ADV got their license pulled and Bandai picked it up. A sub only initial release is scheduled to start in July, with 9 episodes per $30 release in July, August and September. A dub release is scheduled to follow in early 2009.
Wait, did you say 9 episodes for $30? Even if it’s only subs, that’s a pretty sweet deal in comparison to years past.
Damn.
How many episodes are in this series? And will it all be completely released before September?
27 episodes, the last volume is coming out in September so it can’t really be finished before then.
I read on ANN today that somehow it’s on the Ani-Monday schedule on Sci-Fi in late July; however, it also sounds like there are some scheduling oddities around that time as well, so who knows…
Originally Posted by VickiMints
I read on ANN today that somehow it’s on the Ani-Monday schedule on Sci-Fi in late July; however, it also sounds like there are some scheduling oddities around that time as well, so who knows…
My god it’s going to get mauled to pieces. :booster:
I simply cannot Believe It.
(Apparently there’s a Scifi Original Movie airing in this very post. Spoooooky!)
So when does this series start getting good? I’ve watched the first two episodes, and I’ve seen a whole lot of stuff that I just don’t like about anime…Does it get better?
SG you are right it does have a rather slow start, but it does get better. Trsut me. I would say episode 7 is where things truly start getting good.
Umm… Just try to avoid paying to much attention to the actually animation of episode 4. That is a complete one-off.
I’m mostly turned off by the characters having large mood swings, the tone very abruptly switching between SUPER SERIOUS and slapstick comedy, and the very obvious ‘Show off Yoko’s assets’ camera angles.
This is really one of those shows where you just have to shut up and watch it. You will think you want to stop after episode 8, but by episode 12 you’ll be unable to pry yourself out of your seat for the remainder of the ride. Episode 3 is what usually hooks people, episode 4 is a trainwreck that ended with on of the founders of gainax resigning, and the last few episodes are simply amazing and are really hard to describe objectively or without dissolving into a pile of superlatives.
I looked into the episode 4 controversy, and all the drama surrounding the series had to do with the animation - not the content.
@SG This video is a big episode 8 spoiler, but if you don’t like it then I don’t think you’ll like the show. The later episodes overall aren’t as silly and are much more epic and emotional like this one.
Edit: You might want to just watch ep. 7 and 8 to understand the whole ministory.
I’ve already watched up to episode 8. I’ll say, episode 8 was definitely the first episode that didn’t make me roll my eyes every ten seconds.
So, I just wanted to say that I finished this series about a week ago, and I think it did get ‘better’ than the beginning, but it still was a pretty damn bad anime overall. It steadily got better and more interesting in the middle, but the last 5-6 episodes were just_so_stupid!
Overall, about the only parts that were really good were the very end of the first half and the first few episodes of the second half. Before that, it was a bunch of meandering nonsense coupled with stupid anime stereotypes for its own sake. After that, it just ground to a complete halt with the conclusion being so ridiculously bad. I have to say, this is why I don’t generally purchase anime before I’ve watched it, and this is definitely going to be a huge factor in dissuading me from trying again.
Maybe I enjoyed it more since I just watched it on my DVR and didn’t buy it…
It was ridiculous toward the end, but the ridiculous optimism against all ridiculous odds was a bit infectious. 
Your reaction sounds a lot like you take yourself and your tv shows entirely too seriously. This isn’t a show about being all high brow and pretentious, it’s a show about surpassing the impossible and kicking reason to the curb.
Yeah, and they sure as fucking hell did that. I’m glad for them.
Sorry, but there are several scenes scattered throughout the series, starting in even the first or second episode, that indicates that the writers have a message(s) to get across. Unfortunately, the themes get really lost in how bipolar the whole thing is.
It’s not even that I don’t love the whole ‘optimism in the face of insurmountable odds’ thing - for fuck’s sake, I some of my favorite RPGs are the Lunar series! However, trying to be goofy and zany while trying to simultaneously throw in a lot of series stuff is just bewildering. And also, I don’t know who gets off on these crazy plot developments, like all the crazy shit that happens at the end. When the majority of the story elements you’re working with become almost completely abstract, it’s hard to maintain your suspension of disbelief. You can’t even get into the action scenes, just because they’re sooooo fucking weird!
So, again, while I can’t say this was the worst anime I’ve ever watched, I definitely can’t say it was time well spent.
