A little over a week ago I started watching Ouran because I figured I might get some enjoyment out of it for a few reasons: I usually enjoy Bones series, it was recommended to me by someone whose opinion I respect, and it’s the twelfth top rated show on MyAnimeList. Not that the last point means anything, since the “top anime” list on MAL is obviously reflective of the many morons that make up its membership; people who submit full series reviews after watching two episodes and favorite Johnny Yong Bosch more often than Norio “The God” Wakamoto. I digress.
I dropped Ouran halfway through the fifteenth episode because I just couldn’t take it anymore. The series had some appeal at the beginning, but it was dampened by all the pretty boy pandering and homosexual twincest. Even after that, I still had to put up with humor so repetitive that the characters actually made jokes about its unoriginality, and a whole cast of rich assholes treating some poor girl like their own personal play thing. The only likable one in the bunch was the guy who never spoke. That’s sad.
It’s my personal belief that if a show is pretty bad for it’s entire first half, chances are I’m not going to enjoy the second half, and even if I do, the first half will have left such a poor impression that the series as a whole will still leave a bad taste in my mouth, so I will never touch Ouran again. It’s just not my cup of instant coffee tea.
To make it up to the person who recommended I watch Ouran, (Who, for some reason, seemed to get really defensive when I said I didn’t like it. Maybe he thought I was calling him gay for liking it or something. By the way, if you are a male and you like Ouran, you are probably homosexual), I then spent the last 2-3 days watching Terra e…, a series I had completely ignored when it was released, and I now believe to be one of the best, overlooked series of 2007. The multiple time-skips give the show an almost eerie feeling, especially when the characters revisit the old settings. Watching the changes over time of both the environments and the characters is an incredible experience, and the last few episodes are powerfully emotional, as everything comes to a final encounter between humans and the Mu. The real reason I ended up loving the series (Spoilers) is that nearly half of the main characters die. This would normally be a depressing fact, but every one of them dies fighting as hard as they can for what they believe in, and all I could do was admire their resolve as I watched them get stabbed, shot, crushed, and blown apart. (End Spoilers) Sadly, the “good guys” for most of the series are rather boring, and the best parts of the series were instead the focus on Keith Anyan and his relationships with the Mu he was close with, Shiroe and Matsuka. Take their scenes out, and the series would have been just a generic “good vs evil” story where the oppressive system would have brought the man down. Don’t let the system bring you down.
I will now spend the next half hour watching Chi’s Sweet Home, the best show of 2008.
You forgot to mention Ouran’s rampant pedophilia.
I was talking about the bad stuff, though.
Niice repq. Let me say, I enjoyed both of these series greatly, but when it comes to the pretty boy shoujo, it’s usually about the heroine (though Haruhi does dress like a guy, we all know she’s a she).
Terra e was fantastic, the emotional tear was A+. Top 3 of 2007 for me.
>it’s usually about the heroine
I really liked Haruhi, not so much physically, but for her personality, which is part of the reason I disliked the series. She spent more screen-time looking frustrated than smiling, and it’s hard to enjoy the series when the best character is getting shit from all the characters you hate :V
>>I dropped Ouran halfway through the fifteenth episode because I just couldn’t take it anymore. The series had some appeal at the beginning, but it was dampened by all the pretty boy pandering and homosexual twincest. Even after that, I still had to put up with humor so repetitive that the characters actually made jokes about its unoriginality, and a whole cast of rich assholes treating some poor girl like their own personal play thing. The only likable one in the bunch was the guy who never spoke. That’s sad.
Yes. I lasted up to ep 17.
You should have just listened to me and not watched it at all, since I’m always right.
I may watch Towards The Terra but it looks too ugly for me to stomach. Also, those time skips came about as a result of the original manga going on hiatus multiple times, and each time it came back, there’d be a time-jump, or something. I dunno, I heard that on Anime World Order.
>You should have just listened to me and not watched it at all
Nah. While I agree that our views on the show are extremely similar (I was looking up an image of the high powered motor gag to strengthen my point and stumbled upon the old AMC Ouran thread, in which you said very much the same things), but I’m glad I watched it just so that I can say “I don’t like it” rather than “I don’t like it because wildarms told me not to.” :P
Terra never struck me as being ugly, but then again, I just watched the latest Aria episode, and realized it’s been more than a week since I watched anything with attractive women in it. And as for the time-jumps, whatever the cause, they certainly strengthened the series. It gives us all the vital information and good action in less than 26 episodes.
What did you think of Toward’s opening episodes? I know a lot of people found the first five or six to be interminably dull. But as a whole it’s definitely an underappreciated good show.
I can see why people may consider the first time-frame dull (eps 1-5) since they focus on Jomy’s awakening and have all the emo whining that one comes to expect from male leads who are suddenly thrust into an important position. The episodes were basically just set-up for the story, but I thought the last scenes with Jomy going out of control and then finally harnessing his power weren’t dull in the least.
I’m really easily entertained, so I imagine I enjoyed the whole series more than most.
I only tried to watch Terra e once on a whim and Shiro’s rec as well, and I got bored about halfway through ep 1, deciding that I would check it out if I was ever in the mood for sci-fi. still waiting for that mood.
[...] was lead into a post over at Meaty Anime Blog recently, initially by the basis (Ouran and Towards the Terra), but [...]