Since the bandwagon for this has appeared...

[Keedounan]

Do you have the game ? If so, who is the character you play best ?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Not yet. I'm waiting to save up for the limited edition to have the satisfaction of playing with ost from the DLC launches.

 

[ahill1]

So i saw on hold Shinden Reborn posts you have/had Boo Arc Kuririn stronger than Pre Rosat SSJs... Why do you think or used to think he got that much stronger after the Cell Games?

Catouttahell made a theory during the Shinden era to suggest that Kuririn could've kept training after the Cell Games and I like to keep the humans as relevant as possible. With FnF proving Namek Freeza >> Pre-ToP Kuririn, however, I wouldn't place him above 50% Freeza even going by that theory.

I dunno if someone has already asked you this (sorry if yes), but have you ever read Lone Wolf and Cub? If so, what did you think about it?
[My cousin has asked me about it, so I'd like to see your analysis on the matter, if you have read it.]

Lone Wolf and Cub is possibly the best manga I've ever read, or at least tied with Ashita no Joe in that regard. Whilst it does seem episodic for the most part, which is usually a flaw to most series, it works here due to the additional aspects it offers. The constant changing of locations keeps things fresh and the detail of world building through the historical knowledge and depth of displaying Edo Era Japan is superb. This also sells you on the strength of the characterisation, with it being one of the few series to get away with having primarily a bunch of honour bound characters in it's cast. The importance of one's honour over one's life was an integral part of Edo society and this series sells it with such actions as Itto not releasing the incriminating evidence he has on Retsudo or Retsudo not wanting to kill Itto by cheap methods. The attention given to minor characters in each chapter is also well done as well, with many chapters focusing on a character who will only be seen during this chapter or the several after and Itto and Daigoro being sidelined, helping convince you that the story is indeed one in a wide world and not so self contained. The amount of variety in these episodic characters is also vast, from honourable samurai and devout religious figures to vengeful prostitutes and assassins. Each character is given enough screentime and focus that we can get a good grasp on their personality and how they evolve over their short course in the story. It says a lot when most episodic characters in this series are more developed than the entire cast of most second rate Shonen.
On the subject of characters, the main characters in this series are some of the most layered in any series. Itto, for example is a Bushido bound warrior and killer, whilst also being a loving father, devout in staying to his path and overall a man who speaks more with actions than words with the interest of others in mind. Daigoro, whilst a young boy, is convincingly written as a fighter who's made his decision to journey with his father on a path of death and is surprisingly badass in some scenes. Retsudo, whilst usually a faraway, looming threat, is far from your typical villain. His pain for the loss of his family members at Itto's blade is always genuine and his desire to propel the Ura-Yagyu into power is very engaging. There's also the character Abe no Kaii, who falls under the schemer archetype. However, his backstory, care for his subordinates and the execution of his plans to achieve power make for perhaps the most engaging parts of the manga I've read yet.

I have yet to read all of the manga, since the numbering of volumes online compared to the Dark Horse re-releases is different enough that I'd only stay on track by buying all of the latter physically, but I can say that with it's world building, characters and as an overall experience, it earns it's hype as one of the greatest manga in history.

9/10

Thank you very much for the analysis. My cousin is about to buy it, and honestly I am going to as well.

 

[Gin]

Opinion on Desert Punk?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Never heard of it until you mentioned it, so no real comment.

 

[Gin]

What about Trigun or Samurai Champloo

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Haven't seen either, but know enough about them to form an opinion on them. Trigun seems in many ways to be a space western equivalent of Rurouni Kenshin due to a similar protagonist. Whilst having an episodic plot, it also has enough of an overarching story to maintain engagement. However, the general consensus is that it falls apart towards the end due to a secret alien origin of the protagonist being asspulled out of nowhere for the finale. May give it a watch when I have nothing better to view.

