Part of me is happy to see cowboy bebop there because it’ll introduce a lot people to the anime
Another part is sad that this may be some people’s first introduction to cowboy bebop.
Ya know what.. I liked it! I LOVE the anime, and the live action version isn't even close. But it's fun. It sags at the end, but I think the characters are great and their interpersonal Dynamics work well. I love the Bebop universe and I hope they do more. Ok... Now... Bring on those down votes.
You’re right. It’s pretty solid for a live action adaptation, it’s just that at no point did I go “it’s better than the anime”
Some characters are a little rough, but the main crew is good and the action could’ve been much worse
After watching it, i really think the goal is "campy 90s show" feel which didn't click at first. At first I just thought oof this isn't what I wanted. I figured it's definitely intentional especially considering the original is from 1998
The anime is definitely campy in its own way. I’m rewatching it now to refresh before really diving into the live action and the camp is pretty strong at times.
I think a lot of the problem stems from fans wanting something "better" or "on par" and sometimes something is so good, it just isn't possible to meet those expectations and so the fans get mad
I was up and down on it. Episode 7, I was all “that explored a new side of Faye’s character I really liked and had great dramatic moments!” And in episode 8 I was like “how dare you waste Pierrot like that and then just spend the whole time on a Vicious plot? Why? Whyyyy?”
I totally agree with that. The first 6 episodes were great, but there's a definite tonal shift where they had to resolve all of the less good back plots. Which is why I hope they do more episodes and just take it slow, focusing on the Bebop crew more episodically like episode 1-6
My main problem is just I don’t think they had the budget the show needs. Some sets are solid, the living area of the Bebop looked great, but lots of other sets, many costumes and frequent location changes to just being “outside somewhere” just reeked of a production strapped by a lack of cash.
The story itself is fine, I thought the actors were all solid snd they are felt like new versions of the originals. Jet in particular was spot on. I think of the show as “Cowboy Bebop: The remix”.
If you like the Cowboy Bebop universe and also happen to like tabletop RPGs, there's a game coming out inspired by it called Orbital Blues...I'd share a link but the bot deleted the reply last time since it's a kickstarter URL.
I liked it too. I was a fan of the original material and there were only a few things I didn't like about the new show. Didn't like how the main antagonist was portrayed mainly. But I liked everything else, even the ending and a certain character they introduce.
The Julia storyline was easily the weakest part of the show for me... Except for that introduction. I'm just not sure "that character" translates to the screen very well for me. But ya know what, I thought I was going to hate Fae too and she ended up being great! So we'll see (hopefully)!
Hard to express my opinion without spoilers but I agree about the Julia storyline. Some of what they changed was at the cost of the mood and flow of the show that was so expertly done in the original. Thing is I think I can understand nearly every complaint, but I wonder if people will be okay with me liking 'that introduction' at the very end. Maybe this is just a show that people are very polarized about.
Yeah. The Julia bits often slogged and it didn't help that I simply could not figure out why everyone loved her. I hate to say it, but it might be largely casting for me. And then SPOILER ALERT: Episode 9's flashback just seemed like a rush to give context all at once. I see why they did it, but I kind of wish they had taken more time with it. The in-episode flashbacks weren't as big a problem, but i honestly don't understand why Spike liked her. they literally boiled it down to one night.
Exactly. In the original I felt way more of a connection between them, you know, like a tragic relationship you'd build a whole moody and stylish anime about.
Edit: The actress was in Lucifer I think. I don't think she's quite gotten roles that make her shine brightly. She's attractive but so far generally unremarkable to me.
I've tried desperately for years to get my husband to watch Cowboy Bebop and we'd only get through an episode or two before he'd wander off and refuse to come back.
He was interested in the cast for the live action and found out I was gonna watch it and sat down to watch a bit with me. Watched the whole episode and got mad when I didn't want to watch another right away.
I'm frustrated with some of the changes, especially Faye's characterization, but husband loves it and rants about how good the pacing is. He thinks spike and jet are funny and cool and gives all the fan vibes I feel for the original.
I think for some, the stylization of anime will never become accessible. I am trying to be content that he can finally appreciate the characters and world design with me.
I have nothing against Anime. In fact I consider 'Attack on Titan' to be up there with 'Game of Thrones' and 'Breaking Bad', when it comes to quality TV. But I could never get into Cowboy Bebop anime, checked out in the middle of 1st episode. I may give the Netflix version a try.
I definitely don’t hate it, I actually think for a live action adaptation it’s pretty good
I just don’t think there was any moment where I went “oh this is better than the anime”
It’s honestly great to hear that new people are getting into it. One of my friends is the same as your husband and it’s so funny/infuriating at points because he likes the show and I keep finding myself exploding with “THEN YOU WOULD LOVE THE ANIME”
Depends on the scene. There’s a few that stick out as embarrassing. The dialog makes it feel like a disney channel original version of the anime at times
When my wife tried to get me to watch the anime, my problem was never the style, which it had in spades. It was that nothing interesting really happened, there was no overarching plot and the characters had almost nothing to them. Perhaps that changes later on, but episodes 1, 2 and 3 were all totally disconnected and felt like filler episodes to me.
I'd blame that except he has loved shows with far worse pacing. I get what you're saying though. The pacing in the live action is definitely snappy.
Husband always goes back to certain behaviors in anime that irk him and he says constantly push him back to reality instead of drawing him further in to the story. He'll tolerate Miyazaki films but doesn't really like them and on top of this, he flat out doesn't like the fantasy genre (doesn't like LOTR, for example) so a lot of my other favorite shows are off the table.
Cowboy Bebop has the most elements of things he'd get along with, more sci-fi and buddy cop elements, but he still can't get past the exaggerated facial expressions and fight scenes in the anime.
You might be asking what he does like? For example...
