Stand Alone Complex

[Fe 26]

I'll have to remember to kick hubs ass in the next time I see him on aim.

[Anarkex]

I tried to watch Stand Alone Complex, but lost interest and watched Super Milk Chan DVDs instead. even after hearing that it's really good, i still somehow feel like i made the right choice.

dunno what you guys have against Full Metal Alchemist, tho. besides the fact that Ed's talk of "equivalent exchange" seems kinda hypocritical at times, i can see no fault in it.

[Fe 26]

I tried to watch Stand Alone Complex, but lost interest and watched Super Milk Chan DVDs instead.

That is a horrible thing to say man. That is like saying you got tired of eating lunch so you went and ate a peace of Dog crap. SMC is a horrible horrible show.

=/ I don't really know what some TNLers have against anime that try to be deep. I know I sound like an ass for saying this, but I have to wonder if it is because those people can't really handle complex subjects that are explained through both imagery and dialog.

Maybe they don't "really" get it, but do get some part of it, and that part doesn't seem that awesome to them, so they consider the entire show to be shit.

I hate to say that, because I know that makes me sound like one of those assholes who still praise that peace of shit Akira. That was not a deep movie, but a shitty horrible movie that rips off a deep manga, and fails horribly at making anything that approaches sense. I dare say that the only reason people claim that movie to be deep is because the story is told so poorly, no one gets it, so they assume they don't get it because it is complex and deep.

While we are on the subject of GITS, I dare say Ghost in the Shell 2 - Innocence's story line is borderline crap. There are some things that the writer, Mamoru Oshî, is simple wrong about.

For one, he comments that we enjoy owning lower life forms, because in today’s society we no longer believe we have bodies. He says that in an age of technology we only think about our mind and ignore the simpler vessel that cares it. He claims we own pets to replace our bodies.

I can't say that I agree with that. If anything it is the opposite. I think it is that we all get tired of this overly mental world we live in, and own dogs because we enjoy the company of a person that reminds us of what it is like to be simple.

To be friends with a dog, you must do so on it's terms, on it's level, and thus we lower our own minds to that simple level when we play and care for our pets.

We enjoy having pets, because to have them, we must push aside our heavy mind based world, and become simple again, if only for a few minutes everyday. These brief few minutes are very calming.

We love our pets even more so for being able to make us do this. Other people can not offer a simple relationship. To put it simply, we own dogs because they love us and we love them and there is no drama from this relationship. We need simple drama free relationships.

[Adam Bomb]

All of you, listen to IronPlant. He speaks truth.

[Regus]

I've enjoyed watching this show on adult swim, but I could do without the stand alone episodes. The complex episodes dealing with the laughing man have all been awesome. I don't even mind the endless exposition either, wheras in shows like with hunter robin, it's not boring here. Hell, the episode Chat! Chat! Chat! was merely five people sitting around a table talking for 30 minutes, and it's one of my favorite episodes shown so far.

[rezo]

I hate to say that, because I know that makes me sound like one of those assholes who still praise that peace of shit Akira. That was not a deep movie, but a shitty horrible movie that rips off a deep manga, and fails horribly at making anything that approaches sense. I dare say that the only reason people claim that movie to be deep is because the story is told so poorly, no one gets it, so they assume they don't get it because it is complex and deep.

The Akira movie did make sense though. The comic is one of my favorites, but I didn't find it to be deep or anything. The movie is a retelling that makes sense in it's own way, and the only reason I thought it was kind of confusing after I first saw it was because I first saw it when I was 12. I was reading the comic back then too, so I was also dissapointed that so much was left out. But yeah, now I get to tell you that you don't really "get" the Akira movie and that's why you think it's shit.


Stand Alone Complex is ok. I've only seen a few episodes. Well, two. One was the one Regus mentioned, which I really liked and made me think I ought to watch more of the show(which I haven't), and the other was an insipid story about a little girl travelling with a robot and talking about emotions and stuff that I stopped watching half way through.

And I don't get into stories to understand/judge whatever philosophical theme the creative team has attached to it. Something can make the deepest, most thought provoking comment about society, but do so with a terribly uninteresting story, and I'll think it sucks, even if it tells me something that helps me give someone advice a year later. Regardless of whatever themes are attached to them, stories -to me- are still sold largely based on character's and scenarios. If the creator has some banal point they're trying to make with their story, and create a wonderful cast of characters and events to make it with, I'll enjoy it, even if I think the theme is idiotic.

Part of the problem with delivering a message in a story is that it's so shallowly delivered(these aren't formal arguments or anything) and there's really only one shot to convince someone of something. So it's often a case of either agreeing with someone saying something you probably thought before coming across the story(so what was the point in being told?) or brushing off something you disagree with because it has no way of answering you when you question it.

[Fe 26]

I've enjoyed watching this show on adult swim, but I could do without the stand alone episodes. The complex episodes dealing with the laughing man have all been awesome. I don't even mind the endless exposition either, wheras in shows like with hunter robin, it's not boring here. Hell, the episode Chat! Chat! Chat! was merely five people sitting around a table talking for 30 minutes, and it's one of my favorite episodes shown so far.

any idea how much impute the orginal creator has over the show? I don't think Mamoru Oshî has anything to do with the show itself.

They may be why it gets it's points across better.

Part of the problem with delivering a message in a story is that it's so shallowly delivered(these aren't formal arguments or anything) and there's really only one shot to convince someone of something. So it's often a case of either agreeing with someone saying something you probably thought before coming across the story(so what was the point in being told?) or brushing off something you disagree with because it has no way of answering you when you question it.

I can't agree with that. I think shows like these have merit, regardless if you agree with the arguments in them or not. An arguments value should not be based purely on its ability to convince you of something.

There is some value to be had in merely getting you to think about the subject material.

[rezo]

I don't think they're worthless. But yeah, I don't think much of it either. When I talk about how convincing they are, I'm just looking at it from the perspective of how successfully the artist gets their message across. People very intentionally plan their stories to get a certain point across, after all.

Casting light on a subject that you haven't really thought about in general and providing information to incite interest is a good thing, of course. Though I honestly don't get much of that from philosophical themes in stories. Maybe from informative pieces about some part of history I happened to be ignorant of or something like that. Otherwise, I really look at it as a sort of novel thing. Kind of interesting at times, but not what I look for in stories.

[toby]

I like shopws with deep themes. TYhey are a bit slow sometimes ,but anything that can trick you into thinking about something important is a plus for me.

[Fe 26]

I don't think they're worthless. But yeah, I don't think much of it either. When I talk about how convincing they are, I'm just looking at it from the perspective of how successfully the artist gets their message across. People very intentionally plan their stories to get a certain point across, after all.

Casting light on a subject that you haven't really thought about in general and providing information to incite interest is a good thing, of course. Though I honestly don't get much of that from philosophical themes in stories. Maybe from informative pieces about some part of history I happened to be ignorant of or something like that. Otherwise, I really look at it as a sort of novel thing. Kind of interesting at times, but not what I look for in stories.

man, it took you a lot to say that philosophical points in anime aren't to your taste.

I think you are being a little bit elitist or egotistical about this. At least the order in which you value subject material and your reasons for doing so, seem to show this.

You shouldn't hold it against a show for not being able to convey a point as well as well written book on the subject. These are stories; you can't give 60 minute monologs about an idea and still have a moving plot.

You can only put in as much dialog as what seems realistic for a person to express in their day to day life.