(L) Denno Coil (TV Series!)

[Guardian Enzo]

For those interested (though there are multiple stories out there):

http://article.wn.com/view/2010/03/2...lead_vanishes/

[totoum]

So here I am watching Inception and 3/4 of the movie in I think "wait a minute,this is pretty similar to dennou coil!"

Spoiler for just in case:

Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) = Isako
Ariadne (Ellen Page) = Yasako
Mal (Marion Catillard) = 4423 , Michiko san
deep dream/limbo = "the other side"
projections = illegals

[SeijiSensei]

I happened to look back over the last few pages of this thread and followed some of the links to YouTube. Anything Dennou Coil related is apparently removed.

I can understand being upset about entire episodes, or large chunks of episodes, being posted on YouTube. But when we're talking about AMVs and other items, what really is the point? Only the most narrow-minded of personalities would think that a reworking of just a few minutes of a 26-episode video needs to be pulled off the Internet. I can understand the desire to protect "intellectual property," but antics like these leave me scratching my head.

Don't they want to sell Dennou Coil DVDs and paraphernalia? So why wouldn't you want a show that has sold badly in Japan to get wider recognition and exposure?

I think the term for this is "anal-compulsive." Which group of bozos do you think was responsible for this? Madhouse? NHK? Someone else?

Somewhere Densuke is crying out in agony.

[Guardian Enzo]

Are you sure, Sensei? All the Dennou Coil vids I see on Youtube appear to be working.

[SeijiSensei]

Well, I can no longer see this one I posted a while back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0eG36cipWU, nor can I see the ones cited by wao in this post either.

Maybe I'm just unlucky, or maybe there are music rights involved. The music guilds seem even more persnickity about this stuff than the movie/video types. There are a few that incorporate Prism, but most include music unrelated to Dennou Coil itself. And at least this one using Prism has no animation at all, while this one looks like an official release. It is such a beautiful song; I've listened to it many times playing the soundtrack album in the car.

Doing a search on YouTube for Dennou Coil brings up some other ones, so I guess whoever was responsible for the removals either didn't care about these, or they haven't been paying attention lately. I noticed that one of the AMV's linked in wao's posting is explicitly identified as removed due to a claim from NHK. As I recall, the one I linked to was a cute parody. Perhaps they're only removing ones they think somehow "demean" the show?

Saito Tsuneyoshi's score for this show remains my all time favorite anime soundtrack.

[shotgunsuzie]

dennou coil to me was very special, not only did they introduce a new technology "the glasses" but the stories they told were really well done. I wonder if any companies out there grabbed up the rights to produce the glasses we see in dennou coil, with the advent of 3d technology coming back i can definately see this becoming a reality in the next 50 years... or sooner. Part of me wants to march into MIT and smack some super-nerds on the back of there heads and tell them to get cracking. Not only that but you could also add the technology you see in eden of the east to the glasses.
The thing that cracks me up alot in my reading of science fiction novels, especially the ones in the 50's and 60's that predicted in the 80's and 90's that we would have huge technological advancement's. Cyborgs, Flying cars, humans living on the moon, mars colinization. I always thought they give us as a species way to much credit, while we are moving very fast technologically speaking in some ways, in others you might as well be in a race against a snail, due to big business, goverment, etc. stifling any true technological advancement or leaps, i firmly believe that 100 years from now if not 500 years, that we as a species will be just starting to throw ourselves out into the stars. However the glasses in "Dennou Coil" are within reach, i just hope there are some enterprising people out there right now working on it as i type this. I want a Cyber Pet!
p.s. anyone else feel the same?

[drobertbaker]

All this technology currently exists. The problem is in implementing mass systems. They require a critical mass before the technology can be useful. But without the technology being useful, it's difficult to reach critical mass. Catch 22.

Cell phones had a terrible time catching on in America in the 90s with many large companies losing their shirts. But once they had the necessary installed base, they took off like crazy, but many years behind Asia.

I'm currently reading Phil Dick stories from the early 50s. I'm noting not so much all the unrealistic futuristic technology, but the lack of imagination in envisioning old technology becoming obsolete.

e.g. The diplomat meeting the aliens offers them all cigarettes to be cordial.
The vidphone takes a while to come on because the tubes have to warm up. And then you have to ask the operator to place your call for you.

P.S. About every ten years since 1950 someone has tried to get vidphones going and it has failed every single time. What's up with that?

[shotgunsuzie]

Originally Posted by drobertbaker

All this technology currently exists. The problem is in implementing mass systems. They require a critical mass before the technology can be useful. But without the technology being useful, it's difficult to reach critical mass. Catch 22.