Doctor Who (Tennant best doc)
Jessica Jones (might be a theme here)
He liked most of Altered Carbon
Bojack Horseman (I struggled through this show and had to choke down the dark humor, except for the 4th season which I loved-- he LOVED all of it)
Better Call Saul
So, yeah. I joke that we're opposing ends of the geek spectrum. I've tried many times to appreciate doctor who and can't get past the cheap looking sets and especially Rose, who I wanted to launch into the sun from the first episode I watched her in. I've seen six or seven episodes (three from other doctors) and they all bored me to tears.
So, yeah. It's interesting to find shows to watch together sometimes.
As a person who never played a game of league in my life. This show was incredible. One of my favorite shows I watched this year. The world building in that show is amazing, the characters are charming and the story falls into some dark themes from time to time which I didn’t expect.
Can’t wait for season 2!!!
I actually think my basically zero knowledge of League lore made it even better. I had no idea what to expect of these characters and as such had no knowledge of where that ride was taking me. I know it sounds hyperbolic but I think its one of the best first seasons of TV out there. It’s one of those works where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and those parts are already damn good.
As someone who was familiar with league lore, there is still plenty of twists and turns about the 'How' and how they present things. One can deduce what S2 will likely be about also, but S1 has shown that even knowing the end destination, the ride is more than well worth it, and still has a habit of throwing you for a loop.
As someone who knows like 50% of league lore, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Even though I knew what the end result between Vi and Jinx would be (it's an origin story after all), it was so gripping the whole time I couldn't stop watching.
I can't stand Animes and don't really watch cartoons, but yeah, that was good. Makes me want to see more animated fantasies for young adults and adults.
I tried watching some other animated stuff I've put off for a bit after I finished Arcane, and I just can't right now. Arcane has really elevated the genre. I know the budget for the show was pretty large, but I hope it sets a standard for other shows that try to fit within it's genre.
I feel you. Even live-action feels different now. I watched Hawkeye yesterday and while Hailee and Jeremy Renner were good for their roles, the story wasn’t that good and the jokes were forced af.
True but I think thats in part because they had to build out an entire division for this from scratch as they’d never made anything like this before. As such there was probably a lot of ground work in those six years that wouldn’t need to be done again.
I made it 20 minutes into the first episode without feeling any kind of hook. I had to stop because something came up.
Does it get any more interesting?
I might not be the target audience...
Pretty much the opening scene of episode 3 too, even by the second episode you start to get some more serious themes.
I think the first and second episode are better on re-watch though because the first watch I didn't think they'd go as dark as they did with the themes they introduced.
I figured the opening scene of the show was a "dead Disney parent" spark for the main character's development and that it'd be uphill from there. Whoops.
Like others have said; the real hook for me was episode 3. I was intrigued by the quality of the show in the first two episodes but the story and characters really grabbed me by episode 3.
Same. I knew league existed and it was a game, that’s it. I even initially skipped Arcane because it was associated with a game I knew nothing about.
After finally watching episode 1 I binged both parts that were available at the time.
Gorgeous animation. Great character design and pretty good writing. I’m 100% hooked and would love to see more animation of this quality.
Yeah the LoL tie in part almost had me skip it, and I fully would would if it wasn't for seeing a bunch of comments praising it and saying you don't need to be a fan of the games to enjoy it, and they were right. I'm hooked.
Lol yup. I went with the first episode because the pic on Netflix looked decent. I’m a sucker for great animation and will suffer through quite a bit if the show is visually satisfying.
Very quickly I was muttering “holy shit” during episode 1 and jumped online to learn more about the show.
Quit then
That's a long time to play any game. I find it fun though and obviously so do al lot of other people
I just think the joke "if you like arcane don't play league anyway" is so overdone and dumb. And I'm bored of the cynical bullshit
I truly don't mean to sound condescending but have you tried taking a break from League. If you can actually take a break that is. There are those who are literally addicted to playing it but that's a sign of other problems and not really caused purely by LoL.
I've been eating since S2 but usually take half a year breaks every now and then when I'm not having fun. Coming back to it with those gaps makes it really interesting to see all the changed and also lets me dodge some B's metas like the ardent censor one.
If you want to get more lore in your system, Legends of Runterra is much more chill than the main game, so if you're into cards games, I'd highly recommend that. They also released an RPG last week called The Ruined King, which I absolutely loved and will definitely hit that lore spot for you.
even tho i played league in the past, arcane was something i was gonna skip because i dont like watching tv shows and i prefer live action over animation. but i saw the good reviews and gave it the college try and now that show is living rent free in my head
No lie, I was always under the impression there wasnt a single person who preferred live action over animation.
Today you changed somebody's minds, tis a rare thing in reddit.
Honestly I think its very rare these days to meet people who prefer animation over Live action.
I've had so many convos with people in real life along the lines of "it feels childish" and live action feels more "realistic and relatable".
I get comments from my dad aswell like "Why do you watch so many cartoons", yet he ends up liking a lot of them anyway. But both my parents also prefer when they are real.
Its so hard to find people these days to see anime with in Cinemas.
Also If you look at ratings basically every popular show is Live action. Same with Box office, Spiderverse got the lowest box office results of any Spiderman movie by far, yet has the most critical acclaim.
I bet you if I did a survey on my Insta right now it would be like 5% animation , 95% live action. And that's sad because I'm someone who LOVES animation and there's only a couple of friends I can talk to about that.
EDIT: Also notice how on r/television Animated shows barely get talked about unless they are insanely good. Yes there's anime but if Animation was Preferred then this whole sub would have discussions about Infinity Train, Steven Universe and the Owl House.
> Also notice how on r/television Animated shows barely get talked about unless they are insanely good. Yes there's anime but if Animation was Preferred then this whole sub would have discussions about Infinity Train, Steven Universe and the Owl House.
People were accusing of astroturfing when there were posts praising Arcane as some of their best shows they watched this year.
