I bought my mother this DVD box set for her birthday. Secretly though, I bought it so that I could watch them too. I love love LOVE the first season of Pokemon. I know I’m always ranting about how anime series these days are pure shit, and I know that Pokemon isn’t exactly ground-breaking or thought-provoking, but COME ON. It’s Pokemon!
I’ll probably come back later to write a whole anal retentive review of the DVDs. But in a nutshell, I’m pretty disappointed by the overall lack of quality. These look and feel like bootlegs, and that just shouldn’t be the case. The price is comparable to, say, the Cowboy Bebop or Big O collections, but they completely lack their polished, professional look and feel. And on top of that, it doesn’t include the Japanese language track. I mean, what the hell? Plus this isn’t even the full first season. In fact, it’s only about a third of the way through. Why would you make a box set if it’s not even going to include all the episodes?
I better stop now before I get into full-blown anal retentive mode. :P
But anyway, I love these episodes. I’m not a dub-hater, and if anything I’d rather watch the dub than fansubs for these first episodes if only for the nostalgia. This is what my sister and I grew up on! So even though there are some really funky things going on in this episode (Pikachu’s voice alternating between a freaky-sounding American VA and the original seiyuu, noticeable shifts in the bgm, Ash’s VA still trying to get used to the role, everyone completely mispronouncing “Pokemon”) it’s still awesome.
First thing I noticed right off the bat is how obnoxious everyone is to poor Ash. :P His Pokedex’s voice is dripping with snark and sarcasm, Pikachu obviously doesn’t want anything to do with him, Gary is just the most repulsively obnoxious person ever, and Misty is a total bitch. Meanwhile Ash is just doing his best “Excuse me, I’m sorry, could you please help me” routine, which is just so adorable. Later on he’ll find his courage to stand up to assholes, and he’ll become even more sarcastic and arrogant than everyone else. >P
I love Miyazaki films but probably not as much as I should. Except for the scene at the end when Haku and Sen are falling from the sky, I hated Spirited Away. And Howl’s Moving Castle is really terrible. I rewatched it this morning to see if maybe I could like it this time around, but nope.
I love Princess Mononoke and My Neighbor Totoro, but not 100%. I’ll skip scenes in Mononoke, fast-forward through Totoro. Miyazaki is appealing visually, and his worlds are whimsical and charming, but these aren’t reasons why I watch movies. His storytelling sucks, and it’s difficult to connect with characters and their motives.
How and why did the Witch of the Waste become an accepted grandma-type character to the crew? And what about the dog Heen, whom Sophie suspected was a spy but allowed him hearthroom anyway? And at the end, with the scarecrow and the end of the war, tell me that’s not a freaking deus ex machina. I DARE YOU. Actually, what was the whole freaking war about, anyway? Nothing was explained. And as is typical with all Miyazaki films, the ending just kind of drifts off into nothing. So Sophie abandons her hat shop? What about her sister(s) and mother? What’s going to happen to Calcifer now that he can die? What the hell was up with that sequence when Sophie went through the door and saw Howl’s past? How is the castle even moving, much less flying, now that Calcifer is free? Does Madam Suliman give up on trying to catch Howl, and if so, why?
I know movie critics and anime fans will pounce on all this and shriek, “BUT IT’S SO MUCH BETTER THAN AMERICAN FILMS BECAUSE IT DOESN’T PATRONIZE AND OVEREXPLAIN THINGS! PLUS, IT ALLOWS US TO TAP DIRECTLY INTO MIYAZAKI’S CHILDLIKE IMAGINATION, WHICH IS JUST STELLAR!” His movies are pure nonsense, but since it’s delightful nonsense, people lap it up anyway. I guess I like my movies to be a little more… tangible.
Anyway, summer is here, which means I’m off to mope in the background about how friggin’ hot it is.
The first Eva movie has finally been pirated. DVD-quality rip complete with sub track. I downloaded it myself and watched parts of it, so rest assured, it’s the real thing. Excuse me as I wet myself with glee.
Latest Comments
RSS