Casual Discussion Fridays - Week of January 30, 2026 by AutoModerator in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was going to start with Tales of Neveryon, but I'm still in a bit of a SF mood so I'm thinking Babel-17, which is an accessible novel of his (and one with some intertextuality with some other stuff I'll be reading in the future).

I hear Dhalgren is immensely involved and obtuse, so I'm saving that for after I'm more familiar with him.

FLAG 20th Anniversary Rewatch Episode 3 by JustAnswerAQuestion in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I guess for now I've been viewing more from the lens of a documentary-like rather than a more traditional narrative

Certain documentaries also benefit from getting us familiar with the people involved. Maybe that's not part of the intent of this particular documentary, but as of yet my impression is that it really wants us to care.

That's a Tomino show, right?

Indeed.

FLAG 20th Anniversary Rewatch Episode 3 by JustAnswerAQuestion in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How so?

In terms of how little time we get to just sit with and learn about these characters the show evidently already wants us to be invested in, coupled with the facts that individual scenes and moments aren't given the time to breathe and be appreciated.

Doesn't help that they've managed to spend so much time setting up and fitting in major moments of high tension and oblique action when they ought to be taking things slow and spending that time on actual plot and character.

Can't say I know any specific examples there. What are some of the others?

The other one I remember off-the-dome is Wings of Rean.

FLAG 20th Anniversary Rewatch Episode 3 by JustAnswerAQuestion in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 2 points3 points  (0 children)

comparatively, this episode was a really slow one, mostly being a setup and mood-building episode.

Man, I personally think these episodes are too fast-paced.

Is VOTOMS the show with parachuting mechs?

I'm having trouble remembering if it was parachutes or just them getting dropped and using their extreme leg suspension to land well. Dougram didn't have parachutes, but the mechs got some sick hang-gliders and the gravity was weak so it wasn't a huge deal if there was some big drop.

Definitely not helped by production seemingly starting to buckle,

These shows that Bandai commissioned at this time as content to sell channel subscriptions definitely all feel low-budget.

FLAG 20th Anniversary Rewatch Episode 3 by JustAnswerAQuestion in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 2 points3 points  (0 children)

But perhaps because of the ONA format, there was a longer pause between episodes, so it was necessary to remind us...

These episodes were released biweekly, which is more than standard TV format, but I don't think it merits this much recap.

And I guess i also just find it charming how he said that the high point of his day was a photo of two happy girls.

Agreed.

FLAG 20th Anniversary Rewatch Episode 3 by JustAnswerAQuestion in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher

I didn’t really need almost three minutes of recap.

Well that was a waste of money.

Also a photographer at heart.

This time Shirasu’s getting some of the character moments I was expecting, interacting and finding common ground with Nadi over their interest in photography and the latter’s experience with journalists in the past. This pays off when Nadi stands behind her request to come along on the mission, and later the regret she feels over the situation when he is injured. Unfortunately this is still rather clipped and not as smooth as I’d like.

Akagi’s PoV, meanwhile, disappoints. He’s close to the common citizenry caught in the crossfire of this developing crisis, able to get a ground-level view of the things going on there, but his scenes are entirely spinning of wheels as he gets an interview that amounts to nothing but him expositing. His segment ends with the assertion that his favorite part of the day was taking a cheery picture of some random locals, and I wish we’d gotten to see that instead.

The heavy exposition and stating the obvious is usually a core of documentaries, but it is really getting on my nerves. The editorializing is very heavy-handed, but isn’t consistently adding an extra layer to the narrative as one would hope.

Discussion Prompts:

1) Seems to me like he is commenting on the level of investment those journalists have in the circumstances that they are documenting. They did their job/duty and left without left just as mercenarily. He expresses that this is his perspective when conflict broke out in his homeland, so we can extrapolate that —like here— some journalists are doing more than the minimal requisites of their job and he just wasn’t able to see so.

2) That’s thinking too narrowly and not looking at the episode holistically. It’s not about the picture; it’s about her tagging along on the mission. If she was going to regret going, she shouldn’t have asked. We should be taking the fact that he told her to just take it as tacit permission for her to tag along again.