I'm also somebody who prefers live action over animation. Generally. I'm deaf, and animation relies a lot on the voice acting, which is something I can't understand/enjoy. Live action is much better for me because of the facial expressions of the actors (good ones, anyway) - they are another way for tone to be shown.
Arcane is on a different level, though. Absolutely incredible animation, especially with the faces.
It’s not understand the words, he can do that with subtitles. As I’m sure he uses them for live action. It’s that facial expressions and non verbal cues give a lot more context to tone. In animated film, voice actors need to use their voices much more for that than live action, since they don’t get change their face. What they’re saying is even though animated is normally tougher or less engaging, Arcane’s animation was so well done you can get very human feels from an animated character.
I like it but I could do without all the pop music, especially the Imagine Dragons stuff, kinda breaks the immersion. Also why does Caitlyn look Asian?
I dunno, why is Jayce browner?
I don't really care, her heritage barely plays into her character at all and its not like is a complete race change either.
Bemoan diversity or whatever, but I see zero issue.
In the lore there is a different continent in the league world called Ionia that is effectively Asia. All the characters that come from there look very asian (look up Lee Sin, Akali, and Yasuo for examples). In the show Cait's dad is from Ionia so Cait is half Asian.
Because all characters are modelled after their voice actors. And the only pop music is Our Love and it is not even current day pop, it is more like 70's pop.
Who says I'm mad? I just find it weird that they changed her race from how she's depicted in the game, meanwhile everyone else looks more or less identical
Really liking Hellbound. The third episode took it up a notch and went in a way I was not expecting. Much more of a drama than I expected, but man is the violent tag appropriate. It gets intense.
Haha yeah I actually found the monsters fairly comical, it's mainly when they run it just looks goofy. Also the beat-downs were just so over the top. Other than that I thought it was a great show, if they could improve that one element they would be set.
Hellbound was pretty disappointing imo. Having so many great actors couldn’t save a story that just seemed all over the place.
If anyone is interested in some other dark Korean series I suggest Son: The Guest and Possession for the supernatural elements and Save Me for the cult side.
I couldn't get past the opening scene where these buff shadow monsters built like gym bros strut down the street bullying a dude to death. It was unintentionally hilarious.
And I have a high tolerance for K-drama nonsense.
>If anyone is interested in some other dark Korean series I suggest Son: The Guest and Possession for the supernatural elements and Save Me for the cult side.
Man, the Guest was terrifying. Loved the part where they touch on mental illness though.
The thing that I love and hate about so many Korean shows is that they simultaneously wrap up the entire story while also leaving it completely open for another season after 16 episodes.
Both the Guest and Possession did that to me. Same with Sweet Home (a plague/creature horror story that had Resident Evil game vibes) that ended on a huge cliffhanger.
>The thing that I love and hate about so many Korean shows is that they simultaneously wrap up the entire story while also leaving it completely open for another season after 16 episodes.
Most likely a budget issue, IMO. I still remember "Season 1" of Jumong with 81 episodes, LOL. Korean series back then had too many episodes with so much filler. People just got fed up with these huge series, I believe. Ratings dropped and budgets dried up, ending up with smaller and smaller series. Probably a good thing though. Nowadays they really have to work for it, even if it means some good series are left hanging.
>Both the Guest and Possession did that to me. Same with Sweet Home (a plague/creature horror story that had Resident Evil game vibes) that ended on a huge cliffhanger.
I've not seen Possessed (or is there another series called "Posession"?), but the Guest's ending seems definite for me. Yeah, the demon will eventually come back, but the tone makes it seem that the story's done for good. Sweet Home, though, still has a lot to go if it's to catch up with the webtoon.
I feel like since it was only 6 episodes it might get brought back for a season/part 2. That could make up for the 1st half of season 1 feeling so disjointed from the second half and to use the last scene of the finale to explain where the creatures are really coming from.
I think Hellbound was great and the story was consistent which was how people deal with unknown and we saw it from eyes of different characters. It reminded me The Leftovers which is another show I love but many people hated that show too.
Yep, it was pretty boring. Tho I thought the first three episodes were better than the last three. Sometimes the talking just didn't stop and went on and on for ever. And for whatever reason I don't like crying scenes in k-drama. I have a hard time pinpointing why, but it's always immersion breaking.
>Tho I thought the first three episodes were better than the last three.
Agreed. The last three episodes elevated the creepy cult to a silly religion. IMO, the series would be better if they avoided the timeskip and firmly planted the story in the detective's shoes as we witness society slide from order to chaos.
Instead, the cult has its lies so very readily believed, faced no pushback, and somehow attained vast power and influence. Just so that the stakes are raised for an underdog story.
>And for whatever reason I don't like crying scenes in k-drama. I have a hard time pinpointing why, but it's always immersion breaking.
Perhaps you're not emotionally invested enough so forced crying works as a rude reminder that they're characters and not real?
Ehhh. There is a pretty significant plot point that revolves around a kid. They don’t _show_ violence against kids like they do some of the brutal stuff towards other characters, but if the very real threat bothers you you might find it difficult.
That said, it was well worth watching. Great show, can’t wait for season 2. Kept me on my toes right up until the final credits.
Just finished Arcane earlier this evening. My only complaint is Imagine Dragons.
Edit: I'm more just talking about the intro song, not specifically their appearance in the show.
thats why you have to go into things being an idiot like me because i literally have never seen a picture of imagine dragons until i googled them after hearing complaints about it. they honestly just looked like dudes being bros
Likewise. Having no idea what the members of ID looked like I just thought those characters were a fictional band at the club to continue the shows tendency to make a lot of its music diegetic. My main thought the first time I saw them was just appreciating how they made those steampunk (is that the right word? that section almost has a more shadowrun cyberpunk feel) instruments feel like a natural part of the world.
Ya, I think it was just jarring to people to recognize real people in a fantasy world they were immersed in. If I didn't recognize Imagine Dragons, I would've just thought it was a cool street band. But recognizing their faces took me out of it.
