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Old 2010-09-05, 20:48   Link #1101
Tarantula Lady
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Origami Stars

FWIW, is this what you're looking for? http://trayflow.vox.com/library/post...gami-star.html

It looks pretty easy to fold, but it is a modular design, not the single-sheet design that is more typical of origami. Origami can get pretty complicated; I was once crazy enough to make a scorpion that took about 300 folds and 15 hours to make.
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Old 2010-10-02, 03:50   Link #1102
Rhythm
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Originally Posted by Tarantula Lady View Post
FWIW, is this what you're looking for? http://trayflow.vox.com/library/post...gami-star.html

It looks pretty easy to fold, but it is a modular design, not the single-sheet design that is more typical of origami. Origami can get pretty complicated; I was once crazy enough to make a scorpion that took about 300 folds and 15 hours to make.
Wow 15 hours! That's amazing. I'd definitely like to see it! :P

Anyways, the design you've shown me is VERY close, although not quite it. I was going to put up a comparison but it seems Vox.com is now closed?

While I'm at it though, here is a screeny from the anime of the design I'm looking for.

Spoiler for DTB's Origami Star Design:
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Old 2011-01-31, 14:44   Link #1103
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REVIEW TIME

I usually avoid writing different reviews about different seasons of the same series but in this case it was necessary since the second season had some big differences in storytelling that brought out a lot of negative aspects of the first series. In any case, it would be better to be aware of the first season or even have read my review about it in order to fill in any blanks.

Let’s start by saying that sequels are most of the time worse than their first seasons. Either they reuse the same formula and become tiresome for being “one of the same” or make drastic changes that alienate the fans of the original and making them consider it worse. In this case Gemini of the Meteor (GOTM) went for the later and in no surprise was received quite harshly by most. From my POV, I will say that I welcome experimentation in each addition to a franchise and I will judge it for what it is and not for what it should be in my imagination.

Art and Sound are of the same quality as before, (8) only in this season there is less darkness going on (thus it is less Darker Than Black) and the characters seem more humane because they express more emotions than before. The main lead is now a drunkard, so he is more expressive by being more wasted; and the main girl is NOT a full Contractor, so she expresses a lot more feelings. The dialogues feel more lively as well for the same reason while the soundtrack is again nothing memorable on the longrun. I have no reason to give better or worse ratings here as the difference in details is not affecting the overall quality.

The Story is one step better and two steps worse than before, so I drop the score more (2). On the bright side, it now has more concrete plot and less stand alone episodes. On the less-dark-than-before side, this brings out the problem of the first season. THERE ISN’T MUCH GOING ON. While DTB was resetting the mission objective every two episodes, GOTM retains the same mission all the way, thus it is easier to get fed up with it. Because the very storytelling of the series does not allow multi-layered elements inter-webbeding into a complicating and thought-provoking setting, where you need to think hard to understand what is going on, thus in need of spending many episodes in exposition. It’s quite simple actually; a rather linear adventure of a girl looking for another girl. So you can imagine how more boring it would be to stretch something that lasted two episodes before to be 5 times longer without necessarily being more complicating or worthy of such a thing. I am in favor of an on-going plot but not when it is not worthy of it.

Furthermore, it’s also the ending of GOTM which hasn’t satisfied anyone I know of. You see, DTB also had a setting where nothing was explained and the ending felt poor and rushed. Yet GOTH, instead of delving deeper into what was left unlooked before, instead initiates yet another mystery on top of the existing one and ends equally weird and without answering anything major once again. Not only that, but the hints of what happens are even passing to you as out-of-place, making you think it has nothing to do with the rest of the setting. Some compared it with what in going on in the finales of Neon Genesis or Clannad AS. Well sorry to say that having a mindfuck for an ending does not work if it’s not foreshadowed properly. Since this anime never explains anything, you just can’t accept all that, even when you can think of them as Contractor abilities. So no, unlike the above two anime, GOTH has a terrible conclusion.

In other words, where DTB had little plot which does not allow you to be bored by resetting and ending anti-climactically, GOTM has more plot which is easier to be bored for it lasts longer without being worthy of it and ends badly. One plus and two minus, just as I said. There is a set of OVAs which explain the backdrop story better but since they are extras that for all we see are just ass-pulled in the storyline AFTER it is all over, they don’t help out the overall feeling much. If they were part of the core story, it would be much better for its own well-being.

The Characters are equally improved as they are getting worse, so I leave them with the same score (6). First of all, a single yet longer mission instead of short numerous ones means more screentime for the characters and thus more time invested in immersion. And at first glance you would think they need it as Suou and Hei are showing a lot more emotions and angst than before, while each one of them has something going on in their lives that needs more exposition. At the same time, nothing much is there to invest about them and all exposition is kept for the finale, which as I said it is bad on its own. So what is the point of giving more screentime for characters who have nothing much to show anyway? Didn’t DTB do that too in a slower pace because the individual secondary characters of each arc goggled up most of the time? It felt so much better there.

