And liches are composite characters, based on numerous sorceror tropes from all sorts of short stories, some being from Weird Tales.
[TV] The What Anime Are You Watching Thread!
KLK's designer drew up a short series of illustrations about Mako growing up.
Spoiler: It's fucking adorable.
Spoiler: It's fucking adorable.
I think "Liche" was some sort of old timey english for corpse. Also "Wight" i believe.
Lich, without the e. Just meant "dead human body"; contrast to "carcass" for a dead animal. Been pretty much replaced with "corpse". "lich" was the German-based word (lijk in Duthc etc), "corpse" is from the Latin ground (corps in French, corpus in Latin).
The "intelligent spellcaster" connection I have no idea where it came from
I imagine it was more about the physical appearance of the monster over anything. The Lich in a traditional sense isn't always a skeleton, but still a walking corpse. The difference between them and other Undead being they remain (and become) highly intelligent, nearly impossible to kill, and gain massive spellcasting capabilities.Lich, without the e. Just meant "dead human body"; contrast to "carcass" for a dead animal. Been pretty much replaced with "corpse". "lich" was the German-based word (lijk in Duthc etc), "corpse" is from the Latin ground (corps in French, corpus in Latin).
The "intelligent spellcaster" connection I have no idea where it came from
Lich being another word for corpse, basically, fits as a name because that's, in essence, what the monster is.
The German word for corpse ist Leiche
Gardner Fox and H.P. Lovecraft used the term sometimes to describe magic dudes who came back to life. Its pretty much a magical slang word.
Just read a thread on Neogaf about how it's the 20th anniversary of Macross Plus being released here in the NA. It was the anime that got me into anime when I was a youngin'.
I'm gonna have to watch it again and wish that there was a chance in hell of a North American bluray release. Fuckin' Harmony Gold, who I'm not even sure is why there's no chance, but I'm gonna just assume because they are legit the fucking worst.
So, have yourself an Information High and watch one of the best anime miniseries ever produced, suckas.
I'm gonna have to watch it again and wish that there was a chance in hell of a North American bluray release. Fuckin' Harmony Gold, who I'm not even sure is why there's no chance, but I'm gonna just assume because they are legit the fucking worst.
So, have yourself an Information High and watch one of the best anime miniseries ever produced, suckas.
Sword Art Online
*SNIFF* Okay that scene where they bought back their cabin, TOTALLY made up for that pointless excalibur arch. "OH NO! If we don't beat this quest, we won't be able to play this game anymore, and that's it!" Didn't we deal with a serial killer/stalker/potential rapist last arch? Why is it no matter WHAT happens people ham up the importance of what's going on be it actually threatening or not?
And for that matter, how is it no matter HOW dumb this show gets- I STIL LIKE IT?! Its mystifying.
*SNIFF* Okay that scene where they bought back their cabin, TOTALLY made up for that pointless excalibur arch. "OH NO! If we don't beat this quest, we won't be able to play this game anymore, and that's it!" Didn't we deal with a serial killer/stalker/potential rapist last arch? Why is it no matter WHAT happens people ham up the importance of what's going on be it actually threatening or not?
And for that matter, how is it no matter HOW dumb this show gets- I STIL LIKE IT?! Its mystifying.
New Lupin the Third Series!
Animator Kazuhide Tomonaga, who did key animation on The Castle of Cagliostro and worked on the original TV series, is overseeing the project, while Kanichi Kurita will be voicing Lupin, Kiyoshi Kobayashi is Daisuke Jigen, Daisuke Namikawa is Goemon, Miyuki Sawashiro is Fujiko, and Koichi Yamadera is Zenigata.
Animator Kazuhide Tomonaga, who did key animation on The Castle of Cagliostro and worked on the original TV series, is overseeing the project, while Kanichi Kurita will be voicing Lupin, Kiyoshi Kobayashi is Daisuke Jigen, Daisuke Namikawa is Goemon, Miyuki Sawashiro is Fujiko, and Koichi Yamadera is Zenigata.
I'm excited. It looks pretty great, I hope it finds its way onto Crunchyroll or Hulu.
I could see it maybe turning up on Hulu. After all, Hulu did have Lupin the 3rd: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine.
That's what I'm thinking. Hulu currently still has parts 1-3 as well.
