Very true! It's so refreshing to find people that more or less feel the same way you do . Oh for sure don't stress over it , Watch them on your own time :)
It's eerie how much we agree on certain things . I have seen both Infernal Affairs and City on Fire and I also liked both more than their American remakes (IA is one of my favorite movies)
Phantom Requiem can definitely come across as pretentious as well and it has grand canyon sized flaws but I still love it . Unlike Psycho Pass the setting remains grounded and realistic which I always preferred personally (Psycho Pass's future was just too difficult to believe imo)
The underworld in general always scared me . I never not regretted not being a night person (At least going outside at nights)
Perhaps it's mostly in Chinese movies? I'm aware that Korean cinema has some incredibly sadistic stuff which is why I never really liked it . Chinese cinema is by far the most appealing to me (Do you have any recommendations?) . One example of the top of my head is New Police Story which is one of my favorite movies ever . It humanizes the villains who have all done some monstrous things . Jackie Chan's character in that is extremely admirable in that he tries to reason with the gang up until their final moments which ends up impacting their behavior even if they obviously can't be forgiven for their crimes
I 100% agree! Everything was very surface level stuff and I never managed to care about the characters in Edgerunners . If you haven't I highly recommend watching the Judgment games on youtube like movies if you are interested in crime dramas from the same studio . Yakuza 1 through 4 are near and dear to my heart but the first Judgment game is hands down the best story they've ever written in my opinion . I feel like you're really going to enjoy that
As far as Cyberpunk 2077 goes at least story wise it isn't anything special in my opinion . It's your average run of the mill Hollywood action flick with a glory/money leads to losing your soul message and a bland cardboard cutout protagonist . It's entertaining but nothing too deep . Keanu Reeves involvement probably changed the initial story a lot and while he was cool and everything the race against time thing wasn't very well executed . Plus I felt like the player needed to have more choices to make V feel like their own avatar which in turn would have made them far more interesting
The first half of the first season of AOT was rough for me too . I simply did not care or like any of the characters but it eventually won me over towards the later half of season 1 where the first big twist happens . Then season 2 came which in my opinion has the best directed twist in anime history . It's a bold statement and I'm sticking by it lol
By season 3 Part 1 I started to slowly lose interest because I realized that named characters won't die . This became egregious in Part 2 where all the writers pets magically survived in the most BS way possible
Season 4 and particularly part 2 despite their admittedly interesting premise are simply terribly written . A lot of people talk about the ending being bad or the last few chapters being bad but no the writing was poor long LONG before that and the only reason the ending was such a blow to fans is because they hoped that Isayama would manage to turn everything around which he didn't . The only people I've seen that liked AOT's final few seasons are kids and people that don't really care about consistent writing and just like to watch shounen characters doing shounen things
It's difficult not to spoil why I feel that way about Season 2 but basically the whole point of S1 was about how to deal with loss and Violet herself becoming a different person by having to help people that felt the same way she did . It's a very touching story that gets robbed of all of it's meaning with the happy ending the follow up provided . I feel exactly the same about Clannad After story as well
I'm the exact same way . I feel like especially with the internet if a few notable people say something is good then it becomes heresy to feel otherwise which is absurd since if you aren't a blind follower then it is impossible to like everything that happens to be popular or is being called a "classic" . I also much MUCH prefer the older more realistic art styles . I constantly hear about how impressive the animation is in new anime and personally I'm not a fan
I sympathize! And it's always a pleasure to talk with you . You are very knowledgeable and our conversations are super interesting to me!
