I've only seen the anime played on AS, and I thought it was probably the best anime I'd ever seen. When recommending an anime for people never having seen any, I'd always go to that since it doesn't take much to get into it. You don't have to watch it from the beginning (but it helps) and I loved how it left so much open to the imagination. Just the whole Spike/Vicious/Julia thing...I don't know how to explain it. Not knowing if it's explained in more detail other places, they give the viewer so much to make up for themselves. Huh, I think I just gushed for a moment there. Sorry.
Don't apologize for gushing! I gush all the time. I definitely see the appeal to CB-- in some ways it takes my breath away with its maturity (in method of delivery as much or more than content), and its beautiful incorporation of music as a thematic devise. For me the music was one of the things that really pulled me into CB-- the song titles for episodes (several Rolling Stones titles), the warped/rewritten lyrics at the end of every episode, the way jazz is incoporated with everything and the way the characters' attitudes and themes are lovingly reflected in and reflective of the music. I was also moved by the Spike/Julia/Vicious backstory, but not as much as I was moved by Faye's backstory. I honestly believed and bought into the emotions of Julia, Spike, and Vicious, but I always felt that the show was inadequate with characterization, and Vicious was never anything more than his name suggests. The anime gave us the aftermath of their menage a toi of doom, but they didn't explain how they got to that point and we never learned enough about Julia, Vicious, or pre-Bebop Spike, at least not enough that I cared much when Julia died. I thought it was a wasted opportunity, one of several in the show. However, where Bebop succeeded it really succeeded, and overall it's a very good show. Since watching more anime I've seen some that are better (FMA, Escaflowne, Fruits Basket, Gungrave, Monster...) and some that are about the same but succeed in different ways (Trigun, for example, is not as pretty, as joyously rambunctious, or as lyrical as Bebop, but it's much deeper philosophically and more emotionally devastating.) Interestingly, I got more attached to CB after repeated viewings, and liked it on my 3rd viewing far more than on my first (which was partially out of order, though not the end.) And although the pacing and lack of backstory bothered me in CB, the fact that we get to know the behaviors of the characters so well as they are right now makes up somewhat for the fact that we know very little about who they used to be.
I left out a couple of things. Gundam (of which I know there is so many) and um the wolf one...sorry. I forgot the name. I think I liked that one because it was just so depressing. It was like "Can't win, don't try" And with Gundam, I only got into um, er, "War in the Pocket" and "Endless Waltz" at least I think those are the ones.
"GW: Endless Waltz" is the movie/OVA sequel to Gundam Wing. Both aired on cartoon network a few years ago. I've never seen "War in the Pocket."
The wolf thing is Wolf's Rain, which I only made through 3 and a half episodes of before I quit. Happily.
It wasn't Endless Waltz, sorry. It was Gundam 0083:Stardust Memory. They played it for a while back in the first few years of AS. Very long series and if you didn't catch it from the beginning you might not have cared to keep watching, assuming you like any of the Gundam Series. I was actually very frustrated when they started over that series and half way into it, they started "Gundam 0080:War in the Pocket" which I didn't even realize (not having seen the first part of the prior series) until two episodes into it.
Anyways...
Wolf's Rain wasn't that great. I don't think you missed much. Like you I got a few episodes into it before I gave up, then caught the tail end of the eps another night and watched to the end. Lots of stuff happened in there, lots of care never came for me.
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Date: 2006-07-02 03:37 am (UTC)Don't apologize for gushing! I gush all the time. I definitely see the appeal to CB-- in some ways it takes my breath away with its maturity (in method of delivery as much or more than content), and its beautiful incorporation of music as a thematic devise. For me the music was one of the things that really pulled me into CB-- the song titles for episodes (several Rolling Stones titles), the warped/rewritten lyrics at the end of every episode, the way jazz is incoporated with everything and the way the characters' attitudes and themes are lovingly reflected in and reflective of the music. I was also moved by the Spike/Julia/Vicious backstory, but not as much as I was moved by Faye's backstory. I honestly believed and bought into the emotions of Julia, Spike, and Vicious, but I always felt that the show was inadequate with characterization, and Vicious was never anything more than his name suggests. The anime gave us the aftermath of their menage a toi of doom, but they didn't explain how they got to that point and we never learned enough about Julia, Vicious, or pre-Bebop Spike, at least not enough that I cared much when Julia died. I thought it was a wasted opportunity, one of several in the show. However, where Bebop succeeded it really succeeded, and overall it's a very good show. Since watching more anime I've seen some that are better (FMA, Escaflowne, Fruits Basket, Gungrave, Monster...) and some that are about the same but succeed in different ways (Trigun, for example, is not as pretty, as joyously rambunctious, or as lyrical as Bebop, but it's much deeper philosophically and more emotionally devastating.) Interestingly, I got more attached to CB after repeated viewings, and liked it on my 3rd viewing far more than on my first (which was partially out of order, though not the end.) And although the pacing and lack of backstory bothered me in CB, the fact that we get to know the behaviors of the characters so well as they are right now makes up somewhat for the fact that we know very little about who they used to be.
I left out a couple of things. Gundam (of which I know there is so many) and um the wolf one...sorry. I forgot the name. I think I liked that one because it was just so depressing. It was like "Can't win, don't try" And with Gundam, I only got into um, er, "War in the Pocket" and "Endless Waltz" at least I think those are the ones.
"GW: Endless Waltz" is the movie/OVA sequel to Gundam Wing. Both aired on cartoon network a few years ago. I've never seen "War in the Pocket."
The wolf thing is Wolf's Rain, which I only made through 3 and a half episodes of before I quit. Happily.
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Date: 2006-07-02 05:55 am (UTC)Anyways...
Wolf's Rain wasn't that great. I don't think you missed much. Like you I got a few episodes into it before I gave up, then caught the tail end of the eps another night and watched to the end. Lots of stuff happened in there, lots of care never came for me.