Cell phones had a terrible time catching on in America in the 90s with many large companies losing their shirts. But once they had the necessary installed base, they took off like crazy, but many years behind Asia.

I'm currently reading Phil Dick stories from the early 50s. I'm noting not so much all the unrealistic futuristic technology, but the lack of imagination in envisioning old technology becoming obsolete.

e.g. The diplomat meeting the aliens offers them all cigarettes to be cordial.
The vidphone takes a while to come on because the tubes have to warm up. And then you have to ask the operator to place your call for you.

P.S. About every ten years since 1950 someone has tried to get vidphones going and it has failed every single time. What's up with that?

Interesting point drobertbaker, about technology needing to be useful, and also needing to reach a critical mass. Hehe, i guess i'm too cynical sometimes in my point of view. About All this technology currently existing^^ point me in the direction of the (glasses) from dennou coil! i want em!

p.s. the vidphone is here isn't it? just the other day i was sure i saw a cell-phone commercial touting the use of video phone technology. Also checkout sci-fi channel's warehouse 13 they have a vidphone in that! I think it's catching on now gimme my dennou coil glasses!

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by drobertbaker

About every ten years since 1950 someone has tried to get vidphones going and it has failed every single time. What's up with that?

I think the rapid expansion of Skype has made it the videophone of today. The Internet took control over audio and video telephony out of the hands of the incumbent telecoms, so the technology could develop on its own. High-quality miniature cameras helped a lot as well.

[drobertbaker]

Originally Posted by shotgunsuzie

About All this technology currently existing^^ point me in the direction of the (glasses) from dennou coil! i want em!

The glasses:
Superhuman vision may be on the horizon
Marine navigation binoculars with virtual display superimposing real world image
Heads-Up Display Embedded In Glasses

The data feed:
Augmented Identity App Helps You Identify Strangers on the Street
I want my Augmented Reality TV phone!
Layar: First Mobile Augmented Reality Browser Is Your Real Life HUD

With a critical mass in these technologies, it's hard to envision the result. Try to imagine a world with no signs or labels or billboards or even printed material. All that information would be in a virtual overlay, updated via software.

The bad news is that there would be ads everywhere you looked!

One of Phil Dick's 50s visions of the future was tiny flying robots, like flies. And the use to which they were put was as advertisements. They would seek you out anywhere! Even driving (flying) in your car, they would get in through the vents and begin telling you about why you should buy their product.

The future is always both wondrous and terrifying. Professional futurists will tell you that we always predict too much in the short term and too little in the long term.

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I think the rapid expansion of Skype has made it the videophone of today. The Internet took control over audio and video telephony out of the hands of the incumbent telecoms, so the technology could develop on its own. High-quality miniature cameras helped a lot as well.

One exciting application of this which people I know are currently using is telecommuting. The PC in your office is always turned on with Skype running and you have the same setup at home. So if someone wants to talk to you, they come to your office, sit down and talk to the PC. You can even hear what's going on in the office and people walking by can see you working on the screen. It's like a little surrogate robot! Who'd have imagined?

It's interesting how applications to technologies pop up that are completely unforeseen. The internet, of course, which has transformed the world. If you watch old Star Treks, you'll see them visit the "Library Planet" where all the information in the galaxy is stored. They couldn't imagine remotely accessing data. It seems so obvious now.

In all the science fiction published before 1969, nobody imagined that the whole world would watch a moon landing on television. Even in later Star Treks from the 90s, you never see an away team take a camera along. It's always "Tell me what's happening, Number One!" audio only.

[roriconfan]

IT'S REVIEW TIME BABY

Spoiler for Kinder surprise inside:

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 9 [Kira-bugs! Got to catch ‘em all!]

This series is presented as childish, yet it packs so much philosophy and optical delight that you hardly believe kids will get half of it. The way I see it, it aims at sci-fi lovers, sophisticated adults or bright kids, who are not accustomed to really heavy series, such as Ghost in the Shell or Serial Experiments Lain and yet want more than just some childish Digimon variant. I can only say on my part that is DAMN good and even viewers who like brainless action like Bleach or storyless series like Kokoro Toshokan can easily like the fine combination of a good story, easy-going action, wonderful artwork and not too bleak mystery. I for one, have fallen head over heels about it.



ANIMATION SECTION [-AAA! Look! -I don’t see anything. –Wear your glasses!]

