Sunday, October 05, 2008
Scrapped Princess
Okay, this may only be of interest to like... two people. But we just finished watching the anime series "Scrapped Princess." It had received good praise on Netflix, so we decided to give it a try.
After the first disc (four episodes), we weren't sure we wanted to finish watching the series. It wasn't bad, but the episodes were fairly pedestrian. Standard fantasy fare, with the perky, feisty young girl and her protective siblings making their way from town to town while being hunted. In this case, she's being hunted by almost everyone in the world - she is the subject of a religious prophecy that she will be the "poison that destroys the world." Those who meet her have a tough time reconciling the evil nature of this prophecy with this cute, friendly, utterly non-aggressive fifteen-year-old.
The plotline and characters were just interesting enough for us to stick with it in spite of the corniness and typical anime voice-acting. The story took some very interesting twists after the second disc or so. For one thing, it turned out to be science fiction instead of fantasy. Complete with mecha (of a sort). It ends up covering some themes such as the role of religion, and the role of free will versus destiny. Nothing particularly Shakespearean, but I was still very pleasantly surprised. By about the halfway point of the 24 episodes, we were hooked, although there were a couple of episodes where the exposition was thick enough to have been layered on with a shovel.
Anyway - I consider myself a fan of anime, but I haven't seen a ton of it. Frankly, there's enough really weird crap out there that I've been scared away from much of it unless I receive a personal recommendation from someone. We took a chance on this series, and it was a pleasant surprise. If you are in the same boat, this one may be worth taking a look at. It's currently available via Netflix, which made it easy and low-risk for us.
We felt the movie was pretty appropriate for our kids, but it has its share of animated blood, violence, and death - including the violent death of a fairly significant character. The latter upset my ten-year-old, mainly because she still subscribes to the "some characters are too pretty to die" philosophy of fiction. But I'd say this show is definitely in the "Parental Guidance" category. But worth checking out.
And here's the official trailer:
Labels: Geek Life
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 9:42 PM (Permalink)
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Hmmm, maybe I really need to look again at anime.
I started getting interested in it in the 80s when I found out how intricate the story lines could be. After high school I kind of lost interest and recently most of what I've seen is the Pokeman stuff that seems aimed at selling toys.
Not that I have time for a new (old?) hobby but it would be a pleasant distraction if I could find something worth viewing.
In other news I checked out the Clone Wars shows on Cartoon Network on Friday and was pleasantly surprised. We'll have to see about those though.
I started getting interested in it in the 80s when I found out how intricate the story lines could be. After high school I kind of lost interest and recently most of what I've seen is the Pokeman stuff that seems aimed at selling toys.
Not that I have time for a new (old?) hobby but it would be a pleasant distraction if I could find something worth viewing.
In other news I checked out the Clone Wars shows on Cartoon Network on Friday and was pleasantly surprised. We'll have to see about those though.
I was a big anime fan, back in the 80's and early 90's. Havnt watched anything in aaaages. 3x3 Eyes and Bubblegum Crisis were my two favourite series. Nothing really compares now to the classic Maison Ikkoku/Ranma stuff.
aah I could wax poetic about this stuff.
aah I could wax poetic about this stuff.
Did you watch it dubbed into English or original with subtitles? I find that usually makes a very big difference in the quality.
Although, on re-reading your article you mention "typical anime voice acting" so I'm gonna guess dubbed. You should definitely try it with the original audio sometime, it is quite a different experience :)
Although, on re-reading your article you mention "typical anime voice acting" so I'm gonna guess dubbed. You should definitely try it with the original audio sometime, it is quite a different experience :)
# posted by 
: October 06, 2008 6:26 AM
: October 06, 2008 6:26 AM
I haven't seen much anime, but I would heartily recommend Full Metal Alchemist, or at least the first 8 disks. They are dark though, so I wouldn't watch them with the kids until you've previewed them yourself.
Enjoyed FMA through episode 25, although I would *not* recommend it for young kids. Certain events are upsetting enough for big people. The show is BIG on angst... Which is part of what killed it for me eventually. I never finished watching the second half. Too much nastiness and melodrama.
FMA was an alright series...but like most anime, moves at a painfully slow pace. The angst is also annoying as another poster pointed out.
I'd recommend Twelve Kingdoms if you liked Scrapped Princess though. Somewhat similar and has a very deep world.
Death Note is probably the best recent series out (although the last season is weaker and can probably be skipped). Probably too dark for kids though.
Of course there's always the Studio Ghibli movies if you haven't seen those (Spirited Away, Princess Monoke, etc).
I'd recommend Twelve Kingdoms if you liked Scrapped Princess though. Somewhat similar and has a very deep world.
Death Note is probably the best recent series out (although the last season is weaker and can probably be skipped). Probably too dark for kids though.
Of course there's always the Studio Ghibli movies if you haven't seen those (Spirited Away, Princess Monoke, etc).
