nebroadwe: (Bear)
The Magdalen Reading ([personal profile] nebroadwe) wrote2010-01-04 02:54 pm
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Fandom: A good story never goes out of style.

Many people of a certain age (i.e. mine) in the U.S. got their introduction to anime through Star Blazers, an English dub-and-edit of Space Battleship Yamato. It hasn't aged well, IMO, but I remember it fondly: it was my introduction to progressive serial narrative (they went somewhere and came back to solve the plot problem! people even DIED! OhEmGee!). So when I saw this:


... well, let's just say the SQUEE! factor was pretty darn acute. Given all the licensing hassles surrounding this property, I doubt I'll see it unless I import it, but still ... my inner twelve-year-old is settling down on the couch in the t.v. room and humming, "'Our Star Blazers!'"

[identity profile] cornerofmadness.livejournal.com 2010-01-05 05:40 am (UTC)(link)
oh yes i loved this back in the day
ext_110433: The Magdalen Reading (Bear)

[identity profile] nebroadwe.livejournal.com 2010-01-05 01:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Most of the time I was just watching it to enjoy it, but every once in a while a scene would strike me as, "Hey, this is cool, but not in the way I was expecting ... I wonder where that came from?" I think it's somewhere in the second series where the Star Force has a running battle with the bad guys over an episode or two and manages to win and move on, and in the final scene the general of the bad guys is typing up his personal report. The first thing I noticed was that the typing was in an invented alphabet. The second thing was the voiceover: "Today I fought the Star Force ... a worthy foe." I don't think I'd ever encountered the noble opponent trope in any context other than and in a few episodes, he'll join the good guys!, which clearly wasn't going to happen here. Hmm ...

[identity profile] cornerofmadness.livejournal.com 2010-01-05 02:38 pm (UTC)(link)
i'm not sure i remember much about it at all
ext_110433: The Magdalen Reading (Bear)

[identity profile] nebroadwe.livejournal.com 2010-01-05 05:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Just a few things stand out for me, like that and the climax to the first series. Mostly what I remember is the general experience of watching -- the coolness factor.

[identity profile] cornerofmadness.livejournal.com 2010-01-05 06:08 pm (UTC)(link)
somewhere i have the big oversized graphic novels they came out in but I no longer have the anime at all
ext_110433: The Magdalen Reading (Books)

[identity profile] nebroadwe.livejournal.com 2010-01-06 01:09 pm (UTC)(link)
I think someone put the graphic novels online -- I have them bookmarked, but keep forgetting to read them.