Better Anime? "Serial Experiements: Lain" vs "Neon Genesis Evangelion"

NGE has indept theological scholaprship expressed by way of giant robot fights

and a really FOCKT up ending.

so it wins.

http://www.animetion.co.uk/Images/nerv.jpg

plenty of fan-art, too

oh yeah, for more fun, do a GIS for "rei cosplay" or "rei hentai". Best not to do at work, tho.

I don't have any problem saying NGE is the best series I've seen. Cowboy Bebop is excellent too, though -- probably a close second.

No no no Dragonball is kind of whimsical and silly and actually sort of watchable. Dragonball Z is complete tripe unless you happen to catch it in Spanish, in which case it is kind of watchable for about 2 minutes.

Villian: "Hahahaha, now you shall taste the furious wrath of my next form" (Begins powering up)
(20 Minutes of 'powering up footage' shown from every possible angle, while the Heroes stand around like people watching a pornographic fireworks display. Villian finally turns into a form that is 3% bigger than the old form and launches energy attack at main hero.)
Villian: "Ha! Take THAT!"
(Explosion. Three minutes of everyone staring at a smoking cloud. Smoke clears. Hero doesn't have a scratch on him.)
Villian: "...Wait! I haven't shown you my NEXT form!"
(Previews of the next episode flash on the screen. In it, the Hero does exactly what the Villian just did in this episode, to exactly the same lackluster effect....all the while, the Narrator, stoked to eyeballs on cheap biker speed emotes...)
Narrator: "Is the End of the Z-Squad? No, Really? Is it? I really want to know. Because they said this was a three episode mini-series and wanted to do all the bumper voice-overs for the entire series in one day. I'm running out of things to say. Can't I go to the bathroom now? Anyhow, tune in tommorrow for another *yawn* exciting episode of Dragonball Z."

after that, total shite.

FLCL is the Pop Tatari of anime, by the way.

rewatching this show (on bluray!) & this is really the only series that matches the final couple of evangelion episodes for sheer wtf huh

i wonder how likely it is that yōji enokido has read the heart is a lonely hunter?

I mentioned in the Sailor Moon thread a few weeks back about the Revolutionary Girl Utena movie...Enokido wrote that as well; it's also pretty wtf, and there are def. some moments that parallel FLCL

I'm a HUUUUUUUUUGE FLCL stan, and probably could link to three or four academic-style exegeses on the Internet if you'd like, lamp

i was just talking to someone about flcl today - it's really one of the best shows about adolescence ever + it doesnt make u feel lame for liking a freakin anime, has held a steady spot in my top 5 since 2002

'three or four' is a bit ambitious, but here are a couple attempts:

http://boards.adultswim.com/t5/General-Action-Discussion/FLCL-Explained-at-Length-Spoilers/td-p/550721

http://mabase.agefive.com/html/episode_guide.html

xp: totally, like I still regard FLCL as one of the best things I've ever encountered

(there's a hamfisted & ill-advised attempt by yours truly on the Aeon Flux board to defend FLCL as High Lit against the likes of Philip Nunez. Please don't ever read it)

its also the anime that most reminds me of old looney tunes in terms of chaotic energy and creative visual gags

right

(I'll never forget Lord Canti shitting out Naota @ the end of the 2nd episode)

haha double tam i think like two or so years ago on a different evangelion thread you told me that flcl was one of the only anime series youd honestly recommend...

i was watching the first episode two days ago w/ a friend whod never seen it & hes like 'wtf is this show abt' & i told him 'puberty' which seemed like the only real way to sum it up. but after watching the third episode i keep thinking abt mccullers & the famous quote abt mick kelley the painful expansiveness of early adolescence, the worlds heart beating...

yeah I was wondering where you got Heart is a Lonely Hunter from...

I wonder how Lain holds up after so many years.

oh yeah, for more fun, do a GIS for "rei cosplay" or "rei hentai". Best not to do at work, tho.

― kingfish (Kingfish), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 20:29 (5 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"defend FLCL as High Lit against the likes of Philip Nunez. Please don't ever read it"

I don't remember the contention that it was high lit so much as FLCL was better than Family Guy,
which will undoubtedly be the premise of someone's grad thesis one day, to everyone's shame.

i wld love to rewatch flcl again. so melancholy and funny and memorable. it seems sui generis.

lamp i'm kind of wondering whether or not you'd like this movie:

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h279/juicyfrt/406px-Joshandsam.jpg

s.a.m.

would watch

i just got done watching it again; it hits some of the same pre-teen angst-fest buttons as some of FLCL's more lucid moments...

I should mention Ghost Hound, a series from 2007-2008. One of the most unusual bits of anime I've seen. It has a dark, Twin Peaks-ish plot with strong horror themes (child murder and astral projection in a sleepy Japanese town), also blends in a fair amount of slice-of-life high school mundanity, weird Japanese mythical/historical allusions, and European trauma psychology. I found it quite scary, but it's somehow not "adult horror" material... still somehow youthful and kind of fun.

The best sound design I've heard in any television series. Period.

Despera is alive and "continuing with a new director"??? excited!

I watched one episode of SEL and was not feeling it, should I continue

maybe not tbh. but I'd say give it one or two more if yer inclined. I thought the show was at its best w/those slow and moody first few eps. the overarching plot that starts moving after that is p standard cyberpunk govt conspiracy theory stuff and not super well executed. ends on a good note tho.

depends on what put you off about it. it definitely starts slowly. for me i think the plot is not super important, there is just kind of a richness of ideas and details and weird moments

i also wd say the plot gets a lil bit weirder than your standard cyberpunk conspiracy stuff i guess just b/c of the variety of ideas and influences that the show is drawing on, altho parts of it get into similar territory as like the sprawl trilogy. the overall subdued surreal horror tone of the series is def something that i don't think you see too much in cyberpunk in general

yea good call on the surreal horror tone, one of my favorite things about the show

really like whenever lain walks around her neighborhood

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR5EDW7ShM4SNPLd7n-gvb69_JA7QZ7GRp9P2klY3cxUTrt1S2c

I guess the surreal horror tone was what I didn't like, never felt it was truly creepy

Truth be told it just reminded me of the house of the dead arcade game lol

http://i.imgur.com/qQLRgfm.png

Just figured out the NGE-Solaris connect and it took a throwaway joke about the end of IE to drive it home

I'm seven episodes into Serial Experiments Lain so far and it's actually fantastic? I'm surprised there's such a lukewarm reception to it upthread here. Ofc it's not nearly as great as Evangelion, but it has some amazing moments of creepy surrealist horror. I also love the dated computer graphics, which feel so much creepier 20 years into the future.