Comments On Naruto Shippuuden Episode 70

..or basically the current story line.

*** SPOILERS BEGIN ***

First of all, I think the Naruto animé's idea for fillers have been, in general, bad.

Then there's the resurrection jutsu -- is it that easy to do? Orochimaru must have sucked if he had difficulties trying to do it himself!

They're reusing the Kyuubi?! You can take the Kyuubi's leaked chakra and make a pseudo-Jinchuuriki? W.T.H.!

They're reusing the monster vs. monster conflict: Naruto vs. Gaara, Naruto vs. Sasuke with level 2 cursed seal, Naruto vs. Orochimaru -- now Sora's a monster too?! I want to watch NINJAS, for crying out loud! I want to see ninjas fiiiight!

They're reusing the Jinchuuriki loner problem: Naruto, then Gaara, then Sora?! Forcing the drama.. tsk..

They're underestimating the Kyuubi's power -- Naruto pushed back the Kyuubi by sheer willpower?! Maybe they're overrating Naruto.. But it looks like Naruto will "save" Sora (*rolls eyes*)..

Fuuka, the multi-chakra girl -- kills the surprise of multi-chakra Kakuzu! W.T.H!

Filler trademark: too many bystanders! Just standing! Doing nothing! They immobilized Sora and they didn't even think of placing the First Hokage's necklace on Sora so Yamato can do the chakra containment thing -- it should have been over back then!

Filler trademark #2: the close combat scenes are ugly!

Filler trademark #3: poooor pacing, takes toooo long!

*** SPOILERS END ***

Another Fanboy Wish Comes True!

I learned from Jamie that there finally is a Blade of the Immortal animé!!!

This deserves another: "IT'S ABOUT TIME"

Update:

It's yet to start on April 27. I also forgot to note that the manga is still ongoing (at least, the English version being published by Dark Horse)..

"No, Not Yet"

My (now ex-)officemates and I are hooked on.. Prince of Tennis!

The anime looks great, even with the exaggerated moves. I've also read that the manga, which began in 1999, is only set to finish later this year! 8 years running?! So cool!

Nap also mentioned that there's a live action version! Of course, I looked it up. I was a bit disappointed that it was only a movie (not a series). I also checked YouTube, and I got to watch the movie trailer -- I liked it! I'm still undecided whether to watch the movie from YouTube, or wait for a higher quality version (probably from Mike)..

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I used to watch a lot of tennis back in high school. I was introduced to it by no less than Noel Singidas! Haven't played the sport yet, though..

Anyway, I was prompted to post something like this because I wouldn't pass up on this:

Nalbandian knocks off Federer again
(Davydenko's serving draws rebuke from chair umpire)
(http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/tennis/11/01/paris.masters.thursday.ap/index.html)

I don't watch any tennis now, so I'm not familiar with the players, but how the current No. 1 lost consecutive matches with a particular player IS COOL!

Another thing worth pointing out is that subtitle -- a player "was fined $2,000 by the ATP for "lack of best effort"". Whoa. Tennis is hardcore!

Animé Pet Peeve

DragonBallification, noun.

Using the combination of the following techniques -- IN A SINGLE ANIMÉ EPISODE:

1. Pointless repetitive animation (a.k.a. stock footage) to lengthen a particular scene (most commonly, fight scenes)


2. Scenes with excessive silence and *gasp* silent staring, probably to achieve a certain dramatic effect through supposed non-verbal understanding between characters


3. Severely stretched out moments, most obvious in chase sequences where both parties are able to think or speak long lines during the chase (sometimes in several non-contiguous scenes) and the surroundings never seem to change, despite supposedly moving in insane speeds (and not going in circles)

Most associated with: Major fight scenes of Dragon Ball Z
Last observed in: Naruto Shippuuden Episode 24 ([1] Gai and Co.'s battles, Sakura's battle with lame geometric shapes; [2] Sakura's battle; [3] Naruto and Kakashi's chase)

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I left out some other animé pet peeves (awkward poses/positioning of limbs is one other) since they aren't really attributed to Dragon Ball Z, but to animé in general.. Now I see that having a list of just 3 items is a bit awkward..

Anyway, I think these things are merely the result of poor translation of the scenes from the manga..

Catching Up

Of course, I have to give a lame excuse why I haven't posted for some time.

One word: WORK.

Some other words: Too much work eats up my PC time. I can only get online conveniently here at the office. So there.

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Lots of missed calendar events. My January calendar is quite bare. :-"

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I'm not really affected by this.. I just find it.. mm.. amusing?

I got home not-too-early-not-too-late one time, and I caught a commercial where they were promoting Piolo Pascual and Sam Milby's concert. People were pouring out of the venue, and they were being interviewed, just as we usually see for local movies. There were girls, middle-aged women, some elderly women and, of course, gay men. They were all raving about the concert. I saw this around a week after our carpool heard Mo Twister saying on the radio that: no straight guy would go and watch that concert. And Erik Santos shows up in the commercial saying that those two guys had talent.

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This is old, but relieving news: the Naruto anime filler episodes are finally over!!!

One-and-a-half years of filler episodes.. What were they thinking?!

The manga is far ahead already, and events are *gasp* already progressing. Somehow, my interest in the story is coming back.

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I took the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz again, and I came out AGAIN as Green Lantern. Bleh.

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Time to go home (from the office, yeah)!