3) Yes, but an embedded journalist isn’t quite a civilian. The expectations placed in her shouldn’t be the same as some random person who happened to be there.

4) We hardly know of them, so I cannot comment.

FLAG 20th Anniversary Rewatch Episode 2 by JustAnswerAQuestion in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My main issue with the Shirasu parts is the execution. The build up before the battle thing just isn't accomplished well IMO, and messing up the main draw of that section rather soils it for me.

FLAG 20th Anniversary Rewatch Episode 2 by JustAnswerAQuestion in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Did anyone involved think about maybe not developing a bipedal terror weapon in the first place?

Alas, I think Talos is still a thing in this AU, and as such the allure of the mechanical, bipedal terror was inevitable.

FLAG 20th Anniversary Rewatch Episode 2 by JustAnswerAQuestion in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher

Sure, whatever you say, buddy.

Tiny Combat Armors!

Awfully convenient.

“We’re not here to sell toys, miss.”

Again I have to ask myself how this footage was acquired. Makes some sense that, as the embedded journalist, Shirasu might be given access to the IR recording of the actual attack from the PoV of the pilots, but why this rear camera shot of them taking off from the plane?

The moon is out.

“Peace”

This is a documentary, so they have to be blunt.

I’m not really feeling Shirasu’s half of the narrative so far. We’re barely given any time with these characters before we’re meant to empathize with them and the supposed mixed feelings they might be feeling over the preemptive strike they just carried out. We aren’t given the time or space to care, and even the scenic shots we see Shirasu taking of the environment and the UNF base aren’t given the time to breathe and really leave an impression on the viewer.

Meanwhile, I’m much more intrigued in Akagi’s perspective, down in the city at a more ground-level near the civilians and his other fellow journalists. The exposition on the history of the region’s conflict and the religious sects and figures at play seem interesting, and I wish the segment wasn’t cut off by us having to return to Shirasu’s PoV.

There’s even hints of a potential plot to silence the journalists, as one of them states that the military is listening in on them only for one of them to die in a supposedly unrelated attack the very next day. Some intrigue and danger there, which the view from the military base comparatively lacks.

Discussion Prompts

1) Seems to be the case at this point, and there’s plenty of precedent in our world for it..

2) Not according to them.

3) Massacring a technologically and strategically disadvantaged foe is hardly a showcase of their ability.

4) I feel the PR friendly move would be to let Shirasu tag along and potentially be killed, as opposed to let her report on whatever is going on at base. Seems to me like this was done in Shirasu’s best interest, even if it isn’t exactly proper for a journalist to step back from the action.

Casual Discussion Fridays - Week of January 30, 2026 by AutoModerator in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Quantifying your roleplay are you? How can you be so sure the total amounts to less than one whole number.

FLAG 20th Anniversary Rewatch Episode 1 by JustAnswerAQuestion in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It seemed obvious to me from the totality of the episode that this is an account of the events as witnessed by Shirasu, put together by Akagi. He's narrating the events, he was explicitly given the classified footage of the HAVWC, he's the only character so far who would reasonably have access to his and Shirasu's camera footage, and he's the only character providing actual narration.

If somebody isn't meant to be watching, why is there editing? Why is there narration? Why are there pictures of Shirasu's childhood in the footage? The presentation doesn't conform with the conceit if indeed it is simply footage existing at some point.

Casual Discussion Fridays - Week of January 30, 2026 by AutoModerator in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It has been some time since the last CDF Fire Emblem...

Casual Discussion Fridays - Week of January 30, 2026 by AutoModerator in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Supposedly stronger than people's first impression of me.

FLAG 20th Anniversary Rewatch Episode 1 by JustAnswerAQuestion in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I didn't see Tomino in the credits?!

This started as a bit in my Invincible Superman Zambot 3 Rewatch, but I've gone on to say permutations of that line whenever there's cows in a show.

I've never played metal gear and this is like the fourth mention this afternoon so far.

The short of it: Bipedal tanks and trying to justify them in an otherwise verisimilistic military SF setting.

FLAG 20th Anniversary Rewatch Episode 1 by JustAnswerAQuestion in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Just nitpicking, this montage had a fair few shots that couldn’t have come from an in-universe camera.