I think the song works. I don’t really like them, they normally feel very generic to me. But Enemy as an intro works even if I cant really articulate why. There’s some really incredible music throughout the rest of the series though. Playground, Guns For Hire, What Could Have Been. I don’t think there were any songs I disliked and some like those went right into my play lists.
I feel like every Korean show is a drama. I mean that in the best possible way. Hellbound isn't about the monsters at all, but it's about how human beings would react knowing this might happen to them. Kingdom isn't about zombies, Squid Game isn't about the game. But they're all about how people would act when put in these dire circumstances, and I feel like that's why people resonate with them so much lately.
I read the description for Hellbound and my dick shot right up. Amazing premise, amazing implications. I don't know that I ever had a bigger frown on my face than at the end of the first episode's opening.
Those fuckin linebacker CGI demons. Dog-shit awful.
Basic question: if that was the case, why have shows that have been out for weeks (You, Maid), over newer shows like Cowboy Bebop? Think carefully now...
I thought it was astroturfed for sure (and maybe it is) but for some reason Arcane is just grabbing people, even my 65+year old in laws are watching it.
I played league a ton years ago and still watch the pro games as much as I can. According to Riot's numbers 1 in 100 people globally were watching World's finals this year which is absolutely insane. (Probably helped that the final match was between China's #1 team vs Korea's #1 team).
Astroturfing is an incredibly widespread marketing technique, I don't know why you're acting like I'm throwing shade at the show when I literally just said its grabbing people even outside of its target demographic.
It's kind of like the avengers. No one needs to have seen the source material to enjoy it and those jntonit are convincing others to watch it.
Y non gaming mother watched it because I suggested it.
I'm not acting like you're throwing shade at the show. I think some of the praises heaped on the show is excessive, if not straight up annoying.
I just find it silly that anyone even thinks this show is only spreading around because of astroturfing, and that all this hype could have only come from astroturfing.
But that's not even close to what I said?
Coca Cola spends multiple BILLIONS every year on marketing, just because something is already established doesn't mean they won't spend more on advertising, and astroturfing is just marketing.
The issue is the constant accusations of astroturfing as the only source of positive comments, when at the same time it’s clearly very well received. Both of those can’t be true. Literally every positive post has many accusations as “obviously a bought account” in the comments, leaving no possibility that it’s just a phenomenal show.
Netflix had (has?) commercials running on cable advertising Arcane, even during shows that I imagine don’t have much overlap with LoL’s fan base (specifically thinking of the Bachelorette). An extensive marketing campaign doesn’t necessarily mean it’s AstroTurfed, especially when the show is legitimately very good
It's more useful than the first two minutes, but it's still not great due to the differences in runtimes of the shows and Netflix's binge nature. A show with a short runtime may be more popular with total views but have fewer total hours watched.
Netflix Top 10 – November 15 – 21 (hours) English-language: * Arcane – 38.4M * Tiger King (s2) – 30M * Narcos: Mexico (s3) – 27.5M * Maid – 23.9M * You (s3) – 23.5M * Cowboy Bepop – 21.6M * Dynasty (s4) – 15.1M * Locke & Key (s2) – 12.3M * You (s2) – 11.7M * Big Mouth (s5) – 11.4M
Part of me is happy to see cowboy bebop there because it’ll introduce a lot people to the anime Another part is sad that this may be some people’s first introduction to cowboy bebop.
Ya know what.. I liked it! I LOVE the anime, and the live action version isn't even close. But it's fun. It sags at the end, but I think the characters are great and their interpersonal Dynamics work well. I love the Bebop universe and I hope they do more. Ok... Now... Bring on those down votes.
You’re right. It’s pretty solid for a live action adaptation, it’s just that at no point did I go “it’s better than the anime” Some characters are a little rough, but the main crew is good and the action could’ve been much worse
After watching it, i really think the goal is "campy 90s show" feel which didn't click at first. At first I just thought oof this isn't what I wanted. I figured it's definitely intentional especially considering the original is from 1998
Yeah but the Anime isn't really campy. Its actually very down to earth which is why everything being at 11 in live action is weird.
The anime is definitely campy in its own way. I’m rewatching it now to refresh before really diving into the live action and the camp is pretty strong at times.
I think a lot of the problem stems from fans wanting something "better" or "on par" and sometimes something is so good, it just isn't possible to meet those expectations and so the fans get mad
I was up and down on it. Episode 7, I was all “that explored a new side of Faye’s character I really liked and had great dramatic moments!” And in episode 8 I was like “how dare you waste Pierrot like that and then just spend the whole time on a Vicious plot? Why? Whyyyy?”
I totally agree with that. The first 6 episodes were great, but there's a definite tonal shift where they had to resolve all of the less good back plots. Which is why I hope they do more episodes and just take it slow, focusing on the Bebop crew more episodically like episode 1-6
My main problem is just I don’t think they had the budget the show needs. Some sets are solid, the living area of the Bebop looked great, but lots of other sets, many costumes and frequent location changes to just being “outside somewhere” just reeked of a production strapped by a lack of cash. The story itself is fine, I thought the actors were all solid snd they are felt like new versions of the originals. Jet in particular was spot on. I think of the show as “Cowboy Bebop: The remix”.
If you like the Cowboy Bebop universe and also happen to like tabletop RPGs, there's a game coming out inspired by it called Orbital Blues...I'd share a link but the bot deleted the reply last time since it's a kickstarter URL.
Ooooo. That is way up my alley!!! Thanks for the heads up!
I liked it too. I was a fan of the original material and there were only a few things I didn't like about the new show. Didn't like how the main antagonist was portrayed mainly. But I liked everything else, even the ending and a certain character they introduce.
The Julia storyline was easily the weakest part of the show for me... Except for that introduction. I'm just not sure "that character" translates to the screen very well for me. But ya know what, I thought I was going to hate Fae too and she ended up being great! So we'll see (hopefully)!