As if that wasn’t enough bad already, the storytellers made it even worse by taking out Yin from the story for most of the series. I mean, she was an established character with its own fanbase of sorts and for no reason they decide to keep her out of the way and even to NOT EXPLAIN WHY IS NOW A RIVAL. The OVAs are again supposed to explain that but who cares if it’s shown after the party is over?

I will add something that may not be of interest to most but it sure annoyed me. This season focused a lot more on moe lolis and less on macho killers. I mean DTB was about these cynical assassins who were ruthlessly killing people all the time without showing any care about it. On GOTH we have a coming-of-age of sorts regarding loli Suou and everyone was going rabid about the absence of loli Yin. Poor Hei was left in the background and his drunkard issue went almost unnoticed because of the loli foreground. Well as much as distant the cynical bastards of DTB were, they were still more uncommon than the over-abundant loli archetype that Suou shared. What a bad turnaround that felt for most to have this ecchi/moe element in a show that they liked for NOT being like most others. Some consider it a show about how an innocent girl is forced to slowly turn into a ruthless assassin in order to survive and go ahead in life; but come on, the bait of DTB were cynical bastards from the get-go and not the gradual becoming of one. And as far as sniper killer lolis goes, I found Gunslinger Girl far more interesting, for being a lot closer to the formula of DTB and not of GOTH.

Value and Enjoyment are lower for the reasons stated above (3). And it’s not as if it’s the change in the formula that is at fault here. It’s more about the refusal to change ALL the elements in the formula. Instead of offering story exposition that was so overlooked in DTB, they threw in more unanswered mysteries while giving the lead to less uncommon characters in a story that lasts longer without necessarily showing more to back it up and ending it in a WTF way that feels out-of-place and then attempting to explain it outside of the story with OVAs. And the action scenes are again short and lacking realism, making them equally forgettable as before.

How hard was all that to figure out when planning for a sequel? Screw this, I’m going back to my lovely X-Men.

Overall Score: 5/10

Last edited by roriconfan; 2011-01-31 at 15:13.
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Old 2011-03-07, 20:33   Link #1104
AnimeAddictLover
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this is one of my favorite anime but i have a few questions and a fav.......did yin die.......is there goin to be another season.......and if any1 can request any anime that is similar to my favs then that would help me alot



thank you
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Old 2011-03-08, 04:15   Link #1105
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Yin is dead, the anime flopped so tough luck making another season, try Requiem for the Phantom.
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl...anime&aid=6256
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Old 2011-03-10, 17:19   Link #1106
Tarantula Lady
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Yin looks about as dead as Pai, i.e. fused into Hei. As far as I can see, Yin can only return when Hei is at Hell's Gate.

So GOTM flopped financially? Too bad, I really liked Hei, even when he was a drunken wreck. The OVAs were pretty good, imo. The only thing left is the english translation of the manga which is about to end, one chapter left, afaik.
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Old 2011-03-10, 21:36   Link #1107
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Originally Posted by Tarantula Lady View Post
So GOTM flopped financially? Too bad, I really liked Hei, even when he was a drunken wreck. The OVAs were pretty good, imo. The only thing left is the english translation of the manga which is about to end, one chapter left, afaik.
No it didn't flop at all. It actually sold more that the first season. I think it averaged something like 10,000 per volume.
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Old 2011-03-22, 14:53   Link #1108
ViewtifulAlchemist
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Man...Darker Than Black. What to say about this series. I watched the first season, I liked it. It didn't explain a lot stuff but in a way it was fine since the series felt like it was more Cowboy Bebop-ish. Because of that I could ignore them not going fully detailed about Contractors, their prices, Heaven/Hell Gate's, etc. Those were just elements to build around the 2-episode short stories. Gave the series a mysterious air to it.

Second season, now it's a completely different feeling (I miss the vibe the HOWLING OP gave the first season). All about Suou and her shoujo-ish journey about the drama of being a contractor and falling in love with hobo Hei on the way. And now they're really pushing the lore they had on sidelines in the first season to the forefront in the second season (Yin brings about the end of the world, what the hell?).

Hei and Yin supposedly are rivals but they never explain why. You don't even see Yin make a grand entrance (ignoring snips of her in flashbacks) until the very last few moments of the last episode. Supposedly the OVAs explain it but I actually kind of don't want to watch them now seeing the direction the 2nd season went and I find it silly they didn't do a better job within the 2nd season itself instead of making you have to watch the OVAs afterwards. Meh, I made it this far may as well see what the OVAs has to offer anyways though.