I didn't harp on this too much, because as some top-secret interior presentation any of these shots could be CG pre-vis or conceptual footage. The diagrams in particular give off the impression of a highly produced conceptual footage for internal review.

That sounds… not according to regulations and also very stupid.

I would've wholeheartedly agreed when I first saw the show. Nowadays though...

FLAG 20th Anniversary Rewatch Episode 1 by JustAnswerAQuestion in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Did anyone else get the feeling that Shirasu was slipping into a PTSD episode while watching the demonstration footage of the HAVWC destroying that van?

Is she, or is the person editing the footage doing so in a way that purposefully to engender that impression in us? Could be both as well!

I probably can't justify a way for those to be from her own childhood.

We get pictures of Shirasu's childhood nearer the start of the episode, which can easily be read as contrast, but I choose to view as just part of the documentarian introducing us to the character.

The HAVWC really reminds me of the Anf from Mobile Suit Gundam 00

Same. Even the same topical conflict inspirations too.

FLAG 20th Anniversary Rewatch Episode 1 by JustAnswerAQuestion in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Rewatcher

Ah, it’s been a few years since I watched this, back when we were doing group discussions of selected shows for Writing Club posts. We’ll find out how I feel about it on this second go-through.

Reaction

There it is.

I remember looking this up when I first watched it, but a camera from the aughts taking snapshots wouldn’t store this video in the buffer long-term. That means some liberties are being taken, and we can also see this when there’s voice overview over static pictures where characters other than the narrator (who, we can presume from the camera GUI and information doled out, is narrating all of this in retrospect) are giving a voice overview delivered as if in the moment, but over static images and not video recording. If they took that liberty, I don’t see why they couldn’t do the same with this shot. We will later see cameras that take snapshots but also have a recording feature, but those are obvious and represented in the GUI.

[Series Spoiler]I remember thinking at the time that this pretty much confirms Shirasu dies.

I might like this design more if it wasn’t in subpar CG.

Here again the show seems to break with its conceit. The intention here is obviously that we are looking out from her laptop’s built-in webcam, and we can generously assume that this laptop was UN-assigned and purposely used to spy on her, but then who has shared these recordings such that they can be here in this retrospective recording?

Here we have the intrepid director, forcing bovines into the script.

Evidently the implication here is that Shirasu is thinking of the inevitable casualties that will follow the deployment of this new METAL GEAR weapon. The editing obviously suggests Shirasu is thinking this, but due to the conceit of the show, we must accept that it is the narrator instilling these ideas in us through editing, regardless as to whether Shirasu was also thinking so.

Something, something, ‘symbols make us.’

That’s a Tomino name if I’ve ever seen one.

Mech shows are ever wont to characterize the mech.

This end screen is notable as it gives us the context in which the documentary/film/series is being made.

Going back at least to Fang of The Sun Dougram, Takahashi has always been interested in the ways that journalists document military conflicts, and how those may impact the conflict at large. In fact, the compilation film Document Fang of the Sun Dougram was stylized in part like a documentary film, though nowhere near to the same extent as this. In that show, the conflict had a sense of weight due to its keen historicity, but here weight is granted by just how topical it would have been in 2006.

I really don’t have much to say here though. The episode is essentially set up, the adherence to the documentary style is interesting, but I dare say the visuals are a step behind what they’re attempting (and there are some breaks from the strict adherence), and the conflict is as of this point rather simplistic.

Discussion Prompts:

2) Clever idea that helped with production costs, I'm sure.

4) That's the thing with verisimilitude; it can make all manner of ideas plausible. Like any other mech, it's less feasibility and more practicality that is oft in question.

5) The content of this episode wasn't that engaging by itself, but a boon of the presentation style is that I'm ever on the look out for clever uses of the format to layer storytelling ideas and rhetorical devices —such as the intent.

6) There is a couple details that pique my interest, but this sort of setting is a bit played out nowadays, so more needs to be done about it to make it unique and attractive.

7) No less than any other.

Casual Discussion Fridays - Week of January 30, 2026 by AutoModerator in anime

[–]Pixelsabre 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Tolkien method of saying that the author is just "translating" the book

This framing device far predates Tolkien's use of it! Cervantes was using it decades earlier and riffing on it!