Finished Bebop, restarted Eva

Wow.

I mean, like, wow.



"Cowboy Bebop" just kept getting better with every episode. I've mentioned before how much I liked the attention to detail, the overall atmosphere. The characters' performances, though; that really makes the whole thing come alive. And I don't just mean the voices -- I mean how the animators make the movements, gestures, and expressions of each character work. It's very tight. And the timing is dead-on.

A really good example (without spoilers) is the change in Faye in the last disc. The change in her expression, her walk, the pacing of her scenes... Excellent.

Any drawbacks to the show? Not particularly. Narratively there were some weak points, but nothing glaring or distracting. My only real beef is with the picture quality -- it's a bit crummy in the brighter colors, and it has the usual deinterlacing problems that most anime discs have. The stereo soundtrack is pretty darned good, but comparing it to the 5.1 remaster done for the Best Sessions (and upcoming R2 boxset), well, it can get even better. Which is why I'm holding out on buying it just yet.

Speaking of which, part of my latest haul included discs 1-3 of the "Platinum Edition" of "Neon Genesis Evangelion". I mentioned earlier that disc 2 was about to lose me for being so god-awfully immature, but I thought about it and figured I may have just been cranky. And while I haven't rewatched 2 (or seen 3 at all) yet, I did rewatch 1 and I remembered that I actually did like it.

And the "Platinum Edition" means cleaned-up video and, most excellently, 5.1 audio.

(Me and that "5.1, 5.1, 5.1" -- like a broken record, I swear!)

Anyway, having a pleasing audio/visual experience (and, admittedly, a couple of drinks) really helps smooth over some of the irritating parts. So I'm looking forward to grabbing the rest of the Platinums as they're released.

Well, I'm half way through timing Meine Liebe episode 5. I can't seem to find any torrent links for the raw yet, and it hasn't shown up on Saiyaman. There are Chinese-subbed versions floating around, but I figure you should be patient and keep your eye on Saiyaman. It'll likely be there soon enough!