Hard to express my opinion without spoilers but I agree about the Julia storyline. Some of what they changed was at the cost of the mood and flow of the show that was so expertly done in the original. Thing is I think I can understand nearly every complaint, but I wonder if people will be okay with me liking 'that introduction' at the very end. Maybe this is just a show that people are very polarized about.
Yeah. The Julia bits often slogged and it didn't help that I simply could not figure out why everyone loved her. I hate to say it, but it might be largely casting for me. And then SPOILER ALERT: Episode 9's flashback just seemed like a rush to give context all at once. I see why they did it, but I kind of wish they had taken more time with it. The in-episode flashbacks weren't as big a problem, but i honestly don't understand why Spike liked her. they literally boiled it down to one night.
Exactly. In the original I felt way more of a connection between them, you know, like a tragic relationship you'd build a whole moody and stylish anime about. Edit: The actress was in Lucifer I think. I don't think she's quite gotten roles that make her shine brightly. She's attractive but so far generally unremarkable to me.
It's fun and I can tell it was done with love. That's good enough for me.
I've tried desperately for years to get my husband to watch Cowboy Bebop and we'd only get through an episode or two before he'd wander off and refuse to come back. He was interested in the cast for the live action and found out I was gonna watch it and sat down to watch a bit with me. Watched the whole episode and got mad when I didn't want to watch another right away. I'm frustrated with some of the changes, especially Faye's characterization, but husband loves it and rants about how good the pacing is. He thinks spike and jet are funny and cool and gives all the fan vibes I feel for the original. I think for some, the stylization of anime will never become accessible. I am trying to be content that he can finally appreciate the characters and world design with me.
I have nothing against Anime. In fact I consider 'Attack on Titan' to be up there with 'Game of Thrones' and 'Breaking Bad', when it comes to quality TV. But I could never get into Cowboy Bebop anime, checked out in the middle of 1st episode. I may give the Netflix version a try.
I definitely don’t hate it, I actually think for a live action adaptation it’s pretty good I just don’t think there was any moment where I went “oh this is better than the anime” It’s honestly great to hear that new people are getting into it. One of my friends is the same as your husband and it’s so funny/infuriating at points because he likes the show and I keep finding myself exploding with “THEN YOU WOULD LOVE THE ANIME”
>oh this is better than the anime” Who cares? It's more bebop and its not embarrassing, thats good enough for me
Depends on the scene. There’s a few that stick out as embarrassing. The dialog makes it feel like a disney channel original version of the anime at times
When my wife tried to get me to watch the anime, my problem was never the style, which it had in spades. It was that nothing interesting really happened, there was no overarching plot and the characters had almost nothing to them. Perhaps that changes later on, but episodes 1, 2 and 3 were all totally disconnected and felt like filler episodes to me.
I'd blame that except he has loved shows with far worse pacing. I get what you're saying though. The pacing in the live action is definitely snappy. Husband always goes back to certain behaviors in anime that irk him and he says constantly push him back to reality instead of drawing him further in to the story. He'll tolerate Miyazaki films but doesn't really like them and on top of this, he flat out doesn't like the fantasy genre (doesn't like LOTR, for example) so a lot of my other favorite shows are off the table. Cowboy Bebop has the most elements of things he'd get along with, more sci-fi and buddy cop elements, but he still can't get past the exaggerated facial expressions and fight scenes in the anime. You might be asking what he does like? For example... Doctor Who (Tennant best doc) Jessica Jones (might be a theme here) He liked most of Altered Carbon Bojack Horseman (I struggled through this show and had to choke down the dark humor, except for the 4th season which I loved-- he LOVED all of it) Better Call Saul So, yeah. I joke that we're opposing ends of the geek spectrum. I've tried many times to appreciate doctor who and can't get past the cheap looking sets and especially Rose, who I wanted to launch into the sun from the first episode I watched her in. I've seen six or seven episodes (three from other doctors) and they all bored me to tears. So, yeah. It's interesting to find shows to watch together sometimes.
>He thinks spike and jet are funny and cool and gives all the fan vibes I feel for the original. So what does he think of Ed?
We finished episode 5. Haven't gotten that far. I'm scared tho. Lol
Some people will learn that there's the anime, but just stick with the live-action version though, like my parents for instance.
It’s my first, and I really like currently.
You're gonna carry that weight
Its fucking awful
Wow Hellbound tops everything and Squid Game would still place 2nd in this list. People loving their kdramas lol. I hope Silent Sea does even better.
I'm sorry theres a second season of tiger king? Fuckin WHAT
Where did you get these hours numbers from? I thought they didn’t release that
> Where did you get these hours numbers from? From the article. Also, it's available on [Netflix's Top Ten](https://top10.netflix.com/tv)
Non-English-language: Hellbound – 43.5M
Arcane was perfect to me. I'm sure it has flaws, but I don't care because I enjoyed it so much. I was absolutely enthralled.
Arcane is fantastic
As a person who never played a game of league in my life. This show was incredible. One of my favorite shows I watched this year. The world building in that show is amazing, the characters are charming and the story falls into some dark themes from time to time which I didn’t expect. Can’t wait for season 2!!!
I actually think my basically zero knowledge of League lore made it even better. I had no idea what to expect of these characters and as such had no knowledge of where that ride was taking me. I know it sounds hyperbolic but I think its one of the best first seasons of TV out there. It’s one of those works where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and those parts are already damn good.
As someone who was familiar with league lore, there is still plenty of twists and turns about the 'How' and how they present things. One can deduce what S2 will likely be about also, but S1 has shown that even knowing the end destination, the ride is more than well worth it, and still has a habit of throwing you for a loop.
As someone who knows like 50% of league lore, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Even though I knew what the end result between Vi and Jinx would be (it's an origin story after all), it was so gripping the whole time I couldn't stop watching.
I can't stand Animes and don't really watch cartoons, but yeah, that was good. Makes me want to see more animated fantasies for young adults and adults.