It's been a while since I watched Kindaichi but from what I remember my favorite cases were in the middle of the show but that's probably because it hadn't gotten as stale . A few I remember of the top of my head that I really enjoyed were the "Magical Express Murder Case" , The "Ijinkan Hotel Murder Case" , the "Reika Hayami Kidnapping Murder Case" (Watch this after the magical express case) and "Massacre of Deep Blue" . Mind you I watched these 6-7 years ago now so don't hold it against me if they aren't as good :)
Once again I feel exactly the same . I watched Reservoir Dogs a few years ago and I just didn't "get it" I suppose . Once again stellar small talk between the actors but the actual story and character development were severely lacking . Also nobody can convince me that the sadistic torture scene had to be as a graphic as it was . The only other film of his I watched was Django when it released which I didn't like for similar reasons
Yeah I'm exactly the same . I can't even explain it properly but sometimes a protagonist will simply "click" with me which will make me overlook a ton of things I don't like . Thinking back though there are very few protagonists in anime that I found appealing as I mostly resonated with the villains or the side characters
Sounds interesting! I added it to my super long (not) watch list haha . Did you check my watched list? I used to have notes and scores for everything but I deleted most of them along with many of my reviews a few years back because I felt like too much time had passed since I watched many of them and my views might be different now
Ah I see yeah that makes sense! I come from a completely different background but I can sympathize a LOT with the ultra competitive nature of the world . Everyone in my life past my mother who always was thinking the same way I do (Thank god for that because I would have gone nuts otherwise) were puzzled by my complete irreverence towards "making it big" or "fitting in" . Living in an extremely extroverted country certainly didn't help things either and often times even today I feel like an alien pretending to be human (I cut class often haha so I more than understand! XD)
I remember reading that these groups had a dark history but that's par for the course I suppose for young men that feel ostracized . Many classmates men or women I knew that had a dysfunctional family either became neurotic perfect citizens or more often they ended up being engulfed by the "nightlife" for a lack of a better word . I sympathize with some of them greatly though because if I didn't have the emotional support from my mother god only knows where I would be today or if I would be here at all
I feel the same way as well and one of the things I liked about anime and Asian cinema in general is the redemption stories they often offer for their villains . In the western world I see a lot of people being against the trope of "Bad guy became bad due to trauma" but I never found that to be a trope but a part of real life . There's a saying in my country that we are all victims of other victims and it's something I always try to remember when someone inevitably makes me angry
Are you a Yakuza fan? Man I love those games! Granted I haven't played the last 3 or 4 because I feel like they overdid it with Kiryu and turn based RPG's aren't really my thing but I loved the earlier entries
From the ones you mentioned I've only seen Edgerunners and that's mostly because I played the Cyberpunk video game . My opinion of it is that it was "okay" and I never understood the hype surrounding either but again different strokes for different folks
Yeah I'm tired of the same premises that offer nothing fresh and it's the main reason why I stopped consuming new entertainment as I once did . Some may call it nostalgia and I'm sure that plays a part but I feel like everything is either derivative or a rehash nowadays . Endless remakes , Sequels 30 years later for no reason other than to capitalize on nostalgia , Never ending franchises that ruin a once good thing , Flavor of the month decent to okay time killers that nobody will remember a year later etc.
I'm sure like you said that there are some anime out there that are outliers but there aren't many . The last time I felt compelled by something "new" was Violet Evergarden (Which was good but S2 killed it) and Attack on Titan which I found to have gotten pretty stale and safe by the third season (Popular characters/Writers pets won't die no matter what) . The last hope I have is in Sousou no Frieren at least being half decent for me judging by how much people are hyping it up
I'm the exact same way and you know what? I appreciate it that you wait to feel mentally better because you give your all to the conversation . Thank you! and I'm sad to hear about your situation as well
You weren't kidding you are indeed very knowledgeable on music . I have to listen to the tracks you've mentioned!
Ah I see! Now I got you hooked haha . If you still desire to and don't want to "waste your time" I could recommend you the cases that stood out the most to me because admittedly one of the biggest weaknesses of the series even for someone that loved it was the repetition . Mind you not because there was a murder each time but because certain patters often repeat and when a murder was a committed for the 20th time due to a misunderstanding I just burst out laughing . As far as your critique for the Phantom arc I pretty much agree with everything you've said
I agree with pretty much everything regarding Black Lagoon as well even right down to Roberta being one of my favorite characters as well (Ginji was also cool) . Exactly! I didn't get it at the time because I hadn't watched the classics such as Killer , A Better tomorrow and Hard Boiled but Chang is obviously based on Chow Yun Fat . A few others I remember is them paying tribute to Terminator 2 with Roberta and the Gray Fox unit being an obvious nod to the Metal Gear Solid series . I also agree with you on Tarantino , I have a certain level of nostalgia for Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill and I always appreciated how he makes small talk engaging in his movies but nowadays I don't like him either . He is just too much of a sadist for my tastes
You're right on the money . Thinking back I feel like the only reason I liked GTO despite my issues with it and not Salary Man Kintaro was because GTO was far more comedic in nature . Furthermore I also feel like timing had a lot do with it , I watched GTO in 2013 while Salary Man Kintaro in 2018 and by that point my threshold for cheesy self-indulgent and quite unrealistic solutions to certain very serious situations was a lot smaller . My main and only true issue with Salary Man Kintaro is Kintaro himself who I just do not find likeable enough for a lack of a better word to actually root for . After talking with you and reading the paper you send me I have a much better appreciation about it's messages but I just wish they were expressed through a far better realized character than Kintaro
If you don't mind me asking you seem very knowledgeable on the struggles of the average "salaryman" and conformity in in general . Have you had personal experience in it and that's why you have a better understanding/appreciation for what Salary Man Kintaro and delinquent anime in general are going for?
