-Tom

Just because you hate Haruhi personality, doesn’t mean everyone does. I downloaded Haruhi without knowing all its hype (I was not heavily into anime then), but I like it. Kyon cynicism and Haruhi “spunk” make it work for me. Not everyone like it due to hype or KyoAni.

@psgel

I can’t say much about Kanon if it doesn’t fit your taste, but it has alot of foreshadowing. There alot of hints dropped along the way that make me go “Oh yeah, how could I miss this” when I rewatch the series. I am not an expert on this stuff, but I think that is good story telling. The moe might be hard to stomach for some, but I hope you could look past that and at least finish Kanon (and Clannad too) and give it a review. Hopefully nothing below 60 ^^;

Anyway, as I said, I think you’ve got a biased opinion of Kanon. Since what happened until now is Yuuichi “building” up his relationships with the other girls. Makoto’s arc ended, this leads you to Mai’s arc, then Shiori’s arc, and finally, Ayu’s arc. In my opinion, these three arc are the real business. So, basically, I would say that you haven’t seen a thing yet. XD
Just a hint, here.

We are a bit off topic, here. ^^;

Not only want I to thank you about giving me the hope that Clannad may be longer than 24 episodes, but I also thank you for presenting me Shugo Chara, which may become one of this season’s best shows. Was the first episode enough to convince you to blog this show, psgels ?

You know, a political science professor from a while back once told me that it’s the cynical people who find themselves interested and amused the most. One can expect everything to be hackneyed and lackluster, but if you set your standards so low, you’ll invariably find something good that gets you excited and pleased. On the other hand, being optimistic will end up highlighting the worst parts over the best, and will likely cause one to grow more critical and unforgiving of faults. Perhaps that’s why, ironically, I actually do enjoy most shows that I watch, despite my cynicism.

this however is just my opinion. but my point is that nowadays, the masses have started to adore specific anime that the masses themselves believe to be great. so instead of originality in anime continue to grow, the producers end up pumping more anime that please the otakus. but in the end, the aim is to make money. look at kyoani, because of success with air, they went with haruhi, then lucky star, and now clannad. to the point that it doesnt even look like the are trying to be different or eclectic, but making anime that people in turn would love, or attempt to love because it is in the same vein of what the loved before.

now look at madhouse and bones doing the complete opposite. stating that i cant understand how people can like something different from what i like is indeed flawed. that was the fanboy in me speaking. however when people refuse to view anime that is outside the norm, or too different, isnt art being sacrificed for commercialism?? imagine if kyoani made noein or terra in the same vein as their other anime u cant deny hpw different reception of those shows would be.

as the masses continue to ineffectually follow themselves, this can only hurt anime in the future because companies would be compelled to make what the masses want, instead of telling stories that they want to. and this decline can now be seen in how many bloggers, and folks are getting fed up with anime, and losing that spark that they discovered when they/we first set our eyes on the bebops, the berserks, the karekanos, the evangelions, and other classics that became popular in their day for their unique executions, and not for the demands or stereotypes.

Mirrinus: “Original” may indeed not be the best way to describe Terra, Noein and Kemonozume if you’re really picky. How about creative?

Haruhi skewered and parodied as many stereotypes as it embraced. It did a good job subverting and lampshading tropes, as well as being quite genre-savvy without degenerating into a total breakdown of the fourth wall.

Do you honestly think anyone but the most dogmatic critic would say that a show lacks anything that was moving, or complex characters, or character development? I respect the writer of this blog because even though I disagree with many of his views on anime, he at least does so with recognition that it is really nothing more than a subjective standard, as numerously different as the number of viewers. Since you’re already a member of AnimeSuki, I’m sure you can find hundreds of pages of well-written insights by sensible anime viewers regarding the many subtleties of the show. The character development and complexities are actually quite real, just not blatantly in-your-face like most other shows; they require reading into actions, not just reading the subtitles on your screen.

And as for me, I’m personally a complete cynic when it comes to originality. I believe there’s absolutely nothing new under the sun nowadays, and even the most original show you recommend to me will unvaribly be compared to all manner of literature and entertainment in the world. I am, after all, an avid reader of tvtropes.org, and after reading all that, nothing will ever appear original to me. You think originality is the most important thing? I couldn’t disagree more: execution will always be the lynchpin for my enjoyment of any series. After all, originality in it of itself is hardly anything great. It’s not mutually exclusive with being boring or uninteresting, is it?

There’s a right way and a wrong way to criticize a show. You can talk about real flaws of a show, such as animation quality, plot pacing, storyboarding, character stereotypes, etc., or you can talk about perceived flaws that can only be supported with exaggerated hyperboles that fall apart upon examination. The most grievious error of the latter type is to question how anyone else could possibly like something that you don’t like. It makes you come off as arrogant, uneducated, and more detestable that the worst sort of fanboy. After all, you’d technically be displaying fanboying tendencies against fanboys…which is just laughably ridiculous.

I haven’t watched Shana II but hasn’t it always been a light series with major ups and downs? I kind of figured this was just kind of like “Okay people I know you all forgot what the Guze no Tomogara is so we’ll recap to show you”. I dunno.

I’m still downloading Shugo Chara but I’ve read the manga and I have to say it’s my favorite out of all the PEACH-PITT works. It really focuses on the whole theme of “finding who you truly are” which is something I don’t see much of anymore. Now if only the character designs were better….

Also, that itadakimasu, is that referring the fans’ habits to highlight the foods used in Kyoani-productions?

Lucky Star… not as into it, but I still think it’s an OK series. Very “take it or leave it.” But then, I actually like moe, and moe really IS the only thing Lucky Star has going for it. (:

As for Clannad… well, I have yet to watch more than an episode of Kanon, but I *loved* Air, so I have pretty high hopes for this one. I really need to watch through both Kanon and Clannad sometime… they may be horribly melodramatic and angsty, but when it’s done well, I don’t mind such things. (:

-Tom

Anyway, CLANNAD was amazing for me. I’m going to love watching it every week. I haven’t watched Shana yet since I’m waiting on the sub but I already know it’s going to be awesome anyways. As for Shugo Chara! I think I’m going to check that out later in the day.

I was surprised with Clannad and I pretty much agree with psgels’ review of it, too many stereotypes but the interesting characters are appealing enough for me to return to have a quick watch. I loved the ending animation. Don’t know if I can handle 52 episodes of it though, I may just skip around. The male lead is alot more better here than in Kanon though.

Shugo Chara looks interesting, I’ll have to check it out.