Series are always planned ahead in terms of episode numbers, but I do get what you mean. Unfortunately novel adaptations tend to have this issue, where they don't plan the story pacing correctly and end up having to smash a lot of plot into about two episodes in order to reach the ending.
Still though, Toradora! is one of the overall better romantic comedies out there.
GasBandit
Staff member
Yeah, it was having good character development, it depicted the thought processes behind teenagers being awkward idiots fairly well too I thought. It's just you get to the last episode and
All of a sudden Taiga decides to skip town to go mend fences with her mother (which I also felt was something that didn't require sneaking off in the night - a proper "goodbye" would have been in order there), then there's a year plus time skip, then she's back, and The End! All in the space of 10 minutes.
Also, it touches on it, but this is the information age. The age of e-mail, cell phones and text messages, and not ever actually really being out of contact with anybody, especially not in a country smaller than California that is absolutely stitched with trains. It makes the whole disappearing act look less like something that can't be helped while she works out her issues with mom and more like an intentional shutting out. I mean, really, they couldn't get together for that ENTIRE year to visit on the occasional weekend or summer/winter break? It just seemed artificial and contrived for drama's sake.
It left me feeling the same way I felt at the end of NWN2 when "Rocks fall, everybody dies."
Also, it touches on it, but this is the information age. The age of e-mail, cell phones and text messages, and not ever actually really being out of contact with anybody, especially not in a country smaller than California that is absolutely stitched with trains. It makes the whole disappearing act look less like something that can't be helped while she works out her issues with mom and more like an intentional shutting out. I mean, really, they couldn't get together for that ENTIRE year to visit on the occasional weekend or summer/winter break? It just seemed artificial and contrived for drama's sake.
It left me feeling the same way I felt at the end of NWN2 when "Rocks fall, everybody dies."
Yeah, and while I don't know for sure I'd bet the anime left out
some of what happens over the course of that year as well as Taiga's thoughts on why she suddenly needed to go see her mom.
GasBandit
Staff member
It covers absolutely none of that, other than a quick glossed over explanation note and a cryptic mass text. ROLL CREDITS. Then at the end of the credits, it's graduation day, ohai, surprise, I'm back. THE END
Yeah I remember being kind of disappointed with the ending after the rest of the show being so solid.
I've watched a lot of the rom-coms and I have to say, though, that it's hard to find another one that's as consistent as Toradora! is. I know there was a few, but my external drive's not plugged in so I can't look through my anime folder at the moment.
I've watched a lot of the rom-coms and I have to say, though, that it's hard to find another one that's as consistent as Toradora! is. I know there was a few, but my external drive's not plugged in so I can't look through my anime folder at the moment.
The last movie to feature traditional zombies was Weekend at Bernie's 2.
GasBandit
Staff member
Actually... I think it was Blues Brothers 2000. They get turned into Zombies by a Voodoo queen when she demands a Caribbean beat and they refuse.
fade
Staff member
So I finished what's available of Tokyo Ghoul. I really recommend this anime. One of the best I've seen in a long time. I'm a huge fan of stories that warp traditional roles of good and evil, and this anime does it to the point you're not sure who to root for--if anyone. Everyone has good and evil sides. You manage to feel hatred and sympathy for each character.
Also, I find that most anime tells a linear story with no surprises. But I did not see several twists coming. The season 2 finale is heart wrenching, too.
Finally, there aren't too many times I can say a film or show was better than the book, but this one is. The anime writers intentionally diverged from the manga story to the credit of the anime (in my opinion).
For the cons, it drags in places and some characters you're probably interested in get shuffled to the wayside, as if the author decided to focus on different things. But that's common for a serial work. Also, the protagonist's mask is dumb.
In any case, definitely check it out. It starts slow, but it finds its stride in a big way.
Also, I find that most anime tells a linear story with no surprises. But I did not see several twists coming. The season 2 finale is heart wrenching, too.
Finally, there aren't too many times I can say a film or show was better than the book, but this one is. The anime writers intentionally diverged from the manga story to the credit of the anime (in my opinion).
For the cons, it drags in places and some characters you're probably interested in get shuffled to the wayside, as if the author decided to focus on different things. But that's common for a serial work. Also, the protagonist's mask is dumb.
In any case, definitely check it out. It starts slow, but it finds its stride in a big way.
Just binged on this over the last couple of days. Swung back and forth between laughing like crazy and going "WTF did I just watch?" Can't wait for the next episode.