The only that stayed consistent from first season to the second was the death toll rate, characters still die just as quickly as their introduced which was one of my minor pet peeves about 1st season.

DtB felt like a good example of not knowing when to pull out when you're at your best.

Other random thoughts:
- Seeing July in his little coat on screen always put a smile on my face, I don't know what was about that little guy but I love to see him on screen. As ridiculous as the ending of 2nd season was I'm glad he found some happiness in the end.
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Old 2011-03-28, 15:41   Link #1109
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Originally Posted by ViewtifulAlchemist View Post
Man...Darker Than Black. What to say about this series. I watched the first season, I liked it. It didn't explain a lot stuff but in a way it was fine since the series felt like it was more Cowboy Bebop-ish. Because of that I could ignore them not going fully detailed about Contractors, their prices, Heaven/Hell Gate's, etc. Those were just elements to build around the 2-episode short stories. Gave the series a mysterious air to it.

Second season, now it's a completely different feeling (I miss the vibe the HOWLING OP gave the first season). All about Suou and her shoujo-ish journey about the drama of being a contractor and falling in love with hobo Hei on the way. And now they're really pushing the lore they had on sidelines in the first season to the forefront in the second season (Yin brings about the end of the world, what the hell?).

Hei and Yin supposedly are rivals but they never explain why. You don't even see Yin make a grand entrance (ignoring snips of her in flashbacks) until the very last few moments of the last episode. Supposedly the OVAs explain it but I actually kind of don't want to watch them now seeing the direction the 2nd season went and I find it silly they didn't do a better job within the 2nd season itself instead of making you have to watch the OVAs afterwards. Meh, I made it this far may as well see what the OVAs has to offer anyways though.

The only that stayed consistent from first season to the second was the death toll rate, characters still die just as quickly as their introduced which was one of my minor pet peeves about 1st season.

DtB felt like a good example of not knowing when to pull out when you're at your best.

Other random thoughts:
- Seeing July in his little coat on screen always put a smile on my face, I don't know what was about that little guy but I love to see him on screen. As ridiculous as the ending of 2nd season was I'm glad he found some happiness in the end.
The OVAs are more in the line with the style of the first season.
I recommend watching it.
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Old 2011-03-28, 20:07   Link #1110
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Season 3

I liked Sue a real lot & liked the season. I like YIN but tis idea about YIN super I zoned out 100%, the OVAs were half decent. Free one, if you like Sue's personality type there is young Korean actress who is a superstar talent named Im Yoona. She fancies herself a singer, so she is on some sort of hiatus & only has 2 shows out, You Are My Destiny/Life & goofier Cinderella Man. YAMD/L has an awesome ending, & if you like reading between the lines you can figure out how her character she plays comes into being (DTB).
Season 3 Darker Than Black is rumored to have Meena Kandaswamy to make a team Hei.
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Old 2011-04-02, 18:21   Link #1111
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I thought the second season was really good... better than Code Geass R2 and better than most anime out there.

The series is basically the final 3 or 2 episodes and Hei is the focus of these. It just so happens that others play a major role in this event and Hei shares the spotlight.

And yeah, Yin is dead.

But the second season ends introducing a new character, an entity created by Yin, Hei, and Shion. Armageddon still looms over the Earth... it's just been delayed... again.

The problem I see that is that TV execs think anime protagonists have to be in their teens. Hei would be in his late 20s to mid 30s if the series continued. Is that too old for anime?

What are well known anime with older male lead characters?
DBZ? Cowboy Bebop? Trigun? Hellsing?

Let's pretend Hei is 20-22 in the first season and 22-24 in the second. 24-27 in a third season?
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Old 2011-06-18, 17:00   Link #1112
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Anything said of a third season so far? Also, I liked this season a lot, more than season 1 since it feels like everyone who lived for more than 2 episodes in S1 show almost no emotion, so I really liked Suou, since she felt more human and likeable than Yin for example. But this season was so short, I wanted more interactions =[

Almost everyone who posts seems to hate S2 though, but I'm hoping season 3(If it's made, I hope) includes Suou, somehow.
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Old 2011-06-18, 18:17   Link #1113
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Most people didn't like S2 because it was more about Suou then Hei,and was disjointed from S1 until the OVAs came out. I wanted it to be more about Hei as well. The plot did involve him heavily, but it wasn't about him. I enjoyed S2 though, but I feel Suou should feature a small role if at all in S3.
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Old 2011-06-18, 19:11   Link #1114
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Well to be fair, the OVAs were more about Yin than Hei, Hei was just the guy Yin loved, while Yin turned into this walking nuclear weapon in a few weeks or so.
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Old 2011-06-18, 19:26   Link #1115
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The OVA was basically just to tell the fans what happened before S2 in order to make sure they got everything in their brains. Also to explain what exactly happened to Yin like you said.
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