Le Grande Rewatch, part deux

My goal of Le Grande Rewatch was to get through both "MADLAX" and "Noir" before watching "El Cazador". Well, the raw came out before I was able to get very far with "MADLAX", which is fine. I enjoyed very much the opportunity to see the latest Girls With Guns installment mere hours after it aired in Japan.

But, it wasn't subtitled, and there's still no commitment from a fansub group that it ever will be.

But I managed to finish my rewatch of "MADLAX" (and you can read my comments over on Bee Train Fan), but I had been hesitating on starting a marathon of "Noir".

I've mentioned before (in my many drunken and post-drunken rants about the show) that I have a bit of disfunctional relationship with "my girls". And admittedly, the thing keeping me from commencing this round of rewatching was quite a bit of anxiety around that. If you dig back into my blogging, I mention that I was worried that the show wouldn't have the same impact anymore; that it would somehow blend in with all the other crap I've seen lately and not be quite so special anymore.

And once again, I've had to prove to myself that my worries are unfounded. This show rocks. It's so superior and beautifully constructed that I just can't begin to gush about it the way I tried to with "MADLAX" over on the 'Fan. I've taken a couple of notes, and I'll hopefully try to post something more substantial later, but when it comes down to it, I really would rather just watch it than talk about it.

I suppose one day I'll work on doing a "shot-by-shot" analysis like I've wanted to do back when I first started this blog nearly 3 years ago. Because there are a number of sequences that are very worthy of a close-up look and a lot of pontificating about. I'm such a technique-whore, I can't help but find the mechanics underlying it all worthy of my constant attention.

Anyway, will I finish tonight? I'm halfway through, and it's about 10pm. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. But I'm glad I managed to overcome my anxiety and finally get rolling with it. It may be many months, maybe even not until "Noir Year's Eve", before I see it again, and I'm glad I can do it now.

UPDATE: It's 2AM, and I'm about to start the final disc. My neighbors aren't going to appreciate the late-night gunfire, I'm sure, but I can't help but crank up that final battle. I'm probably going to go into "Post-Noir Syndrome" for a while afterwards, which is predictable, but rest assured, "El Cazador" will bring me back, one way or another.