I'll definitely try out Shounan Bakusouzoku at some point because I liked GTO and Kyou Kara Ore Wa . Due to your recommendation I have to at least give Salary Man Kintaro another chance since like you said there's only 5 episodes left . Yeah that's kind of weird isn't it? These type of anime were huge in the 90's while now we get more or less the same 2-3 stale premises ad nauseum
I feel you when it comes to anxiety . My issues stem from losing family members back to back and having to deal with all sorts of neurological problems throughout the years . Truth be told the only reason I'm still here today is because of my mother who has been a godsend
A very easy recommendation is without question Vangelis . I'm sure you've heard of Bladerunner and "Tears in Rain" but if you haven't you owe it to yourself to listen to that melody
Oh that's great to hear because Slam Dunk gets very technical and is very realistic unlike that other basketball anime that it's name escapes me . Sakuragi is not your average chosen one , He is gifted with natural athleticism sure but he lacks fundamentals and gets humbled HARD across the entire series . It's all about the beauty of teamwork , Practice and never looking down on others . Now that I know you're a basketball fan you'll 100% enjoy it! I remember reading that it won an award back in the day for inspiring many Japanese students to play basketball
I definitely see your points about Black Lagoon and it's definitely trying way too hard to be edgy at times . What drew me in personally were all the homages to classic action movies along with the exploration of if bad experiences/environment can shape a person into a monster . Season 2 is better than the first story wise but it feels like it's one of those anime that will probably never end so it's hard to recommend it
I feel the same way about modern works and I almost exclusively watch old stuff as well . 99% of what came out in the past 15 years has been completely disposable and my only hope nowadays when I watch/listen/play something new is to be at least a decent time killer
As far as Kindaichi goes the way to go about it is watching only the major cases as the filler does nothing to help the already repetitive nature of detective shows . If you end up liking Phantom of the Opera I can recommend you more arcs that are equally as good (The ones with his arch-nemesis are very well made and a few are pretty dark)
I'll be honest I'm a hypocrite because one anime I've watched numerous times and enjoyed when I was younger was Great Teacher Onizuka and it definitely shares a LOT of the same flaws (It's worse in some ways too like the sexualization of 14 year old girls) and messages as Salary Man Kintaro does . Maybe it's because I watched it at the wrong time or because I dropped it around when the change you mention was about to happen that I ended up not liking it . Wow Money Wars does indeed sound darker by comparison and it's a shame it wasn't turned into an anime . Very interesting paper thank you , I'll definitely read more into the whole thing
I also wanted to add that you're a very interesting and well spoken person , It's really fun talking with you :)
Oh that sucks I also have some health related issues that have impacted my day to day life since 2017 so I sympathize 100% , Hope you make a full or at least as full of a recovery as physically possible . Thank you happy holidays/Merry Christmas to you too!
