march madness: round 2 (part 2)
Categories: anime, march madness
Tagged: full metal panic, moe:bullying
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Grats to Tess and Chidori for just completely eviscerating Dennou Coil by a 4-to-1 margin.
I really haven’t gotten any interesting material from anyone as to why one series deserves to win. I think the best e-mail I’ve received was for Hajime no Ippo… after that poll has already closed. Step it up. Remember, do a good job, there’s fanservice involved. YES WE CAN!
Previous Voting Results
Fumoffu, Azumanga, Higurashi, and Honey and Clover all advance to the Sweet 16 where they will face off against Lucky Star, Ouran, Death Note, and Clannad respectively. Most of the contents were massacures, except for a competitive match between Mushishi and the killer lolis with the killer lolis eeking out ~20 more votes out of over 700. Fumoffu vs. Lucky Star will be the first head-to-head match-up of all the Kyoto Animation series, and I’m looking forward to seeing Death Note take on the killer lolis.
Round 2 (Part 2)
Meanwhile, round 2 isn’t complete. Eight more series hope to advance to the Sweet 16, and only four will make it. Round 2 (part 2) ends around 11PM PST on March 11th, and round 3 (part 1) will commence shortly afterwards. Rules are available here.
Finishing off round 2, we have some premier matches…
#15 Shakugan no Shana vs. #18 Cowboy Bebop
Action: Despite Wilhelmina ‘s best efforts, Shana just doesn’t compare to Spike when it comes to action sequences. Nothing so far in Shana has matched up to the Spike and Vicious fight in Balland of Fallen Angels. Simplistic but powerful.
Ending: Shana has become Bleach with slightly fewer characters and more school time romance. Cowboy Bebop ended up ruining Mahoromatic. Toss up, I believe.
Romance: I always felt that Spike loved Vicious more than Julia, as with the choice to be with her or fight Vicious to the death… he picked Vicious. It’s almost like if in another life, Spike was Kyon, Julia was Yuki, and Vicious was Itsuki. Shana / Yuji / Yoshida / Hecate make a palatable harem type situation, and it has all the USDA requirements for melonpan, DFC, and tsundere.
Machina: I always like the future setting of Bebop, and I felt not enough was done with the overall backstory at times. The ships and the industrial look of the future is fantastic… it completely blows away the whole Flame Haze / Tomogara thing. But Shana-tan trumps them all. I want a mini-Flame Haze too!
Animation Production: Sunrise in its prime vs. a budget conscious JC Staff… I don’t think there’s a comparison. Shocking that ten years ago– TEN!– we regarded Sunrise as the premier studio as we do Kyoto today. OH GEASS NO!
#10 Fullmetal Alchemist vs. #23 Full Metal Panic The Second Raid
Names: Both confusing as hell but bring some of that “Bubblegum Crisis” gumption. Also don’t understand why one is official “Fullmetal” while the other is “Full Metal.”
Hero: Both Al and Sagara are one-minded idiots whose one-mindedness ultimately leads them to destruction. Chidori salvages Sagara in time. Winry does not.
Heroine: I don’t really count Winry, meanwhile Chidori continues filling out her impressive resume.
Best Development: Full Metal though gave us epic twincest and epic squirrel pr0n. But… Rie Kugimiya! Going back to watch Fullmetal Alchemist after watching Shana, Zero, and Hayate is kinda like going back to watch Leonardo in Growing Pains after Titanic, Blood Diamonds, and Departed.
Worst Development: For Fullmetal, it has to be the plot twist of the week. Plot twists are like HGH in that when used sparingly, they might be okay but weekly? Full Metal didn’t have roles for three of the more awesome Fumoffu characters: Crazy Police Chix0r, Ren, and Bonta-kun.
#14 Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex vs. #19 Kanon (2006)
Hawt Girl x Girl Action: Does the world need a Major’s Day OVA like Tess’? I think “yes.” Though Kanon
(2006) did disappoint in that the Mai x Sayuri angle was not fully explored. At least in the Kazehana special for the 2002 version, they were making lovely-dovely faces at each other in a cramped apartment in Europe.
Nayuki All-Stars: Well, not really fair since Kanon features the founding father of the Nayuki All-Stars, and all Ghost in the Shell has is poor Batou who seems to be everywhere one step too late.
Animation Quality: Though, though choice. Both used CG for great effect, and both were significantly better animated than other series airing at the same time. Though there’s no sequence in Stand Alone Complex that’s the equivalent of Mai’s ballroom scene.
Backstory: I liked the Major’s backstory a lot… a lot of depth. Pazu’s story was fantastic as well, if only for the The Outer Limits-type implications. Nayuki didn’t even get a real backstory! *sob*
Melonpan: The Major’s and Batou’s against Mai’s and Nayuki’s… mmm…
#12 Minami-ke vs. #21 Otome wa Boku
This one got its own post.
