I saw part of an anime series fansubbed . . . a series that is now out on North American DVD.
I feel dirty.
Thing is, though, this series does not warrant the hype. I don't dislike it, though, so like FLCL and the tv version of Rurouni Kenshin, it doesn't bother me enough to make me wanna lash out hatred at it. On the other hand, it didn't really entertain me at all, either. So, what could I be referring to now?
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.
Quick version: those negative reviews on the ANN? (yes, there's more than one. See also the 'shelf life' review.) I totally agree with them.
Long version: I saw the first five episode of season one of Nanoha. Amazingly, the fansub quality was like that of a professional subtitling. After episode five, I lost all interest. The main flaw of Nanoha is that it is boring. Bee. Oh. Are. Eye. In. Jee. BOOOO-OOOOO-OOOO-REEEEEENG! Boring characters, extremely formulaic plot, lame action sequences, it amazes me that the series has run for three seasons so far. You know what it's like? It's like Cardcaptor Sakura, but with all of the fun, charm, and heart sucked out of it. For once, I actually found myself agreeing with the majority of the Youtube commentors. "Dude, this is nothing more than a ripoff of Cardcaptor Sakura."
And, ya know, I gotta say, why is there sexual fanservice in Nanoha? It's pretty bad that some of it could also be considered lolicon. ("LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! xm watched another shoujo series! He is sucha pedo! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL") It doesn't serve any fucking purpose in the narrative! I'm gonna ask the same question Kyon would; naze? Naze . . . however you say, "why would you insert pointless fanservice in a magical girl series?" Uh . . . naze mahou shoujo anime . . . . . You know what? I print mostly in Modern English for a reason. (namely, I'm monolingual.)
And even then, despite its attempts, it's not even that cute! Nanoha is too mature for a nine year old girl. Her family is just too perfect to be believable, the same for her friends. The ferret guy, who I'm guessing is the mascot, is so boring, nothing like my good friends Mokona, Kero-chan, and Nall. The only vaguely interesting character is Fate, but after having read some info on the tvtropes page, it seems she just becomes a Nanoha clone later on, and Lord knows I need another lifeless person in my tv shows. And getting back to cuteness, I don't like Nanoha's hairstyle. The only time she looks even remotely cute is when she lets her hair down. Those pigtails of hers? Highly unfashionable. The animation outside of the (already dull) action sequences is lackluster, and the music is similarly lame.
But even without the fanservice and the pathetic attempts at being cute, it doesn't matter, because Nanoha is just too boring to be enjoyable. Even the voice actors (in Japanese, no less) sounded bored out of their minds. (according to ANN, the English dub is no better. That sucks.)
So maybe I didn't do a bad thing, after all. I've seen a magical girl series that, while not as disastrous as Sailor Moon, fails at keeping my attention like CCS did.
Oh god, Sailor Moon. Bad, bad memories with that one. I've seen bits of the English version on the Net (for historical purposes), and also, my assfuck "friends" in high school made me watch part of the uncut Japanese version. Yeah, I'm really not surprised I avoided anime between mid 2003 to mid 2007. SM is supposed to be one of the biggest anime franchises of all time, and it sucks this much!?
Oh wait, I'm getting sidetracked. But, Nanoha isn't that much better!
Help me, Sakura-chan! Rescue me from the asininity of SM and the lifelessness of Nanoha! Carry me away from the suckitude with your FLY card!
But fear not, everyone. I found another anime series to watch. I'll tell you about it when I'm finished with it. (Oh! A series he's watching from start to finish! That must mean he likes it!)