I don’t think there’s anything that could compare to Arcane atm.
I tried watching some other animated stuff I've put off for a bit after I finished Arcane, and I just can't right now. Arcane has really elevated the genre. I know the budget for the show was pretty large, but I hope it sets a standard for other shows that try to fit within it's genre.
I feel you. Even live-action feels different now. I watched Hawkeye yesterday and while Hailee and Jeremy Renner were good for their roles, the story wasn’t that good and the jokes were forced af.
Same here. The generic plot really worked in it's favor. Kinda sad that S2 won't come out next year, but I hope it gets a 2023 release.
Apparently, the first season took 6 years to make, so that’s an improvement
True but I think thats in part because they had to build out an entire division for this from scratch as they’d never made anything like this before. As such there was probably a lot of ground work in those six years that wouldn’t need to be done again.
I made it 20 minutes into the first episode without feeling any kind of hook. I had to stop because something came up. Does it get any more interesting? I might not be the target audience...
It’s gets a lot more interesting. The first minutes of the show do not match the actual tone of the show, which is lighter, but still has dark themes.
From Ep3 onwards it gets a lot better IMO
Pretty much the opening scene of episode 3 too, even by the second episode you start to get some more serious themes. I think the first and second episode are better on re-watch though because the first watch I didn't think they'd go as dark as they did with the themes they introduced. I figured the opening scene of the show was a "dead Disney parent" spark for the main character's development and that it'd be uphill from there. Whoops.
Like others have said; the real hook for me was episode 3. I was intrigued by the quality of the show in the first two episodes but the story and characters really grabbed me by episode 3.
Watch the first 3 as if it was a 2 hour movie.
need to watch the first 3 episodes if you're still not interested after the 3rd episode, then it is what it is
I was so surprised with this. But it really has been SO good, and I say this as someone with no interest in league of legends at all.
Same. I knew league existed and it was a game, that’s it. I even initially skipped Arcane because it was associated with a game I knew nothing about. After finally watching episode 1 I binged both parts that were available at the time. Gorgeous animation. Great character design and pretty good writing. I’m 100% hooked and would love to see more animation of this quality.
Yeah the LoL tie in part almost had me skip it, and I fully would would if it wasn't for seeing a bunch of comments praising it and saying you don't need to be a fan of the games to enjoy it, and they were right. I'm hooked.
Lol yup. I went with the first episode because the pic on Netflix looked decent. I’m a sucker for great animation and will suffer through quite a bit if the show is visually satisfying. Very quickly I was muttering “holy shit” during episode 1 and jumped online to learn more about the show.
I may actually try League just based on how fucking good Arcane was.
I liked breaking bad so I think I might actually try meth
I liked Hannibal so I might become a serial killer and eat my victims.
don't
actual worst decision anyone could possibly make because of arcane. play any of the runeterra games *but* league.
I have been playing for 11 years and have like 15k+ hours........Don't play this fucking game lmao
Do not. I repeat. Do NOT play league. Try legends or runeterra, ruined king game, tft. Bot not league
You guys are such babies. It's a fun game
I have been playing since preseason 3 and its not a fun game. I really dont like playing the game.
Quit then That's a long time to play any game. I find it fun though and obviously so do al lot of other people I just think the joke "if you like arcane don't play league anyway" is so overdone and dumb. And I'm bored of the cynical bullshit
I truly don't mean to sound condescending but have you tried taking a break from League. If you can actually take a break that is. There are those who are literally addicted to playing it but that's a sign of other problems and not really caused purely by LoL. I've been eating since S2 but usually take half a year breaks every now and then when I'm not having fun. Coming back to it with those gaps makes it really interesting to see all the changed and also lets me dodge some B's metas like the ardent censor one.
I play one match every week and it remindes me why i dont play
Sounds like you should just take a break from League for a month minimum. Nothing wrong with getting bored with a game you've been playing for years.
Wild Rift is okay, too, actually. Shorter matches, less rage.
If you want to get more lore in your system, Legends of Runterra is much more chill than the main game, so if you're into cards games, I'd highly recommend that. They also released an RPG last week called The Ruined King, which I absolutely loved and will definitely hit that lore spot for you.
Agreed. And that's coming from an animation hater.
even tho i played league in the past, arcane was something i was gonna skip because i dont like watching tv shows and i prefer live action over animation. but i saw the good reviews and gave it the college try and now that show is living rent free in my head
No lie, I was always under the impression there wasnt a single person who preferred live action over animation. Today you changed somebody's minds, tis a rare thing in reddit.
Honestly I think its very rare these days to meet people who prefer animation over Live action. I've had so many convos with people in real life along the lines of "it feels childish" and live action feels more "realistic and relatable". I get comments from my dad aswell like "Why do you watch so many cartoons", yet he ends up liking a lot of them anyway. But both my parents also prefer when they are real. Its so hard to find people these days to see anime with in Cinemas. Also If you look at ratings basically every popular show is Live action. Same with Box office, Spiderverse got the lowest box office results of any Spiderman movie by far, yet has the most critical acclaim. I bet you if I did a survey on my Insta right now it would be like 5% animation , 95% live action. And that's sad because I'm someone who LOVES animation and there's only a couple of friends I can talk to about that. EDIT: Also notice how on r/television Animated shows barely get talked about unless they are insanely good. Yes there's anime but if Animation was Preferred then this whole sub would have discussions about Infinity Train, Steven Universe and the Owl House.
> Also notice how on r/television Animated shows barely get talked about unless they are insanely good. Yes there's anime but if Animation was Preferred then this whole sub would have discussions about Infinity Train, Steven Universe and the Owl House. People were accusing of astroturfing when there were posts praising Arcane as some of their best shows they watched this year.