Yeah it's just my opinion of course but I don't hold Greek cinema in high regard as especially for what feels like 4 decades now they are primarily focused with copying Hollywood poorly , Making unfunny comedies or creating cheap TV series that run for far longer than they should . Greek music on the other hand was gold though with many great artists
I feel like if you are not a fan of basketball at all you're going to find Slam Dunk a bit tedious since it's very much about the sport and less so about the characters since practically everyone has very surface level motivations . It's a really sweet/pure anime and I loved the lessons about respect , Teamwork and all that but yeah you got to like basketball even a little bit in order for you to enjoy it
Phantom is...I'll be honest a guilty pleasure . If you hate it I wouldn't blame you but it is heavily influenced by movies such as La Femme Nikita and Leon The Professional both of which I feel like had very interesting set ups but practically no "soul" . Phantom did or at least I felt that it did which carried it despite it's grand canyon sized flaws
I have nothing to add for 91 days I fully agree . It's a solid revenge story but what made it stand out to me was how unique it was for an anime . Down to earth settings are far and few in between in anime and I just liked that Angelo didn't shoot lasers out of his eyes or something like that lol
Kindaichi is admittedly yet another guilty pleasure . The "whodunit" aspect of the show is average at best because most killers plan are improbable and you aren't given the same clues Kindaichi has which many times makes it impossible to deduct who the culprit is alongside him . Ironically what bummed you out was the only reason I kept watching and ended up loving it . The endings are very Dostoyevskian in nature , Tragic but with a glimmer of hope and never nihilistic . If you are interested I recommend watching the case "The Phantom of the Opera" from the 1997 TV series as it is one of my favorites
Oh now you see you got me curious! I would definitely consider it and I would love to hear you thoughts on it . I watched the anime and made the review I believe in 2018 so I don't remember a ton of it but enough to understand what you're referring to .
Hey friend I received your message and how you wanted to continue our discussion here :)
Thank you again for the kind words about my reviews! As far as favorite anime go some of them are 91 Days , Slam Dunk , Area 88 , Black Lagoon , Hajime no Ippo , Great Teacher Onizuka , Hotaru no Haka , Initial D , Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo , Monster , Phantom Requiem , Usagi Drop and many World Masterpiece Theater stuff such as Romeo no Aoi Sora , Perrine Monogatari , Ie Naki Ko etc.
I can name you many flaws about the anime that I mentioned above but I still love them
As far as movies go like I'm not a fan of modern cinema nor a huge movie buff and over time I soured a bit on even things I used to enjoy . That being said some of my favorite movies/guilty pleasures are Ong Bak , Transporter 1 , Batman The Dark Knight , Joker 2019 , The Bourne Trilogy , Scarface , The Naked Gun movies , Fast & Furious 1 , Gone with the Wind , The Lord of the Rings Trilogy , The Chinese John Woo classics (Killer for example) and Face Off , American Psycho , Nothing to Lose , Fight Club , Rush Hour , Undisputed 3 , New Police Story , The Raimi Spider-Man trilogy , The Man From Nowhere , They Live , Terminator 1 , The Villainess among a few others
As far as Greek movies and TV shows to be honest our cinema mostly died after our "Golden Years" of the 60's and 70's and even then most of those are comedies that aged badly . There's nothing too special to recommend I'm afraid
Sure you can ask me about City Hunter . Anything you want :)
All Comments (6) Comments
It's eerie how much we agree on certain things . I have seen both Infernal Affairs and City on Fire and I also liked both more than their American remakes (IA is one of my favorite movies)
Phantom Requiem can definitely come across as pretentious as well and it has grand canyon sized flaws but I still love it . Unlike Psycho Pass the setting remains grounded and realistic which I always preferred personally (Psycho Pass's future was just too difficult to believe imo)
The underworld in general always scared me . I never not regretted not being a night person (At least going outside at nights)
Perhaps it's mostly in Chinese movies? I'm aware that Korean cinema has some incredibly sadistic stuff which is why I never really liked it . Chinese cinema is by far the most appealing to me (Do you have any recommendations?) . One example of the top of my head is New Police Story which is one of my favorite movies ever . It humanizes the villains who have all done some monstrous things . Jackie Chan's character in that is extremely admirable in that he tries to reason with the gang up until their final moments which ends up impacting their behavior even if they obviously can't be forgiven for their crimes
I 100% agree! Everything was very surface level stuff and I never managed to care about the characters in Edgerunners . If you haven't I highly recommend watching the Judgment games on youtube like movies if you are interested in crime dramas from the same studio . Yakuza 1 through 4 are near and dear to my heart but the first Judgment game is hands down the best story they've ever written in my opinion . I feel like you're really going to enjoy that
As far as Cyberpunk 2077 goes at least story wise it isn't anything special in my opinion . It's your average run of the mill Hollywood action flick with a glory/money leads to losing your soul message and a bland cardboard cutout protagonist . It's entertaining but nothing too deep . Keanu Reeves involvement probably changed the initial story a lot and while he was cool and everything the race against time thing wasn't very well executed . Plus I felt like the player needed to have more choices to make V feel like their own avatar which in turn would have made them far more interesting