Dirty jokes and sex ed aside, Ayame still seems a bit of a prude when confronted with the real thing.
What about foreign nationals from countries that don't have such laws? Specifically embassies, consulates and military installations? What sort of goodies could be stashed away in, say, the Danish embassy that's just ripe for the taking?
fade
Staff member
Tokyo ESP
It's safe to say that the writer is a fan of American pop culture. Let's see... in the first few episodes, we have the X-Men led by a professor (plot twist, they're evil), Wolverine (the protagonist's father--he even wears the jacket from the first X-Men movie and holds three extendable batons between his knuckles briefly), the Ghostbusters (evil again), one of the protagonists says "with great power comes great responsibility", etc.
Anyway, the brief synopsis is that lots of people suddenly get superpowers in Tokyo, and it seems like the aforementioned professor is doing it in some bid for world domination or something. Haven't watched enough yet. They call the superpowers "ESP" for some reason, even though only a few characters have what you might actually call ESP.
It's safe to say that the writer is a fan of American pop culture. Let's see... in the first few episodes, we have the X-Men led by a professor (plot twist, they're evil), Wolverine (the protagonist's father--he even wears the jacket from the first X-Men movie and holds three extendable batons between his knuckles briefly), the Ghostbusters (evil again), one of the protagonists says "with great power comes great responsibility", etc.
Anyway, the brief synopsis is that lots of people suddenly get superpowers in Tokyo, and it seems like the aforementioned professor is doing it in some bid for world domination or something. Haven't watched enough yet. They call the superpowers "ESP" for some reason, even though only a few characters have what you might actually call ESP.
Yeah the Japanese are kind-of addicted to the word Esper for some reason, no matter how innacurately they use it.
GasBandit
Staff member
It drives me up the wall when it gets put in the english dubs for shows, too. The localization process should include fixing that, IMO.
Agreed, sure the sub-hards would get angry-BUT IT WOULD BE WORTH THE RISK!
GasBandit
Staff member
Sub hards get angry over anything. If they want subs, let em watch subs. The English dubs need to be properly localized. Shin Chan, for example, wouldn't have been a quarter as good as it was if not for the amazing localization that incorporated American political/pop culture references.
Shin Chan is almost entirely a straight up Gag Dub. Like they threw out a ton of script and did their own stuff just to be funny. It only follows the plot of the show on a very shallow level.
Latest One Piece chapter....HYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYPE!
PLEASE let them join Luffy, I can kinda feel a "You shouldn't join and here's why" speech coming on, but I have been DREAMING of the Straw-hat Armada for years!
Shimoneta is amazing, I'm really glad I gave it a chance after all (first impression was terrible, what with seeing the uncensored version of the episode 4 hijinks). I don't think I've heard my SO laugh that hard at a show before.
GasBandit
Staff member
Watched Season 2 of Knights of Sidonia. It was OK. The issue with inexplicably bad framerate in parts that should have been cheap/fast to render persists, most noticeably when the camera is just showing a single person walking or talking with single digit framerates, making it look like how cartoons imitate old 8 bit walking animation, or that the speaker's mouth seems to only form one long vowel over the course of a sentence. Seriously, even Reboot did this better. But then there's mecha and particle beams at 30fps. Makes no sense.
Then there's the plot. So much happens that should have been a plot arc in its own right, but just gets dropped in favor of what I assume to be the main plot, though even that isn't enough to really get to a satisfactory place in the story before the season ends. For example,
Then there's the plot. So much happens that should have been a plot arc in its own right, but just gets dropped in favor of what I assume to be the main plot, though even that isn't enough to really get to a satisfactory place in the story before the season ends. For example,
The ENA-sample Hoshijiro clone, over which there was so much handwringing in the second half of season one is basically put on a bus in the first episode with only the barest explanation later. "We created a hybrid by impregnating the ENA sample" Wait what, could you do more than explain that with a quick mention and.. no? Never going to speak of it again? And Tanizake is just fine with this why?
The "rogue scientist back from the dead via technology and putting mind control implants in people" thing could have been a very interesting arc in itself, despite how it came about - requiring Kunato to carry an idiot ball of staggering proportions which basically kills off himself and his sister as characters, to be replaced by the scientist and his minion. But no, once he's back on the scene, the guy doesn't do much other than collaborate with his nemesis, Captain Kobayashi (who I still think they named purposefully referencing Star Trek II), in creating new weapons technology. And again, Tanizake doesn't even notice that the scientist girl who had previously told him in a plot discussion that "while a gauna could conceivably construct a being who was scientifically indistinguishable from a human in every way, I could never bring myself to accept anything gauna" is now suddenly completely ok working on the human/gauna hybrid project.