# posted by : October 06, 2008 8:51 AM
: October 06, 2008 8:51 AM
My eldest daughter is the one who has been trying to turn us onto FMA, actually. She's nuts about it. Or wait, maybe that was six months ago. Now it's all D.Gray-man.
@Ezin: We have many of the Studio Ghibli films on DVD (the ones released by Disney). Castle in the Sky (AKA Laputa) was perhaps THE movie that turned me on to anime back in 1987 - we watched it in Japanese in a room at the local Pizza Parlor during a sci-fi / fantasy symposium at BYU in the wee hours, and the translator kept getting lost in the story and forgetting to translate for us.
@harry: It varies for us. A lot of the English dubs are PAINFUL to watch, and much, much better with subtitles. There have been a few series - like Rune Soldier - that I felt were BETTER dubbed than subtitles (though that is the exception rather than the rule).
All-time favorite Anime series & movies of mine are a little old-school, but I really enjoyed Vampire Princess Miyo (the OVA - the TV series Vampire Princess wasn't bad, either), pretty much everything from Studio Ghibli (Castle in the Sky and Porco Rosso are my personal favorites), The Record of Lodoss War (mainly because it was a D&D campaign turned Manga and then anime), Gunbuster, Lupin the Third: Castle of Cagliostro, Nadia - Secret of the Blue Water, Louie the Rune Soldier (AKA Rune Soldier), and I've enjoyed some of the Bubblegum Crisis & Dirty Pair shows.
Surprisingly, I didn't enjoy Akira or the Ghost in the Shell movies all that much. Too angsty and depressing, I guess.
@Ezin: We have many of the Studio Ghibli films on DVD (the ones released by Disney). Castle in the Sky (AKA Laputa) was perhaps THE movie that turned me on to anime back in 1987 - we watched it in Japanese in a room at the local Pizza Parlor during a sci-fi / fantasy symposium at BYU in the wee hours, and the translator kept getting lost in the story and forgetting to translate for us.
@harry: It varies for us. A lot of the English dubs are PAINFUL to watch, and much, much better with subtitles. There have been a few series - like Rune Soldier - that I felt were BETTER dubbed than subtitles (though that is the exception rather than the rule).
All-time favorite Anime series & movies of mine are a little old-school, but I really enjoyed Vampire Princess Miyo (the OVA - the TV series Vampire Princess wasn't bad, either), pretty much everything from Studio Ghibli (Castle in the Sky and Porco Rosso are my personal favorites), The Record of Lodoss War (mainly because it was a D&D campaign turned Manga and then anime), Gunbuster, Lupin the Third: Castle of Cagliostro, Nadia - Secret of the Blue Water, Louie the Rune Soldier (AKA Rune Soldier), and I've enjoyed some of the Bubblegum Crisis & Dirty Pair shows.
Surprisingly, I didn't enjoy Akira or the Ghost in the Shell movies all that much. Too angsty and depressing, I guess.
Although - for angsty and depressing - Grave of the Fireflies was another favorite of mine. But it was too difficult to watch twice.
Twelve Kingdoms is near the pinnacle of fantasy anime, though I wouldn't recommend it for anyone under junior high age. It's too intense, especially emotionally.
What I would recommend for family viewing is Angelic Layer, if you haven't already seen it. It's a cute show about self-confidence, friendship, and headset-controlled dolls that fight in tournaments -- what's not to like? (Okay, I can see hesitance over the tournament part, but it is MUCH better than it sounds. For one, it actually has a beginning, middle, and end in 26 episodes.)
Irresponsible Captain Tylor skews older, but it's a classic that seems to have been overlooked in recent years. Screwball space opera comedy.
What I would recommend for family viewing is Angelic Layer, if you haven't already seen it. It's a cute show about self-confidence, friendship, and headset-controlled dolls that fight in tournaments -- what's not to like? (Okay, I can see hesitance over the tournament part, but it is MUCH better than it sounds. For one, it actually has a beginning, middle, and end in 26 episodes.)
Irresponsible Captain Tylor skews older, but it's a classic that seems to have been overlooked in recent years. Screwball space opera comedy.
If you enjoyed Scrapped Princess, like some of the others who have posted I'd recommend 12 Kingdoms as the characters are well developed and it contains a rich bad story. As mentioned before, The Irresponsible Captain Tylor is good for a laugh or two, though it manages the serious bits of the space opera formula pretty handily as well. If you haven't already given it a look, I'd recommend that you watch Kino's Journey. The pacing of the series is perhaps a bit different from more action packed series but overall, it's a great little series of episodic morality tales in a steam-punkish setting. Be aware though, while some of the episodes are suitable for children, a number of them might not be. There are not too many that feature graphic death or violence but there are some that touch on themes of madness, genocide, human trafficking, and cannibalism.
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