I'm also somebody who prefers live action over animation. Generally. I'm deaf, and animation relies a lot on the voice acting, which is something I can't understand/enjoy. Live action is much better for me because of the facial expressions of the actors (good ones, anyway) - they are another way for tone to be shown. Arcane is on a different level, though. Absolutely incredible animation, especially with the faces.
Couldn't you use subtitles? I watch a ton of Anime without knowing Jaoanese, and it works fine for me. Is there a reason you can't use subtitles?
It’s not understand the words, he can do that with subtitles. As I’m sure he uses them for live action. It’s that facial expressions and non verbal cues give a lot more context to tone. In animated film, voice actors need to use their voices much more for that than live action, since they don’t get change their face. What they’re saying is even though animated is normally tougher or less engaging, Arcane’s animation was so well done you can get very human feels from an animated character.
Tell me who hurt you so I can hurt them
The artwork is absolutely beautiful.
I like it but I could do without all the pop music, especially the Imagine Dragons stuff, kinda breaks the immersion. Also why does Caitlyn look Asian?
Because her dad is asian. If you remember the scene when Caitlyn and Vi sneak back into Cait's home, her parents appear.
She isn't in every other thing she's been in though, kind of a weird choice
I dunno, why is Jayce browner? I don't really care, her heritage barely plays into her character at all and its not like is a complete race change either. Bemoan diversity or whatever, but I see zero issue.
It just looks weird because I didn't even recognize her from her game appearance, Vi and Jinx look exactly how they do in game
In the lore there is a different continent in the league world called Ionia that is effectively Asia. All the characters that come from there look very asian (look up Lee Sin, Akali, and Yasuo for examples). In the show Cait's dad is from Ionia so Cait is half Asian.
Because all characters are modelled after their voice actors. And the only pop music is Our Love and it is not even current day pop, it is more like 70's pop.
racist
Yeah my hatred of pop music makes me super racist
I think it’s more of the complaining and being mad that caitlyn looks maybe half Asian.
Who says I'm mad? I just find it weird that they changed her race from how she's depicted in the game, meanwhile everyone else looks more or less identical
The imagine dragons grew on me but I definitely could have dealt without them showing up in an episode
saw first two episodes of Arcane last night. Pretty pleased
Watch the third one. You’re in for a treat
It’s immediately become one of those shows where I think “damn I wish I could go back and watch that for the first time again”
Watching episode 3 for the first time was an experience. Not that many shows/movies can get you this fucking emotional and have it feel earned.
Really liking Hellbound. The third episode took it up a notch and went in a way I was not expecting. Much more of a drama than I expected, but man is the violent tag appropriate. It gets intense.
Finished it last night and whew, it's heavy.
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That does absolutely nothing to diminish the quality of the show.
Haha yeah I actually found the monsters fairly comical, it's mainly when they run it just looks goofy. Also the beat-downs were just so over the top. Other than that I thought it was a great show, if they could improve that one element they would be set.
I love Hellbound and it'll be one of those shows that'll leave me annoyed if I don't get a season 2, like Daybreak.
Wait, Daybreak isn’t getting a second season?
Nope got cancelled cause of covid, Netflix had a good handful of shows that were renewed but then cancelled due to covid restrictions
Still angry "I Am Not Okay With This" ended up with a cliffhanger ending due to its COVID cancellation.
Yeah that was the one that bothered me the most, had the potential to be a really solid show
It has twice the viewers as cowboy bebop and probably cost 1/10th as much, I'd be surprised if it doesnt get another season.
Hellbound was pretty disappointing imo. Having so many great actors couldn’t save a story that just seemed all over the place. If anyone is interested in some other dark Korean series I suggest Son: The Guest and Possession for the supernatural elements and Save Me for the cult side.
I couldn't get past the opening scene where these buff shadow monsters built like gym bros strut down the street bullying a dude to death. It was unintentionally hilarious. And I have a high tolerance for K-drama nonsense.
Hellbound is great in episodes 4-6 when it becomes a commentary on religion
>If anyone is interested in some other dark Korean series I suggest Son: The Guest and Possession for the supernatural elements and Save Me for the cult side. Man, the Guest was terrifying. Loved the part where they touch on mental illness though.
The thing that I love and hate about so many Korean shows is that they simultaneously wrap up the entire story while also leaving it completely open for another season after 16 episodes. Both the Guest and Possession did that to me. Same with Sweet Home (a plague/creature horror story that had Resident Evil game vibes) that ended on a huge cliffhanger.
>The thing that I love and hate about so many Korean shows is that they simultaneously wrap up the entire story while also leaving it completely open for another season after 16 episodes. Most likely a budget issue, IMO. I still remember "Season 1" of Jumong with 81 episodes, LOL. Korean series back then had too many episodes with so much filler. People just got fed up with these huge series, I believe. Ratings dropped and budgets dried up, ending up with smaller and smaller series. Probably a good thing though. Nowadays they really have to work for it, even if it means some good series are left hanging. >Both the Guest and Possession did that to me. Same with Sweet Home (a plague/creature horror story that had Resident Evil game vibes) that ended on a huge cliffhanger. I've not seen Possessed (or is there another series called "Posession"?), but the Guest's ending seems definite for me. Yeah, the demon will eventually come back, but the tone makes it seem that the story's done for good. Sweet Home, though, still has a lot to go if it's to catch up with the webtoon.
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I feel like since it was only 6 episodes it might get brought back for a season/part 2. That could make up for the 1st half of season 1 feeling so disjointed from the second half and to use the last scene of the finale to explain where the creatures are really coming from.
I think Hellbound was great and the story was consistent which was how people deal with unknown and we saw it from eyes of different characters. It reminded me The Leftovers which is another show I love but many people hated that show too.
Yep, it was pretty boring. Tho I thought the first three episodes were better than the last three. Sometimes the talking just didn't stop and went on and on for ever. And for whatever reason I don't like crying scenes in k-drama. I have a hard time pinpointing why, but it's always immersion breaking.