28 Responses to “march madness: round 2 (part 2)”
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So far I all my choices have one with the exception of the fact Death note is still in the game.
While I can expect only flames for this, Death Note to me, has become the new name for Over rated anime. Previously held in a tie by Fullmetal Alchemist and Inuyasha.
Like it’s predecessors, it has grown insanely popular to almost scary degree in a rather short time. Fan art can be found anywhere and everywhere, sporting every kind of loving you can imagine, from yaoi of L and Light, from L, Light, and that old butler in some weird threesome, to death gods and humans. Oddly enough almost entirely forgetting the insanely hot gothic chick.
However looking at the actual content, I find myself bored beyond all belief. As a person who read the first 7 volumes of the manga and first 5 episodes of the anime, giving both a fair chance, before dropping them. All I can say is, “I was bored.â€
It was basically a series of, “I’m better than you.†“No I’m better than you!â€
It was like watching children bicker with an uncomfortably high level of Gay tension.
Yet the part I had the largest problem with was how L acted.
While I understand that Light had gained powers never before held by man, and there were no laws or standard procedures to deal with such a scenario, the simple fact that L used prisoners to safeguard his own life, and broke human right laws to capture Light blew me out of the water.
Not to mention the incredibly huge loop hole of how in the hell did he find out who Misa was?
Spoilers ahead.
If you recall, Misa was caught because of CAT HAIRS on the video tape. …CAT HAIRS. Last I checked, there isn’t some massive Cat DNA machine to use for comparison matches. There was no finger prints, there was nothing but cat hairs. That’s how they found her. Which is impossible. Because from what was shown, there was no way to obtain hair samples from her cat to make a comparison. It was plain right out impossible.
Between the Misa-fuck-up and the fact that L broke laws, to catch Light, hardly won me over.
Death note, to me, is one of the worst Anime in years, yet somehow has drawn thousands, mostly yaoi fan girls and yaoi fan boys, in. Personally I think the world would be a better place with out it.
GO GO MINAMI-KE!
Cant focus to vote… chidori’s melonpan…. too sexy…
Think you meant tough. Anyway its kind of depressing that the two shows that advanced from the sports division were School Rumble and Otome wa Boku. Doesn’t True Tears have better sport scenes than either?
Fumoffu YES WE CAN
Oh my, I think the majority of readers here have been broken beyond repair, given the early lead Minami-ke has taken over Otoboku.
So like…
I like bullying
*stares at first image*
#12 Minami-ke vs. #21 Otome wa Boku
Geeezzzzzz its not even close
How the hell did Mushishi lose to Higurashi?!
*Looks at the blog*
OTL
So, where DID you find Chidori’s Hong Kong hooker lookalike to pose with Tessa anyways? And I’m in despair that everyone prefers 10 episodes of Auu, Uguu, and sickly Sayuri to the Major, decent action, and great story… and bise ual cyborg flirting.
Everyone who votes for Kanon is a Michael Jackson-class pedobear. ;)
And I’m in despair that everyone prefers 10 episodes of Auu, Uguu, and sickly Sayuri to the Major, decent action, and great story… and bise ual cyborg flirting.
Yeah, I’ll vote for GitS when the stories start making sense.
I didn’t vote Kanon for Ayu, Makoto, or Sayuri… I voted Kanon for Shiori Misaka! Cute makes right, and Shiori is cuter than 99% of cyborgs.
In other contests, I voted Shana to fulfill my contractual obligations, but having seen Cowboy Bebop, I recognize its greatness and feel no disappointment at Spike’s impending victory.
Now I have to prepare promotions for the upcoming matches involving Azumanga Daioh and Honey and Clover – partly because I’m a J.C.Staff whore, and partly because I would rather not draw a banner with Clannad or Ouran on it.
Actually, I could probably pull off a decent Starfish Girl banner, but then Jason would shoot me.
Also don’t understand why one is official “Fullmetal†while the other is “Full Metal.â€
Full Metal Panic is supposed to be an homage in title to the great Kubrick film Full Metal Jacket (which is a type of bullet), so that’s why it is separated. As for FMA, I am not sure why when they translated it to English they decided to write it like that.
Yeah, I’ll vote for GitS when the stories start making sense.
Oh come now, we’re not talking about Man Machine Interface here. SAC’s plot line was very easy to follow while 2nd Gig’s ending may have needed one extra view to completely get.
God forbid an anime show forced you to think once in a while.
>> I didn’t vote Kanon for Ayu, Makoto, or Sayuri… I voted Kanon for Shiori Misaka! Cute makes right, and Shiori is cuter than 99% of cyborgs.
Excellent taste!