And speaking of Kobayashi... "Ohai I just assassinated the entire immortal council. Nope, nobody even batted an eyelash about it, and there was no fallout whatsoever, I'm a military dictator now. Life continues as usual. Except now I'm making REALLY INEXPLICABLY BAD DECISIONS."
And Lala's only role in the entire season is to sit in an empty cafeteria and be shown sighing in worry for 5 seconds every other episode.
The whole season also took a huge step away from realism, or at least plausible suspense of disbelief. Not only are some people acting inconsistently as noted, but the science fiction gets softer and softer in a fast way. By the end of the season, Tanikaze's Garde unit is basically stupidly indestructible with no explanation other than "the new material is much stronger!" and Tsumugi might as well be explained away as space magic.
And speaking of, don't even get me started on Tsumugi. This started out as an interesting sci fi anime series with a love triangle subplot, and it's becoming a harem anime with a sci fi subplot. And one of Tanikaze's would-be suitors is a 20 story bubblegum pink nightmare-fuel tentacle abomination with a Tachikoma's voice. They never even really explain why she has to have a pilot since she seems to always act autonomously anyway, and also nobody in her scientist-keepers ever notices her "speaking tentacle" has a habit of disappearing down pipes for dozens of hours at a time so she can go "live" with Tanizake?
Oh, and that final battle tho. CRIMSON HAWK MOTH AGAIN OUTTA NOWHERE. Just to finally give us back the Hoshijiro ENA that disappeared without commentary at the beginning of the season. Let me guess, next season she'll get used AGAIN to make another hybrid, thus disappearing again, with no commentary from anyone who should be emotionally scarred by this whole ordeal.
The "rogue scientist back from the dead via technology and putting mind control implants in people" thing could have been a very interesting arc in itself, despite how it came about - requiring Kunato to carry an idiot ball of staggering proportions which basically kills off himself and his sister as characters, to be replaced by the scientist and his minion. But no, once he's back on the scene, the guy doesn't do much other than collaborate with his nemesis, Captain Kobayashi (who I still think they named purposefully referencing Star Trek II), in creating new weapons technology. And again, Tanizake doesn't even notice that the scientist girl who had previously told him in a plot discussion that "while a gauna could conceivably construct a being who was scientifically indistinguishable from a human in every way, I could never bring myself to accept anything gauna" is now suddenly completely ok working on the human/gauna hybrid project.
And speaking of Kobayashi... "Ohai I just assassinated the entire immortal council. Nope, nobody even batted an eyelash about it, and there was no fallout whatsoever, I'm a military dictator now. Life continues as usual. Except now I'm making REALLY INEXPLICABLY BAD DECISIONS."
And Lala's only role in the entire season is to sit in an empty cafeteria and be shown sighing in worry for 5 seconds every other episode.
The whole season also took a huge step away from realism, or at least plausible suspense of disbelief. Not only are some people acting inconsistently as noted, but the science fiction gets softer and softer in a fast way. By the end of the season, Tanikaze's Garde unit is basically stupidly indestructible with no explanation other than "the new material is much stronger!" and Tsumugi might as well be explained away as space magic.
And speaking of, don't even get me started on Tsumugi. This started out as an interesting sci fi anime series with a love triangle subplot, and it's becoming a harem anime with a sci fi subplot. And one of Tanikaze's would-be suitors is a 20 story bubblegum pink nightmare-fuel tentacle abomination with a Tachikoma's voice. They never even really explain why she has to have a pilot since she seems to always act autonomously anyway, and also nobody in her scientist-keepers ever notices her "speaking tentacle" has a habit of disappearing down pipes for dozens of hours at a time so she can go "live" with Tanizake?
Oh, and that final battle tho. CRIMSON HAWK MOTH AGAIN OUTTA NOWHERE. Just to finally give us back the Hoshijiro ENA that disappeared without commentary at the beginning of the season. Let me guess, next season she'll get used AGAIN to make another hybrid, thus disappearing again, with no commentary from anyone who should be emotionally scarred by this whole ordeal.