It’s not a story about the plot though, it’s a story about the characters.
Well, mainly Simon’s character. And I wouldn’t say the actions scenes are stupid, even at the end, it’s just that they’re ridiculous. I loved it, it’s pretty obvious you didn’t. I guess that’s because you don’t like the ridiculous as much as I do, but that’s hardly something to get irate over.
I’m with Cavelcade on this one. I really liked the ridculus ending to it.
Although when I first heard of how this ended, I thought what the hell. But after actually watching the whole series, and then the ending, I thought it sort of fitted… somehow. But hey that’s just me.
Irate? It’s not like I’m throwing a temper tantrum or something 
When people make those kinds of comments, it makes me feel like it’s impossible to have an opinion. If you like something or dislike something, you don’t have to be nice about it - in fact, I think that’s what makes reviews so boring, and maybe even a small part in what makes them so soft on their reviewed material.
Anyways, I don’t think you can just say “Oh, you’re wrong, they action scenes weren’t stupid; they were RIDICULOUS! There’s a difference!” Unless you can give me quite a reasonable one? I’m willing to bet, though, that if you did, I would probably say, “Yeah, I call that ‘stupid’” And there would be little for you to argue with on it because there is no rule about how I should or shouldn’t label things as per my personal aesthetic.
If you wanna know why, here you go: [SPOILER]For starters, every method of attack is just more and more absurd, such as vortexes that trap you due to your fighting spirit, or probability missiles, or being able to exist in the past or future, or even different dimensions, but still pose a viable threat to Simon and the other dudes. It also doesn’t make me feel very scared about it when Gurenn Lagann can just go “RAOORAHHR” and every single enemy ship you can see suddenly explodes.
Also, what the hell is up with the anti-spiral people? They don’t even look like people, and they fight while being stuck in some sort of permanent sleep in a chamber? I’m really impressed how much shit they could build while being completely unconscious.
Nevermind that some of the scenes and lines are ridiculous. Kamina showing up at the end had little explanation, and little point to it other than raising your morale by going “OHHH YEAHHH IT’S KAMINA!!!” You see, though, I like that kind of stuff to MAKE SENSE. It’s not okay with me to just say “Oh, well that’s not what the anime is going for”, you can’t just write sloppy and go “ohh well I MEANT to do that”, that’s just a fucking cop out. I’ve seen plenty of stories that pull off the ‘good feelings, hell yeah, we can conquer anything, unrelenting in the face of danger’ theme much better than Gurenn Lagann, because they don’t throw caution to the wind and write whatever the fuck they want.
And lastly, if you don’t ‘ROFLMAO’ at a line like (paraphrasing) “What brings you, Lordgenome, all the way out to the space between the 11th and 12th dimensions?” Rofl fucking mayonaise. I didn’t realize that dimensions were a physical distance away, nevermind that it just sounds so retarded to say that.[/SPOILER]
So yeah. Stupid.
And sure, the story is supposed to be more character-driven than plot-driven. That’s exactly what bothers me. The spectacle of the story was always more interesting than the characters. [SPOILER]Every single character was static except Simon, Rossiu, and SORT of Kinon, who didn’t really change for any good reason. Actually, thinking about it, what hurts the anime big time is that Simon doesn’t really change for any good reason, either. This always just kills me when I see these japanese stories try and do character development. They always try to take their characters from horrible people/sniveling pieces of crap into these wonderful awesome people with no discernable bad qualities. In one particular episode, Simon just goes “…Ohhhh! I get it! I have to not be a sniveling piece of crap!” That doesn’t happen. People change for significant reasons, and if people telling him “You’re an idiot, get over it” about a MILLION times doesn’t change him, he’s not going to go “ohhh” the same day - he may not EVER change.
So, who does that leave? Rossiu. Rossiu’s development, and his conflict over what he felt must be done and how he actually felt about it, was fucking wonderful. It’s really no surprise that those are the best episodes. The only thing bad about it was how understated it was most of the time, especially in the beginning of the second half. The scene of him breaking down in his office at the decision of Simon’s execution was seriously awesome. It’s painful to me that there was so little of this, or even that the particular scene I just mentioned was so brief.[/SPOILER]
So, if only three characters out of the metric assload of characters were dynamic, what does that say for its ‘character-driven’ plot? I’d say it says “It isn’t very good”, I dunno