Samurai Champloo is agreed by most to be a watered down Cowboy Bebop, being an episodic style over substance show with less interesting main characters and having a primarily rap/hip hop soundtrack making it automatically inferior to Bebop's Jazz soundtrack. I didn't consider Cowboy Bebop to be anywhere as great as the masses herald it as being in the first place, so I don't have any interest in seeing what's a lesser version of it.

 

[Keedounan]

How would you rank the homonculus from FMA in terms of character ?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

#1 - Wrath
#2 - Greed
#3 - Pride
#4 - Envy
#5 - Lust
#6 - Sloth
#7 - Gluttony

If including Father, he'd be in between Greed and Pride.

 

[Keedounan]

#1 - Wrath
#2 - Greed
#3 - Pride
#4 - Envy
#5 - Lust
#6 - Sloth
#7 - Gluttony

If including Father, he'd be in between Greed and Pride.

What would be your analysis of Greed and Pride ?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

What would be your analysis of Greed and Pride ?

Greed is arguably the most morally grey Homunculi, primarily to his own selfishness acting as a foil to his bretheren. Whilst initially portrayed as a clear villain, even his initial appearance made it apparent that he genuinely cared for his subordinates as a family and rather than being a character purely fuelled by their gimmick like Lust and Gluttony, he had far more than what the surface shows. This contradiction of his general greed motif through genuine care of his allies could be seen as a subtle show of Greed having some existential conflict, something that starts to become more apparent when he becomes a part of Ling. Seeing the dialogue and dynamics between the pair and how they work to strengthen each other for their own goals makes for one of the most unique cases of teamwork in any series.
In terms of pure stylistic qualities, Greed is also simply a cool character. His boisterous and clear attitude towards how confident he is in his goals and self identity/independence helps sell him as a respectable character, with it being hard not to like him after scenes such as him trash talking Father or his conversations with Ling. Both these stylistic and substantial qualities help provide a great experience with this character and his ultimate sacrifice against Father, especially when it leads to him being perhaps the most important player in Father's defeat.

8/10

As for Pride, the twist of Selim Bradley being a Homunculus presents him as a very convincing actor and really sells you on his sinister performance, even if the killer kid is becoming a tired trope. His pride in all he does and lack of understanding to lower beings like humans are well performed, even if a standard of Homunculi at this point. What sets Pride apart from the one trick ponies like Lust, Sloth and Gluttony is him having some sense of conflict as to his true goals in his battle with Ed and becoming aware of some self contradictions in his goals. Though he seems to have become completely inactive after his defeat, the fact he still existed within Selim could even suggest he may have conceded his flaws and allowed for Selim's human side to remain dominant. Not too much of a step up in complexity from the more standard Homunculi, but well executed for what he is.

6/10

 

[Keedounan]

What about Wrath and Envy ?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

What about Wrath and Envy ?

Wrath was entertaining for his quirky personality before his reveal as a Homunculus. After the reveal, he became an interesting one through his desire to age as humans do in order to gain some understanding of them, as well as his genuine care for his wife. This makes him far more interesting than most of his brethren as whilst not entirely relating to them, the difference between he and most of the Homunculi aside from Greed is he wishes to learn more about human nature and how they function.
Along with this, his stern, realistic attitude makes for some of the best character quotes in the series. His line about Ishvala being worthless as a God if not taking the divine intervention to strike him down is a particular great moment and helps highlight FMA's religious debate. His line about his lack of empathy towards Hughes' daughter sells you on him still being a Homunculus, despite his desires for humanity.
His last battle and death were also great moments for his character, with his loss by luck being seen as an act of God helping him gain some conflict in his perception and his attitude before dying shows he truly cared about discovering what it means to be human.

8/10

Envy has a few interesting qualities. It was nice to see him reluctantly work together with Ed and Ling to escape Gluttony's stomach and cool to see he was the one to start the Ishvalan War. However, beyond that, he doesn't have much to place him beyond the same one trick pony category that the less interesting Homunculi fall into due to their gimmick. Envy is envious of others causing him to look down on humans. Whilst he does have some nice moments for his character, that trait is what primarily defines his personality beyond all else.

