HI AGAIN... AGAIN.

[beckerbell]

All right, you guys, I'M GONNA DO THIS. I'M GONNA FIGURE OUT A USE FOR MY JOURNAL AGAIN. Because I had a conversation on tumblr tonight about how I really do miss lj/dw and how I always felt more connected to the people here than I do on tumblr. Not that I don't love tumblr! But the people on lj/dw are the ones I'll follow to whatever social media platform they use.

I finally started watching anime again last night--I picked up the first episode of Psycho Pass and I liked it pretty well so far. But I'm pretty easy when it comes to scifi world building stuff (though, generally, I like fantasy world building better) and half the cast inspires that, "Oh no, s/he's really hot. ):" reaction from me, which is always a good sign.

I also want to watch... oh, what was my list again? Magi definitely. And I think my flist said Jormungand was pretty good, too?

Comments

[anenko]

Jormungand, yes!

I'm iffy on Psycho Pass. There's stuff I like, but. . . I'm all burnt out on Pretty Boys in Pain, so some of the appeal is lost on me.

[beckerbell]

I've seen art from Jormungand around and it definitely looks pretty!

I'm really kind of torn--what attracted me to Psycho Pass is the Pretty Boys in Pain, because I'm easy, but I fear that I'll wind up in the same category as you, that I'm burnt out on that, because I've seen it so much by now. The art is all dark and glowy so far, which is what really attracted me to it above the others on my to-watch list, but I'm not sure how long that can sustain me, either.

Also, I'm rarely big on the way Japan handles damaged people and how that causes them to hurt other people. If this series is going to make me want to punch everyone in the face because, hey, therapy may not be a magic wand to fix everything BUT IT ACTUALLY DOES HELP, then I should bail now, probably.

[branchandroot]

...you may want to bail? I'm not all that far in myself, but the Big Bad is pretty much a poster-child for "therapy; it helps". Except, of course, for the way that possibility is /completely foreclosed/ in this world, because therapy = brainwashing and vegetable-hood, so he kind of has a point. Only... not. It's one of those.

[beckerbell]

Ugh. I'll probably give it another episode or two, eventually, just to judge for myself (because I can overlook some things if I like the rest of the series) but that really does bother me about Japan, with how looked down on therapy is there. Even in just the first episode, the way the girl victim was so casually written off when it was clear that she was just traumatized, it really kind of bothered me. If they were going to explore that it was a fucked up system, maybe it wouldn't bother me as much, but if it's just casually accepted.... orz

[branchandroot]

*squinches up her mouth* The characters mostly casually accept it, but it's clear that the /show/ knows this is a fucked up system? I don't know if that will be enough, so you'll have to judge for yourself. Our heroine, at least, is pretty clear on something being Very Wrong.

[beckerbell]

Are most of the characters the criminals? If so, that could actually be sort of interesting, that they're conditioned to just accept that. If our heroine thinks something is Very Wrong here... I guess it depends on whether the show is trying to paint her as being the emotionally intuitive one or if she's being portrayed as naive and will eventually learn better... With Japan, I fear it could go either way.

[branchandroot]

She's definitely the emotionally intuitive one. And the Big Bad is the one who seems most aware of everything that's fucked up. So there's some very interesting dynamics, yeah! It's hard to tell where they'll /finish/, though. I mean... dystopia, this could still be horrible. On the other hand, at least the signs point to being /aware/ of the horrible.

[beckerbell]

Well, dammit. Now I'm coming back around on wanting to catch up on this one just so I can judge whether or not it's my kind of fucked up! *g* You need to help me be more decisive here, not less! ;)

[inkstone]

P.S. The guy who writes Psycho-Pass is the guy who wrote Madoka Magica. So.

[beckerbell]

I noticed that at the end of the second episode's credits! I had one of those WHOA THIS IS AN UROBUCHI GEN SERIES??? and thought that that... kind of explained stuff, but also left me feeling like this isn't what I would have expected from him at all. (OTOH, I'm really only familiar with Madoka Magica, so I shouldn't judge everything by that.)

[anenko]

I love Koko a lot. There are so many amazing, competent characters--and I think every team has at least one woman. And the women are great! They are hardcore warriors, brilliant businesswomen, and scientists. I adored the way Koko's team worked together. (And the music! I kept singing ~her name is Koko, she is loco, I say oh no~ at the most random times.)

Psycho Pass is pretty. But we got to the point where Main Villain and Main Pretty Boy have a ~connection~ and god, haven't I seen this a million times before? There's also all sorts of ~deep thoughts~ about human nature that irritate me.

Therapy is a big (background) part of the show, but it's not necessarily healthy? People are urged to get therapy so that their hue remains clear, which feeds into the whole fucked-up system. And once the system decides that you're beyond help, you are fucked.

I wish the show played with that a bit more. We saw in the first episode that Sibyl makes criminals out of traumatized victims. The rest of the episodes are all mustache-twirling villains. They are bad people doing bad things, even if it is in order to fight a terrible system.

IDK. I guess I want Psycho Pass to be something it's not.

[beckerbell]

I'm not sure what Psycho Pass is or even what it's trying to be. I feel like all the extra-series knowledge I have is probably going to wind up hampering what might have been an otherwise enjoyable series?