The first half of the first season of AOT was rough for me too . I simply did not care or like any of the characters but it eventually won me over towards the later half of season 1 where the first big twist happens . Then season 2 came which in my opinion has the best directed twist in anime history . It's a bold statement and I'm sticking by it lol
By season 3 Part 1 I started to slowly lose interest because I realized that named characters won't die . This became egregious in Part 2 where all the writers pets magically survived in the most BS way possible
Season 4 and particularly part 2 despite their admittedly interesting premise are simply terribly written . A lot of people talk about the ending being bad or the last few chapters being bad but no the writing was poor long LONG before that and the only reason the ending was such a blow to fans is because they hoped that Isayama would manage to turn everything around which he didn't . The only people I've seen that liked AOT's final few seasons are kids and people that don't really care about consistent writing and just like to watch shounen characters doing shounen things
It's difficult not to spoil why I feel that way about Season 2 but basically the whole point of S1 was about how to deal with loss and Violet herself becoming a different person by having to help people that felt the same way she did . It's a very touching story that gets robbed of all of it's meaning with the happy ending the follow up provided . I feel exactly the same about Clannad After story as well
I'm the exact same way . I feel like especially with the internet if a few notable people say something is good then it becomes heresy to feel otherwise which is absurd since if you aren't a blind follower then it is impossible to like everything that happens to be popular or is being called a "classic" . I also much MUCH prefer the older more realistic art styles . I constantly hear about how impressive the animation is in new anime and personally I'm not a fan
It's been a while since I watched Kindaichi but from what I remember my favorite cases were in the middle of the show but that's probably because it hadn't gotten as stale . A few I remember of the top of my head that I really enjoyed were the "Magical Express Murder Case" , The "Ijinkan Hotel Murder Case" , the "Reika Hayami Kidnapping Murder Case" (Watch this after the magical express case) and "Massacre of Deep Blue" . Mind you I watched these 6-7 years ago now so don't hold it against me if they aren't as good :)
Once again I feel exactly the same . I watched Reservoir Dogs a few years ago and I just didn't "get it" I suppose . Once again stellar small talk between the actors but the actual story and character development were severely lacking . Also nobody can convince me that the sadistic torture scene had to be as a graphic as it was . The only other film of his I watched was Django when it released which I didn't like for similar reasons
Yeah I'm exactly the same . I can't even explain it properly but sometimes a protagonist will simply "click" with me which will make me overlook a ton of things I don't like . Thinking back though there are very few protagonists in anime that I found appealing as I mostly resonated with the villains or the side characters
Sounds interesting! I added it to my super long (not) watch list haha . Did you check my watched list? I used to have notes and scores for everything but I deleted most of them along with many of my reviews a few years back because I felt like too much time had passed since I watched many of them and my views might be different now
Ah I see yeah that makes sense! I come from a completely different background but I can sympathize a LOT with the ultra competitive nature of the world . Everyone in my life past my mother who always was thinking the same way I do (Thank god for that because I would have gone nuts otherwise) were puzzled by my complete irreverence towards "making it big" or "fitting in" . Living in an extremely extroverted country certainly didn't help things either and often times even today I feel like an alien pretending to be human (I cut class often haha so I more than understand! XD)
I remember reading that these groups had a dark history but that's par for the course I suppose for young men that feel ostracized . Many classmates men or women I knew that had a dysfunctional family either became neurotic perfect citizens or more often they ended up being engulfed by the "nightlife" for a lack of a better word . I sympathize with some of them greatly though because if I didn't have the emotional support from my mother god only knows where I would be today or if I would be here at all
I feel the same way as well and one of the things I liked about anime and Asian cinema in general is the redemption stories they often offer for their villains . In the western world I see a lot of people being against the trope of "Bad guy became bad due to trauma" but I never found that to be a trope but a part of real life . There's a saying in my country that we are all victims of other victims and it's something I always try to remember when someone inevitably makes me angry
Are you a Yakuza fan? Man I love those games! Granted I haven't played the last 3 or 4 because I feel like they overdid it with Kiryu and turn based RPG's aren't really my thing but I loved the earlier entries
From the ones you mentioned I've only seen Edgerunners and that's mostly because I played the Cyberpunk video game . My opinion of it is that it was "okay" and I never understood the hype surrounding either but again different strokes for different folks
Yeah I'm tired of the same premises that offer nothing fresh and it's the main reason why I stopped consuming new entertainment as I once did . Some may call it nostalgia and I'm sure that plays a part but I feel like everything is either derivative or a rehash nowadays . Endless remakes , Sequels 30 years later for no reason other than to capitalize on nostalgia , Never ending franchises that ruin a once good thing , Flavor of the month decent to okay time killers that nobody will remember a year later etc.