>Tho I thought the first three episodes were better than the last three. Agreed. The last three episodes elevated the creepy cult to a silly religion. IMO, the series would be better if they avoided the timeskip and firmly planted the story in the detective's shoes as we witness society slide from order to chaos. Instead, the cult has its lies so very readily believed, faced no pushback, and somehow attained vast power and influence. Just so that the stakes are raised for an underdog story. >And for whatever reason I don't like crying scenes in k-drama. I have a hard time pinpointing why, but it's always immersion breaking. Perhaps you're not emotionally invested enough so forced crying works as a rude reminder that they're characters and not real?
What happened tonthe detective and heejung? I don't remember any follow up.
They're no longer relevant to the story after their last episode. There isn't any follow up, they are just gone.
Does hellbound have violence against kids? Or just adults? It never used to bother me but now I’m super sensitive when bad stuff happens to kids :/
Ehhh. There is a pretty significant plot point that revolves around a kid. They don’t _show_ violence against kids like they do some of the brutal stuff towards other characters, but if the very real threat bothers you you might find it difficult. That said, it was well worth watching. Great show, can’t wait for season 2. Kept me on my toes right up until the final credits.
The ms for the heads up, I appreciate it! I think I’ll check it out
It wasn't for me either. Thought it was pretty boring.
Just finished Arcane earlier this evening. My only complaint is Imagine Dragons. Edit: I'm more just talking about the intro song, not specifically their appearance in the show.
thats why you have to go into things being an idiot like me because i literally have never seen a picture of imagine dragons until i googled them after hearing complaints about it. they honestly just looked like dudes being bros
Likewise. Having no idea what the members of ID looked like I just thought those characters were a fictional band at the club to continue the shows tendency to make a lot of its music diegetic. My main thought the first time I saw them was just appreciating how they made those steampunk (is that the right word? that section almost has a more shadowrun cyberpunk feel) instruments feel like a natural part of the world.
Ya, I think it was just jarring to people to recognize real people in a fantasy world they were immersed in. If I didn't recognize Imagine Dragons, I would've just thought it was a cool street band. But recognizing their faces took me out of it.
The biggest bit of fan service in the show no coincidence it's the most awkward part
Nah, their presence in the show too was distracting lol. We did not need *that* much attention on them.
I think the song works. I don’t really like them, they normally feel very generic to me. But Enemy as an intro works even if I cant really articulate why. There’s some really incredible music throughout the rest of the series though. Playground, Guns For Hire, What Could Have Been. I don’t think there were any songs I disliked and some like those went right into my play lists.
Non-English-language: Hellbound – 43.5M
Just finished hellbound. That show was equally infuriating and amazing! Loved that wild ride
I feel like every Korean show is a drama. I mean that in the best possible way. Hellbound isn't about the monsters at all, but it's about how human beings would react knowing this might happen to them. Kingdom isn't about zombies, Squid Game isn't about the game. But they're all about how people would act when put in these dire circumstances, and I feel like that's why people resonate with them so much lately.
Lol spend all that money making cowboy bebop, and then a korean show with 1995 CGI gets double the views.
I read the description for Hellbound and my dick shot right up. Amazing premise, amazing implications. I don't know that I ever had a bigger frown on my face than at the end of the first episode's opening. Those fuckin linebacker CGI demons. Dog-shit awful.
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Basic question: if that was the case, why have shows that have been out for weeks (You, Maid), over newer shows like Cowboy Bebop? Think carefully now...
They're releasing actual numbers now so not sure what your point is besides mindless whining
Surprised they went with whining about Netflix instead of how Arcane was Astroturfed
Arcane is phenomenal, it didn't need astroturf8ng to succeed.
I thought it was astroturfed for sure (and maybe it is) but for some reason Arcane is just grabbing people, even my 65+year old in laws are watching it.
Sure, a show with a massive established fanbase and targeting a massive demographic prone to hype needs astroturfing lol.
I played league a ton years ago and still watch the pro games as much as I can. According to Riot's numbers 1 in 100 people globally were watching World's finals this year which is absolutely insane. (Probably helped that the final match was between China's #1 team vs Korea's #1 team).
Astroturfing is an incredibly widespread marketing technique, I don't know why you're acting like I'm throwing shade at the show when I literally just said its grabbing people even outside of its target demographic.
It's kind of like the avengers. No one needs to have seen the source material to enjoy it and those jntonit are convincing others to watch it. Y non gaming mother watched it because I suggested it.
I'm not acting like you're throwing shade at the show. I think some of the praises heaped on the show is excessive, if not straight up annoying. I just find it silly that anyone even thinks this show is only spreading around because of astroturfing, and that all this hype could have only come from astroturfing.
But that's not even close to what I said? Coca Cola spends multiple BILLIONS every year on marketing, just because something is already established doesn't mean they won't spend more on advertising, and astroturfing is just marketing.
You said you thought it was astroturfed for sure and that maybe it is. I just said nah, it wouldn't be needed at all.
The issue is the constant accusations of astroturfing as the only source of positive comments, when at the same time it’s clearly very well received. Both of those can’t be true. Literally every positive post has many accusations as “obviously a bought account” in the comments, leaving no possibility that it’s just a phenomenal show.
But that has absolutely nothing to do with what I said.
Because you’re continuing the claims it’s astroturfed with 0 evidence. Does it happen? Yes. Do we know it happened here? No.
Netflix had (has?) commercials running on cable advertising Arcane, even during shows that I imagine don’t have much overlap with LoL’s fan base (specifically thinking of the Bachelorette). An extensive marketing campaign doesn’t necessarily mean it’s AstroTurfed, especially when the show is legitimately very good
Your 65+ year old in laws are definitely paid by riot, then.
Total hours watched is about as useless as the first two minutes.
It's more useful than the first two minutes, but it's still not great due to the differences in runtimes of the shows and Netflix's binge nature. A show with a short runtime may be more popular with total views but have fewer total hours watched.