I have of a B-24 with a sign in its nose turret that said "Jet's are for kids". Still, it's said to hear a plane with such an illustrious career. I'll admit that it's far better looking than some of the new fighters. Maybe it's the Macross influence. I do have an F-14 model in the wings waiting to be built. I was even thinking of customizing it to Macross at least decals wise.

It's about time. Though with Ani-magic coming up, I don't know when I'll be able to watch it. I've only seen the first four, and four was RAW. So I'll probably rewatch the series from the beginning. Maybe I'll watch it on the 5+ hour roadtrip down. Though i do want to finish Z Gundam, and have plenty of new Cobra. I definitely need o get a job for the season if I want t get the SOC soon.