Current watches

[Arakawa]

To my view?  Borrowers?  Never a particularly interesting concept.

Doing it well or poorly doesn't really help it.

Think of it as Kiki's Delivery Service 2.0, then. That is, it's certainly not everyone's cup of tea, but much like Kiki the concept when you try to explain it to someone sounds about a gazillion times more boring than it actually is.

[Merc]

Watched Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters ep 1. First thing to say: the dance sequence at the start of the end credits was hilarious. Particularly watching the boss guy join in.

I haven't changed my opinion from what I said of this from the preview either: the sentai suits are neat, and I like the special effects, but god, those buddy robots just ruin the whole experience for me (they really, really do).

More comments after actually watching show:
The first monster of the day was pretty meh, though the mooks are pretty sharp appearance-wise. I like their design, purple suits and all.

I also got a kick out of the transformation sequence involving a shout of "It's Morphing Time!". It's a nice power rangers joke. The announcer guy for this series lacks the cheesy glory of the Gokaiger's announcer though. He just doesn't sound excited when he's used to call out attacks, or the appearance of new items.

Actually, the whole episode lacks the glory of Gokaiger, though it wasn't a bad episode 1 all things considered, and the high tech theme works well considering all the special effects being used (so much shiny metal!). There's a matrix vibe to the show too.

Still, not sure I'll stick with this series, I'll give it 3-4 more eps to try and reel me in (those robot buddies work against it fairly bad).

[Merc]

Oh lordy. I actually didn't realize until ep 3 that the whole show is a power rangers tribute/shout out. It took me that long to somehow catch onto the fact that the mechs (good guys' and bad guys') are called megazords. They were called that in eps 1-2 too, not sure how I missed it then.

Then immediately I caught onto other references that I hadn't realized were references like the fact that their transformation sequence involves sunglasses (Jungle Fury), characters have the 'civilian powers' (a lot of the disney era rangers had), evil computer virus unleashed becomes main villain (RPM)... *shakes head*

I've decided that I don't mind the red robot buddy. I still hate the blue and yellow ones though.

I keep feeling like Go-Buster Red's sister introduced him to the dreaded Neko-ken technique, except she used chickens instead of cats. Because how else does someone end up with a fear of -chickens-, honestly?

[thepanda]

I keep feeling like Go-Buster Red's sister introduced him to the dreaded Neko-ken technique, except she used chickens instead of cats. Because how else does someone end up with a fear of -chickens-, honestly?

Roosters are mean little sons of b*s. I can totally see someone being attacked when they were young and carrying that over into adulthood. I have a cousin like that with geese.

[Uldihaa]

Haiyore! Nyarlko-san (Warning: TVTropes link)

A comedy. I can't describe more without loss of SAN(sanity). But I guess I'll have to. It's a bizarre fusion on Cthulhu Mythos, moe, and Lucky Star (-20 SAN). That's right, Call of Cthulhu has been moefied... and it's freaking funny (-20 SAN). Nyarlko (Nyarlathotep) is a Excel-level genki (alien) girl with a near-Excel-level motormouth(-20 SAN). It's been the best straight-up comedy I've seen this season. If you like Lucky Star, this show will be fun; if you wondered how the hell someone could moefy the Cthulhu Mythos, well here you go.

Just make sure you bring your luckiest SAN dice... you're going to need them. ;)

[Ragnar]

I am watching a fairly decent number of shows this season (read: more than one):

Nazo no Kanojou X
Dusk Maiden of Amnesia
Mine Fujiko's Oppai Exhibition Hour Mine Fujiko to iu Onna (New Lupin III)
Mouretsu Pirates

I am a few weeks behind on most but will be catching up tonight :3

[Dracos]

Totally out of watching.

Still reading though. 

[Uldihaa]

This is tangentially related to anime, in that most of the characters are from various anime, but isn't actually an anime. It's a PSP game celebrating Good Smile's 10th anniversary. I was reminded of it (not hard to do) when I read Brian's "Shuffle" Haruhi crack-fic. Specifically what happens to one character in particular.

Behold The Horror of the Cute.

Also, why this is kinda sorta relevant. A.K.A 'Hnnnnngggggg! So cute!' 

[thepanda]

Mikuru Beam is too cute.

And Illya has the scariest looking special in the game, apparently. o_O

[Ragnar]

That game is really cute.

[Brian]

Just got back from seeing a production of Les Miserables in the city.  I guess it's the current tour?

Liked:



• The performer who played Enjorlas (he was pretty good)
• The orchestra
• The performer who played Cosette (older)

Didn't like:



• Shouting when there should have been singing (I suspect this was the director's call, given the entire cast seemed to fall into it at some point)
• The audience applauding every single musical number
• The comedy being wedged in at every opportunity (how many dick jokes does Les Miserables need?  Outside of 'Master of the House', the answer is 'none')
• Some songs being cut, all songs being faster than I'm used to (no 'Little People'?  What the hell, guys!)

Not sure how to feel about:



• The amount of tech they put in.  They clearly had competent stagecraft teams, so why rely on a screen and digital projections so much?  Maybe just the fact that I worked in stagecraft and feel the love of the, er, craft, taking a backseat to the latest technical marvel....  I guess it wasn't awful -- it really did feel like it worked during the sewer sequence, but the rest I'm not sure on....

Anyway.  I'm being taken to see it again.  Hopefully it was just rough tonight because it was opening night.

[Music-chan]

My comment on the tech in Les Mis: It was a nice addition and very well done.  Without the tech, they usually just used black backdrops (If I'm remembering correctly) so the tech, while not necessary, added an interesting touch.

Also, from what I remember, they still used almost all of the original sets so the tech didn't cause them to remove anything that was in the original tour.

[Brian]

We saw different tours, though.  I think.  There are two simultaneous tours aren't there?

Edit: Yeah, doesn't appear the tour we saw has been to Canada....

[Dracos]

It really bugs me just how much was cut.  Lots of scenes lost their impact due to missing elements earlier in the story or just strangely changing where the scene was held (Empty chairs and tables ...in the graveyard instead of the restaurant/bar?)

Also, the wedding scene was really off.

[Music-chan]

We didn't watch it in Canada, we watched the tour when it went through Lansing, MI.

I didn't notice any cutting, persay.  It's true, they had to do scenes differently because they were no longer using the rotating stage (I missed that the most, to be honest) and they did shorten a lot of scenes that were just action happening.

At any rate, while I do miss the original performance, the changes didn't bother me as much as they did you guys.  Ah well.