I'm sure like you said that there are some anime out there that are outliers but there aren't many . The last time I felt compelled by something "new" was Violet Evergarden (Which was good but S2 killed it) and Attack on Titan which I found to have gotten pretty stale and safe by the third season (Popular characters/Writers pets won't die no matter what) . The last hope I have is in Sousou no Frieren at least being half decent for me judging by how much people are hyping it up
You weren't kidding you are indeed very knowledgeable on music . I have to listen to the tracks you've mentioned!
Ah I see! Now I got you hooked haha . If you still desire to and don't want to "waste your time" I could recommend you the cases that stood out the most to me because admittedly one of the biggest weaknesses of the series even for someone that loved it was the repetition . Mind you not because there was a murder each time but because certain patters often repeat and when a murder was a committed for the 20th time due to a misunderstanding I just burst out laughing . As far as your critique for the Phantom arc I pretty much agree with everything you've said
I agree with pretty much everything regarding Black Lagoon as well even right down to Roberta being one of my favorite characters as well (Ginji was also cool) . Exactly! I didn't get it at the time because I hadn't watched the classics such as Killer , A Better tomorrow and Hard Boiled but Chang is obviously based on Chow Yun Fat . A few others I remember is them paying tribute to Terminator 2 with Roberta and the Gray Fox unit being an obvious nod to the Metal Gear Solid series . I also agree with you on Tarantino , I have a certain level of nostalgia for Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill and I always appreciated how he makes small talk engaging in his movies but nowadays I don't like him either . He is just too much of a sadist for my tastes
You're right on the money . Thinking back I feel like the only reason I liked GTO despite my issues with it and not Salary Man Kintaro was because GTO was far more comedic in nature . Furthermore I also feel like timing had a lot do with it , I watched GTO in 2013 while Salary Man Kintaro in 2018 and by that point my threshold for cheesy self-indulgent and quite unrealistic solutions to certain very serious situations was a lot smaller . My main and only true issue with Salary Man Kintaro is Kintaro himself who I just do not find likeable enough for a lack of a better word to actually root for . After talking with you and reading the paper you send me I have a much better appreciation about it's messages but I just wish they were expressed through a far better realized character than Kintaro
If you don't mind me asking you seem very knowledgeable on the struggles of the average "salaryman" and conformity in in general . Have you had personal experience in it and that's why you have a better understanding/appreciation for what Salary Man Kintaro and delinquent anime in general are going for?
I'll definitely try out Shounan Bakusouzoku at some point because I liked GTO and Kyou Kara Ore Wa . Due to your recommendation I have to at least give Salary Man Kintaro another chance since like you said there's only 5 episodes left . Yeah that's kind of weird isn't it? These type of anime were huge in the 90's while now we get more or less the same 2-3 stale premises ad nauseum
A very easy recommendation is without question Vangelis . I'm sure you've heard of Bladerunner and "Tears in Rain" but if you haven't you owe it to yourself to listen to that melody
Oh that's great to hear because Slam Dunk gets very technical and is very realistic unlike that other basketball anime that it's name escapes me . Sakuragi is not your average chosen one , He is gifted with natural athleticism sure but he lacks fundamentals and gets humbled HARD across the entire series . It's all about the beauty of teamwork , Practice and never looking down on others . Now that I know you're a basketball fan you'll 100% enjoy it! I remember reading that it won an award back in the day for inspiring many Japanese students to play basketball
I definitely see your points about Black Lagoon and it's definitely trying way too hard to be edgy at times . What drew me in personally were all the homages to classic action movies along with the exploration of if bad experiences/environment can shape a person into a monster . Season 2 is better than the first story wise but it feels like it's one of those anime that will probably never end so it's hard to recommend it
I feel the same way about modern works and I almost exclusively watch old stuff as well . 99% of what came out in the past 15 years has been completely disposable and my only hope nowadays when I watch/listen/play something new is to be at least a decent time killer