5.5/10

 

[SSJ2]

Do you think the HxH anime is worth the watch? I'm sure you've been asked about it, but coming from someone who's read the mango twice, will it still be worth the grind of watching like 100 episodes (or whatever it is)?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Yes. The 2011 anime is a great adaption due to the artwork, pacing, direction and sountrack that really boosts the experience from reading the manga. Iirc, there's a few bits of info and characters they removed, but only the most minor of both. The artwork really stopped me from appreciating the series when I'd only read the manga. After watching the anime, it's one of my favourite series and worth watching despite it's length. If anything, the length is great considering it had to adapt almost 340 chapters into 148 episodes and the content makes the Yorknew and Chimera Ant Arcs have a lot of binge watch value in anime form. Just skip episodes 13 and 26 since they're recaps.

Also, don't bother watching the two movies made of it, since like most Shonen films in general, they're just non-canon plots that exist for having more battles.

 

[SSJ2]

It goes up to Election arc right? Sounds cool. I may get started on it tonight. Are there still over the top explanations during battle?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Yeah, it does, though it cuts out the Beyond Netero plot line so it didn't end on a cliffhanger. The exposition on character actions and techniques in the Chimera Ant Arc is still there, though a lot more tolerable due to the great art/animation to go along with it and not having wide text walls blocking the screen all the time like the manga. The only instance where the long exposition scenes dragged down the plot too much for me was the scene where Pouf and Youpi heal post-Rose Meruem taking about half an episode, but the art still saved it.

 

[Gin]

Just how good is Monster in your opinion?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Just how good is Monster in your opinion?

Already talked a lot about it in previous pages, but I might as well bring all that into a more concise review.

Monster is a very well done psychological thriller, with excellent theme exploration on topics such as sociological experiments/control and an in-depth look on the classic battle of good and evil; this time far less like a typical hero's journey and more a constant debate of what truly separates the two and because of this, what truly makes a person "human". This is combined with plenty of terrifically choreographed scenes such as thrilling shoot outs, chases and revelations.
The character development is also a major factor in the series quality, with every character relevant to the major plot including the more secondary members such as Lunge and Eva all go through a clear journey as people in which we get a good introspection of their personality and way of thinking, as well as see how it evolves over their experiences. It also helps that many of the characters have enough personality to sell the audience on them from their first few scenes alone. For example, after Grimmer told Tenma about how the Kindeheim experiments had affected his life and how it related to his wife and child, such a display of good characterisation and tying it into the core themes of the story were enough for him to be my undisputed favourite character in the series.

However, it's not at masterpiece level. For one, a common complaint of the series that is true is the pacing, as the plot could've been wrapped up half way through if not for Tenma's indecision extending it. This did end up being a positive in the long run for character development, as Nina, Lunge and Eva would've ended up pretty bland due to their main development occuring during the mid and later sections of the story, though I'd still say the general pacing of these chapters were slower than the early chapters. The major problem of the series was Johan's ability to escape almost every dangerous situation making him practically Houdini, but his use as a villain and character was executed well enough it wasn't plot breaking. The ending was also fairly unclear, though offered enough debate and food for thought that it wasn't a bad thing, though a fairly mixed bag.

Overall, this was easily Urasawa's best work. Whilst 20th Century Boys was more entertaining, Kenji and Friend's charisma was a far worse case of plot armour than Johan being the master escape artist, not to mention the ending being fairly disappointing. Only read about 30% of Pluto and haven't read Billy Bat, but the general consensus is that Pluto's decent at best whilst Billy Bat became fairly disappointing after some time and is no more than average.

8/10

 

[Spiral-Force]

Favourite Eminem album? It seems you're not really into rap, but I remember a post of yours that implied you've listened to Em's stuff at least.