>> Full Metal Panic is supposed to be an homage in title to the great Kubrick film Full Metal Jacket (which is a type of bullet), so that’s why it is separated.
Never heard or read anything from Shoji Gatoh that indicates the two are related.
“Full Metal” is common (well, maybe not that common) in Japanese media to mean robotic/cybernetic, as there are some great C-grade movies like “Full Metal Samurai” and “Full Metal Yakuza.” You could argue that it means a “metal shell,” but looking at the quality of movies with “Full Metal” in the title, I don’t think it’s the case. They’re not that smart and would be giving them too much credit. I think it’s just something someone thought sounded cool, and it came to mean something completely different in its adapted language than the donor language.
I just don’t understand why is it localized differently. I blame everyone involved.
>> Everyone who votes for Kanon is a Michael Jackson-class pedobear.
Applying sinister US (and Canadian) morals to others? Age of consent in Japan is 13.
I was going through that Wiki article, and I never knew that while male-male sexual activity is forbidden in Singapore, female-female sexual activity isn’t. Hilarious. The section about Thailand is pretty funny as well.
>> Geeezzzzzz its not even close
I’m taking it as an endorsement of the organic melonpan movement. It’s good to be green! That’s what I choose to believe. Otherwise, it’s because of Mako-cakes… and my world slowly crumbles a bit more.
Ghost in the Shell vs. Kanon? This is the battle of the two of the best things in the anime world: KyoAni’s godly animation and tear-bringing goodness vs. delicious, delicious cyberpunk.
On Kanon’s side are the sheer number of tears I cried, the Mai and Shiroi arcs, and Yuuichi (- points for being animated instead of Suzumiya and Ayu).
Ghost in the Shell has delicious, delicious cyberpunk, and is currently restoring my faith in anime (- points for my not having finished it yet… I’m a busy fan who only just procured the show).
Answer: I’ll give it a few days, watch a few dozen more episodes of GitS instead of studying, and see where that leaves me.
Fullmetal is one word in FMA because that’s the kid’s military codename. Occasionally it’s shown as incidental background fluff, and as I remember it, it was always done as one word.
Yea I always thought FMP at least was a Kubric shout out…..*gets distracted by the Kaname Tess pron that has become his new background* er where was I? Matoko’s cyber thighs vs Mai’s mad ballroom dancing, truly there can be no winner. Unless the major invites Mai x Sayuri into a three some, she’s been known to do that when dark horse isn’t censoring comics like little bitches, in that case every one wins. The Uguu faction almost had my vote, but then I remembered the tachicomas and all thoughts of taiaki were obliterated.
>> Applying sinister US (and Canadian) morals to others? Age of consent in Japan is 13.
Nine or ten is WAY too young, even in the Ozarks… much less the rest of the world. Heck, marriage back in the stone ages (aka: pre-1800’s) took place between the ages of 12-15, IIRC. Ten was still way too young back then too, and it’s too young here.
Now, we need more cyborg-totalling-Uguu action.
Wow. I knew there was a reason I picked Chidori back when we were doing Dream Team Harems.
Hey while we’re on the subject, the character designer for fumofu made Chidori less curvy. What up with that?
“Fullmetal” is just the spelling from the japanese manga covers (probably a little engrished?)
while “Full Metal” is proper English.
i had some melonpan in japan.. it was really sweet and tasted good, it’s just too bad that it wasn’t related to yoko, haruka, OR mizuho. (yes i went there..)
1: While I haven’t watched the last two episodes of CB, I already know its superior to SnS both seasons.
2: I still believe that FMA is one of the best shounen series EVER. The ending might be lame to most, but it was still a pretty powerful way to finish off the series. Kinda like Fruits Basket’s ending, too.
3: I have 3 movies and two series of GitS that I will eventually get around to watching. Oops.
4: I’ve been completely broken. I don’t know how much more scrap I can get with subsequent episodes.
>> The section about Thailand is pretty funny as well.
I don’t think I have seen so much traps in any other place than Thailand. If you are broken enough by Mako-cakes and Mizuho, yes, Thailand is the Jerusalem of Traptitude.
I don’t understand why Kanon was good at all. I had to try really hard to finish that series with the characters who look like they got punched in the face. You wanna say GitS’s plot was confusing? What even happened in Kanon? I can see saying 2nd Gig was confusing for sure, but stand alone complex was pretty straightforward.
And to be honest, I don’t see how you can compare the series’ animations when some of the action scenes in GitS were incredibly well done. and took a lot more creativity than a dance scene.
Sorry if I offended your opinion; I just don’t get it.
IXISIXI, It’s likeable characters and good animation. An interesting story doesn’t hurt either. Kanon has all three. Of course, if you don’t like the characters then I imagine you wouldn’t like Kanon.