SOME SPOILERS ABOUND
also, ranting.
I just watched Advent Children. It'd been circulating around work for like two weeks now so I finally just nabbed it instead of continuing to say "I'm going to wait".
It's not that I wasn't entertained or anything - it had its moments - but it wasn't for me. I hate anime. I like a lot of video games that have anime in it (though I think every game based on anime I've ever played, I still hated), but not because of that.
Advent Children did little more than remind me why I hate anime shows and movies.
1. Blood. There wasn't any. Something isn't automatically good if it has blood or anything, but I think if there isn't any where it should be, that something can be worse. I forgive this in a lot of games, because the focus is usually on the gameplay. Sure, it's fun in games like Vandal Hearts where slaying an enemy causes them to erupt with red shit greater than the mass of their whole bodies, but in a movie, seeing someone get shot in the face at point blank range and getting off with a splotch on their brow sets off my wtfalarm.
I realize that there are a lot of bloody animes out there. I've seen them. This doesn't apply universally.
2. Flying peoples. I can't tolerate it. It's something else that I forgive in a lot of games because it's not really the focus, and wizbang in video games is all well and good, but midair fights have always pissed me off.
There was a particular scene in Advent Children that made me laugh out loud, and you can probably guess which. It's right before Cloud slays Bahamut (or whatever else the creature is supposed to be). He jumps like 100 feet into the air - and then each character jumps out under him, and gives him a push, so that he flies higher. What the hell?
So, let's excuse the whole flying thing, anyhow, just for a minute. The whole scene where this happens is just plain hokey. It's like they were written into a corner or something, and instead of backing up and thinking "This doesn't make much sense", they thought "How can we make him fly that high?"
The scene's probably supposed to be symbolic of their friendship and the way that humans depend on each other to survive and so on (it reminded me, a little bit, of how I might have imagined Marduk and Tiamat), but it could've been done a thousand different ways. I would've maybe started with it being on the ground.
The complaint isn't that "it's not realistic"; it's that it's hokey. In my own words at the time of viewing - stupid.
3. Sephiroth emerges. I understand that these guys are Sephiroth clones (or "larva", whatever) that can eventually become Sephiroth, but Kadaj turns into Sephiroth from out of freaking nowhere. While the Sephiroth fight scene was cool in its own right (in an "I-guess" sort of way; see #3), the way I see this is just an excuse to put the 'real' Sephiroth into the movie, because everyone loves Sephiroth. He is, after all, the typical long-haired villain clad in black, and they're so in; forever.
4. Rock and roll background music? This is just a personal thing, I guess, but when the background music sounds like a power metal, it really gives me the whole "bad 80s film" vibe. I realize this movie was made in Japan, and things are different in the mystical wonderland of Japan. This seems to happen in a lot of anime, and a lot of anime games; not only FF7 itself, but in many other games. Guilty Gear comes to mind. I don't know if this is explainable or anything, and it's more of a personal nitpick than something I actually see as a 'flaw', though it does worsen the whole experience for me.
also, ranting.
I just watched Advent Children. It'd been circulating around work for like two weeks now so I finally just nabbed it instead of continuing to say "I'm going to wait".
It's not that I wasn't entertained or anything - it had its moments - but it wasn't for me. I hate anime. I like a lot of video games that have anime in it (though I think every game based on anime I've ever played, I still hated), but not because of that.
Advent Children did little more than remind me why I hate anime shows and movies.
1. Blood. There wasn't any. Something isn't automatically good if it has blood or anything, but I think if there isn't any where it should be, that something can be worse. I forgive this in a lot of games, because the focus is usually on the gameplay. Sure, it's fun in games like Vandal Hearts where slaying an enemy causes them to erupt with red shit greater than the mass of their whole bodies, but in a movie, seeing someone get shot in the face at point blank range and getting off with a splotch on their brow sets off my wtfalarm.
I realize that there are a lot of bloody animes out there. I've seen them. This doesn't apply universally.
2. Flying peoples. I can't tolerate it. It's something else that I forgive in a lot of games because it's not really the focus, and wizbang in video games is all well and good, but midair fights have always pissed me off.
There was a particular scene in Advent Children that made me laugh out loud, and you can probably guess which. It's right before Cloud slays Bahamut (or whatever else the creature is supposed to be). He jumps like 100 feet into the air - and then each character jumps out under him, and gives him a push, so that he flies higher. What the hell?
So, let's excuse the whole flying thing, anyhow, just for a minute. The whole scene where this happens is just plain hokey. It's like they were written into a corner or something, and instead of backing up and thinking "This doesn't make much sense", they thought "How can we make him fly that high?"
The scene's probably supposed to be symbolic of their friendship and the way that humans depend on each other to survive and so on (it reminded me, a little bit, of how I might have imagined Marduk and Tiamat), but it could've been done a thousand different ways. I would've maybe started with it being on the ground.
The complaint isn't that "it's not realistic"; it's that it's hokey. In my own words at the time of viewing - stupid.
3. Sephiroth emerges. I understand that these guys are Sephiroth clones (or "larva", whatever) that can eventually become Sephiroth, but Kadaj turns into Sephiroth from out of freaking nowhere. While the Sephiroth fight scene was cool in its own right (in an "I-guess" sort of way; see #3), the way I see this is just an excuse to put the 'real' Sephiroth into the movie, because everyone loves Sephiroth. He is, after all, the typical long-haired villain clad in black, and they're so in; forever.
4. Rock and roll background music? This is just a personal thing, I guess, but when the background music sounds like a power metal, it really gives me the whole "bad 80s film" vibe. I realize this movie was made in Japan, and things are different in the mystical wonderland of Japan. This seems to happen in a lot of anime, and a lot of anime games; not only FF7 itself, but in many other games. Guilty Gear comes to mind. I don't know if this is explainable or anything, and it's more of a personal nitpick than something I actually see as a 'flaw', though it does worsen the whole experience for me.
ing love Cowboy Bebop
