Frequently I feel that I should update this blog only to realise that I've got nothing worth posting. Critics would point out that this hasn't stopped me in the past but fortunately having no readers means having no critics. Yes! Pyrrhic victory!
With no inspiration I guess I'm just left with the two things that I can go on about long after people stopped caring: complaining about WoW and 'reviewing' anime. So let's do this.
1) WoW
Seriously, who's idea was it to give rogues an AoE attack?
2) Anime
I'd finished watching the series Gantz several weeks ago and had intended on talking about it but hadn't in the hopes that I'd come up with something better instead. So enjoy mediocrity.
The basic premise of Gantz is that when people die this black sphere called Gantz copies and conscripts them onto an alien fighting team. If they survive then they can go back home and live their life like nothing happened until the next time. If they die, game over.
That's the show in a nutshell, and conceptually it seems pretty cool. But just like communism, what works in theory does not always work in practise.
Gantz, like a lot of anime, has terrible action scenes. And like a lot of anime, the action is fairly central. What distinguishes Gantz from the rest is that it excels at failing. Dragon Ball Z, Naruto and Bleach have got nothing on this series. 'How?' you gasp as your monocle falls off, possible into a glass of champagne. Let's see:
-As I've mentioned previously Gantz acts like a manga/comic in that time essentially stops for the characters to speak;
-The characters seem incapable of remembering that they have guns, and so fights are drawn out for as long as it takes them to remember what they are holding onto;
-Adding onto the last point, the characters also seem to be unable to take any action without discussing it. This would be acceptable if their plans were complex but really they all basically boil down to 'shoot the alien, don't get killed';
-The animation just isn't that good. Now I don't need motion picture quality pictures but Gantz is just unpleasant. The show does all the classics: recycled animation, shots where it's just people shooting, awkward no fluid movement etc.
I could go on but I've got other ground to cover.
I'm used to bad fight scenes in TV and anime (I practically expect it) and can ignore it if there's a good plot, deep characters, whatever. Too bad Gantz doesn't swing that way. Once again like far too much anime out there, the characters are shallow and the dialogue just doesn't feel natural (even taking translation into account).
Onto the good points (sort of).
Initially my favourite part of the 26 episode show were the scenes in the waiting room when the newcomers and surviving players all teleport in. While I thought these could be interesting scenes, the aforementioned wooden dialogue lets them down.
It doesn't help that the characters are all terminally stupid, as the survivors consistently fail to explain the situation and the newcomers are all strawman doubters despite being seeing people getting teleported in from the head down.
Finally, as I'm running rather long, this show has a high body count. Seriously high. Most of the cast are red shirts, and the rest are wearing mauve and feeling worried. In a better show this would create some brilliant suspense but given Gantz quality you can't bring yourself to care enough.
However if you do get attached to anyone, prepare to be saddened at some point. I found myself liking a pair of characters and hoped that they'd never resolve their relationship little plot point, because that was the only thing keeping them alive.
It's a shame that Gantz sucks so much because the premise is interesting and it can be taken in many directions. The series could have been about straight adrenaline-pumping action, or the players trying to cope with the surreal double life, or even an exploration into existence and meaning. Instead it tries for all and sucks so hard that light cannot escape it.
Perhaps in several decades when Gantz is basically forgotten someone will plagiarise it and make what should have been.
With no inspiration I guess I'm just left with the two things that I can go on about long after people stopped caring: complaining about WoW and 'reviewing' anime. So let's do this.
1) WoW
Seriously, who's idea was it to give rogues an AoE attack?
2) Anime
I'd finished watching the series Gantz several weeks ago and had intended on talking about it but hadn't in the hopes that I'd come up with something better instead. So enjoy mediocrity.
The basic premise of Gantz is that when people die this black sphere called Gantz copies and conscripts them onto an alien fighting team. If they survive then they can go back home and live their life like nothing happened until the next time. If they die, game over.
That's the show in a nutshell, and conceptually it seems pretty cool. But just like communism, what works in theory does not always work in practise.
Gantz, like a lot of anime, has terrible action scenes. And like a lot of anime, the action is fairly central. What distinguishes Gantz from the rest is that it excels at failing. Dragon Ball Z, Naruto and Bleach have got nothing on this series. 'How?' you gasp as your monocle falls off, possible into a glass of champagne. Let's see:
-As I've mentioned previously Gantz acts like a manga/comic in that time essentially stops for the characters to speak;
-The characters seem incapable of remembering that they have guns, and so fights are drawn out for as long as it takes them to remember what they are holding onto;
-Adding onto the last point, the characters also seem to be unable to take any action without discussing it. This would be acceptable if their plans were complex but really they all basically boil down to 'shoot the alien, don't get killed';
-The animation just isn't that good. Now I don't need motion picture quality pictures but Gantz is just unpleasant. The show does all the classics: recycled animation, shots where it's just people shooting, awkward no fluid movement etc.
I could go on but I've got other ground to cover.
I'm used to bad fight scenes in TV and anime (I practically expect it) and can ignore it if there's a good plot, deep characters, whatever. Too bad Gantz doesn't swing that way. Once again like far too much anime out there, the characters are shallow and the dialogue just doesn't feel natural (even taking translation into account).
Onto the good points (sort of).
Initially my favourite part of the 26 episode show were the scenes in the waiting room when the newcomers and surviving players all teleport in. While I thought these could be interesting scenes, the aforementioned wooden dialogue lets them down.
It doesn't help that the characters are all terminally stupid, as the survivors consistently fail to explain the situation and the newcomers are all strawman doubters despite being seeing people getting teleported in from the head down.
Finally, as I'm running rather long, this show has a high body count. Seriously high. Most of the cast are red shirts, and the rest are wearing mauve and feeling worried. In a better show this would create some brilliant suspense but given Gantz quality you can't bring yourself to care enough.
However if you do get attached to anyone, prepare to be saddened at some point. I found myself liking a pair of characters and hoped that they'd never resolve their relationship little plot point, because that was the only thing keeping them alive.
It's a shame that Gantz sucks so much because the premise is interesting and it can be taken in many directions. The series could have been about straight adrenaline-pumping action, or the players trying to cope with the surreal double life, or even an exploration into existence and meaning. Instead it tries for all and sucks so hard that light cannot escape it.
Perhaps in several decades when Gantz is basically forgotten someone will plagiarise it and make what should have been.
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