As far as Kindaichi goes the way to go about it is watching only the major cases as the filler does nothing to help the already repetitive nature of detective shows . If you end up liking Phantom of the Opera I can recommend you more arcs that are equally as good (The ones with his arch-nemesis are very well made and a few are pretty dark)
I'll be honest I'm a hypocrite because one anime I've watched numerous times and enjoyed when I was younger was Great Teacher Onizuka and it definitely shares a LOT of the same flaws (It's worse in some ways too like the sexualization of 14 year old girls) and messages as Salary Man Kintaro does . Maybe it's because I watched it at the wrong time or because I dropped it around when the change you mention was about to happen that I ended up not liking it . Wow Money Wars does indeed sound darker by comparison and it's a shame it wasn't turned into an anime . Very interesting paper thank you , I'll definitely read more into the whole thing
I also wanted to add that you're a very interesting and well spoken person , It's really fun talking with you :)
Yeah it's just my opinion of course but I don't hold Greek cinema in high regard as especially for what feels like 4 decades now they are primarily focused with copying Hollywood poorly , Making unfunny comedies or creating cheap TV series that run for far longer than they should . Greek music on the other hand was gold though with many great artists
I feel like if you are not a fan of basketball at all you're going to find Slam Dunk a bit tedious since it's very much about the sport and less so about the characters since practically everyone has very surface level motivations . It's a really sweet/pure anime and I loved the lessons about respect , Teamwork and all that but yeah you got to like basketball even a little bit in order for you to enjoy it
Phantom is...I'll be honest a guilty pleasure . If you hate it I wouldn't blame you but it is heavily influenced by movies such as La Femme Nikita and Leon The Professional both of which I feel like had very interesting set ups but practically no "soul" . Phantom did or at least I felt that it did which carried it despite it's grand canyon sized flaws
I have nothing to add for 91 days I fully agree . It's a solid revenge story but what made it stand out to me was how unique it was for an anime . Down to earth settings are far and few in between in anime and I just liked that Angelo didn't shoot lasers out of his eyes or something like that lol
Kindaichi is admittedly yet another guilty pleasure . The "whodunit" aspect of the show is average at best because most killers plan are improbable and you aren't given the same clues Kindaichi has which many times makes it impossible to deduct who the culprit is alongside him . Ironically what bummed you out was the only reason I kept watching and ended up loving it . The endings are very Dostoyevskian in nature , Tragic but with a glimmer of hope and never nihilistic . If you are interested I recommend watching the case "The Phantom of the Opera" from the 1997 TV series as it is one of my favorites
Oh now you see you got me curious! I would definitely consider it and I would love to hear you thoughts on it . I watched the anime and made the review I believe in 2018 so I don't remember a ton of it but enough to understand what you're referring to .
Thank you again for the kind words about my reviews! As far as favorite anime go some of them are 91 Days , Slam Dunk , Area 88 , Black Lagoon , Hajime no Ippo , Great Teacher Onizuka , Hotaru no Haka , Initial D , Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo , Monster , Phantom Requiem , Usagi Drop and many World Masterpiece Theater stuff such as Romeo no Aoi Sora , Perrine Monogatari , Ie Naki Ko etc.
I can name you many flaws about the anime that I mentioned above but I still love them
As far as movies go like I'm not a fan of modern cinema nor a huge movie buff and over time I soured a bit on even things I used to enjoy . That being said some of my favorite movies/guilty pleasures are Ong Bak , Transporter 1 , Batman The Dark Knight , Joker 2019 , The Bourne Trilogy , Scarface , The Naked Gun movies , Fast & Furious 1 , Gone with the Wind , The Lord of the Rings Trilogy , The Chinese John Woo classics (Killer for example) and Face Off , American Psycho , Nothing to Lose , Fight Club , Rush Hour , Undisputed 3 , New Police Story , The Raimi Spider-Man trilogy , The Man From Nowhere , They Live , Terminator 1 , The Villainess among a few others
As far as Greek movies and TV shows to be honest our cinema mostly died after our "Golden Years" of the 60's and 70's and even then most of those are comedies that aged badly . There's nothing too special to recommend I'm afraid
Sure you can ask me about City Hunter . Anything you want :)