Like, I'm intrigued because it's an Urobuchi Gen story! Except that raises expectations in a way that's probably not fair to this series. It deals with psychological trauma! Except that I know enough to know that this series is probably going to get it fairly wrong and there's not going to be much narrative acknowledgement of how fucked up this actually is.

Fun characters and relationships (especially when they're ones that I can get anywhere--I like the Main Villain and Main Pretty Boy dynamic! but you need to give me something more than just that--so what makes this special? Aside from that it's pretty?

So far, at least, I will give the show that I'm not mind-numbingly bored while watching it, though. That is something.

[inkstone]

Yes, yes, we said Jormungand was good!

[beckerbell]

I remember you also were really enthused about Zetsuen no Tempest, was it? How did that one hold up? I'm curious about Jormungand now, but the problem (as always) is in trying to figure out what to watch first and what to save for another day.

[inkstone]

Zetsuen no Tempest is bombastically ridiculous but lots of fun. It has far more manpain than Psycho-Pass though, which is why I don't think Psycho-Pass's brand of it doesn't bother me because it's miniscule by comparison.

[beckerbell]

I'm surprised to hear that Zetsuen no Tempest has that much manpain, I thought it was more lady-focused, which is one of the reasons I was curious about it! I'll probably drop it down a notch or two on the To Watch list and go with the series that my flist says are better.

Or, you know. Maybe actually finish Tiger&Bunny one of these days!

[umadoshi]

I have seen no new anime in ages, so I can't help with that, but hi! Yay! DW post!

[beckerbell]

I've sort of kept in touch with the latest anime happenings by tumblr osmosis, but I figured it was time to actually start watching them. Maybe I'll pry myself away from tumblr a bit more regularly that way. *g*

But I'm terribly nostalgic just for dw/lj in general and omg! E-mail notifications! I had forgotten how wonderful they are. ♥

[umadoshi]

Email notifications are a thing of beauty. Yes, indeed.

[beckerbell]

dw's notifications have been lovely so far! Now let's see if lj will actually let me know... *eyes warily*

[umadoshi]

As has sadly continued to be the way of things with LJ, it's good to have hopes about the site but no expectations. :/

[ukefied]

tumblr osmosis

I love tumblr for this; it's reminded me of things I need to read/watch even if I've forgotten them.

But I'm with you: tumblr is something I visit occasionally when I build my queue. I love the visual pretty and the lulz, but it's just not a medium for discussion or deep thoughts. XD

And YES, e-mail notifications! I can never find anything on tumblr.

[beckerbell]

tumblr sometimes can be a good place to find thoughtful discussion (but, admittedly, I gravitate towards that kind of tumblr user) but it definitely gets lost under the weight of everything else and becomes incredibly difficult to find later if you're not right on top of it!

It's also incredibly time consuming, which is fun in that you'll pretty much never ever be bored, but also difficult if you're like me and don't want to miss anything. I end up having ridiculous amounts of backlog that I can never just declare tumblr bankruptcy over or finally get through, because I already post so much. orz

And it's been kind of nice to come back to lj/dw and actually be able to take a bit of time to respond and know that the discussion won't immediately die.

[branchandroot]

Well, the new season has one called The Ultimate Hyoubu Kyousuke, which is looking delightfully silly in between making bad guys explode. Psychic underground organizations with name branding. I mean. *laughing* Also, the UST between the hero-hero and the anti-hero is already making me sparkle, and there appear to be ass-kicking ladies.

[beckerbell]

I don't think I've even heard of that one! Is it from the current season, so it only has two episodes out so far? I'm not sure if that's a plus or a minus for me... not a lot to catch up on, but also not a lot to tear through when I'm in a marathoning mood! But those qualities all sound like what I'm looking for!

[branchandroot]

Fresh this season, yeah! I heart Crunchyroll. I have no idea where this is going, but so far it's looking vastly entertaining in a not-too serious way. It's like they're poking fun at their own Serious Business.

[beckerbell]

I love love love series that poke fun at their own Serious Business! That definitely got me interested immediately. *g* Oh, man, I used to feel the really driving need to have everything downloaded because WHAT IF I WANTED TO WATCH IT AGAIN SOMEDAY??? but more and more I am adoring sites like CrunchyRoll and Hulu for having entire anime seasons up because, honestly, I have deleted so many series that I'm never going to watch again. Tv shows, too! (Especially when the DVR DOESN'T RECORD PROPERLY because of a football game running long. orz)

[aliceylain]

HELLO! I've been watching Psycho-Pass too because I'm forever a sucker for dystopian future stories. I think it's been done well so far, but I'm a hugely uncritical watcher/reader of media.

[beckerbell]

HI! :D I feel like Psycho-Pass is one of those series I should be more critical of when I watch it, but I just can't find it in me to be terribly mad at it? The most critical I get is over what it MIGHT be, how it MIGHT touch on attitudes that I've seen before that frustrate me. While I'm watching, though, the series has just sailed smoothly right along and I wind up watching a bunch of episodes in a row even before I realize it! Which is actually a good mark in its favor.