General Artwork & Backgrounds 4/4 Simply stunning. The series blurred the boundaries between reality and virtual reality. The kids view the real world through virtual reality glasses, which is in fact overlapped with a virtual world, which is similar in appearance with the real one, only with a lot of glitches and virtual creatures that roam around. No one can see or interact with this world without wearing the glasses, so it was hilarious seeing a huge cyber-fish eating the virtual world, while a housewife nearby was doing her shores without noticing anything. Or an illegal being giving beards to little children that only those wearing glasses could see. Or pocket worlds named Obsolete Spaces, that resemble ghost towns made of two-dimensional buildings. Every episode features lots of such details that simply leave you stunned with the originality and sheer inspiration the animators had while figuring them up.

Character Figures 2/2: The main cast of the series are just 10 year-olds that don’t look any special. But the cyber-creatures, they were AWESOME! Try a cyber, cat-like pet, which takes photos of the target its owner sends him to spy and plays ROCK-SCISSORS-PAPER with its ears, with every other pet of its kind. Or a cyber scout, in the form of a naked grandpa. Or a cyber-cop, in the form of a huge smiling toy. Or a black dinosaur that can only move through shadowy places and the kids create black corridors with cyber spray, in order to help it move through light areas. The series is full of such amazing creatures. Another reason to love it.

Motion Fluidity 2/2: You will find slightly better movements only in Miyazaki movies. The characters move in such realistic and vivid ways, that you may think that they used motion capture or filmed real actors in order to get it THAT good. I wasn’t bored watching even the plotless parts just because the characters were moving realistically and making amazingly good grimaces.

Visual Effects 2/2: Wow, I felt like playing a videogame. The glasses provided the kids with a huge amount of weaponry, provided by a granny seller. They were harmless to them and yet devastating for their expensive glasses. Etheral machineguns, rockets, laser beams and hovering walls turned every confrontation into a bloodless warfield that had no effect in the real world and yet was very important for the kids who were testing their quick responses, typing speeds or hacking abilities. Virtual commands, such as ERROR, RESTORE and SCAN were used so often and with such a videogame-like way, that made every battle to resemble a combination of COUNTERSTRIKE and that funky hacking scene in Johnny Mnemonic. Even glitches in the system had the effect of making graphics to look like they are full of digital low-frame or a bad-download look. Superb!

TOTAL FOR ANIMATION: 10/10 Holy smokes, a perfect score!



SOUND SECTION: 9 [Boku Satchi!]

Nothing much to write here. Music themes were elegiac and mysterious, thus becoming memorable. Sound effects were more than just explosions or zaps. They included voice altering, static noise and eerie squeaks. My only issue is with the voice acting. Although the voice actors do a marvelous job at colorizing the personalities of the characters, it is rather obvious that they are in fact middle-aged women voicing 10 year-old boys. Not that it bothered me much; it was just a detail that spoiled the perfect score.



STORY SECTION [According to a rumor on the net, this series is in fact not just for kids.]

General Scenario & Conclusion 4/4: Forget the silly scenarios you probably expect from a kid’s adventure. The story involves dozens of serious overtones that are disguised under the pretext that the series is about kids. We are talking about the usual coming-of-age, boosted with a murder mystery, people falling into comas by a cyber ghost’s curse, an avenging youth out to uncover a mega-corporation a cover-up, and several other stuff you would never normally expect from a kid’s series. It is quite close to the backdrop story of .hack//SIGN, only it is NOT boring or vague to the viewer and you don’t need external to the series explanations in order to get the full picture. Nothing of the aforementioned elements happens in a horror or action blockbuster-like fashion. Even kids can watch this, with no worries, as it is bright and cheery for the most part, with the last episodes being the exception, in order to have a serious ending. Whatever you get or miss from the story, it is intriguing, multi-layered, complicating and has a satisfactory ending.

Pace of Plot & Side Stories 4/4: Although the story unfolds slowly and there are some filler episodes in between, I didn’t feel bored not even for one episode, as there was always some new aspect about the characters that fleshed them out EVEN in filler episodes. Practically, there is no dead time in this series. Heck, even the recap episode was special. There were many side-stories and secondary characters that affected the story, so it never got boring.

Believability/Reasoning/Realism 1/2: The story goes to great lengths in order to provide a scientific explanation about every single one of the multiple terms and mysteries in the not-so-simple story. Yet, it still couldn’t avoid some pitfalls, with the convenient outcome of events to be the most obvious problem. Many problems are resolved too easily and the kids seem to think way too mature for their age. Plus, adults seem to be oblivious of what the heck is going on, as parents and teachers are unaware that their precious youngsters perform hacking, wars and several other illegal acts under their very noses.

TOTAL FOR STORY: 9/10



CHARACTER SECTION [Miss Michico will get you!]

Presence 2/2: Although none of the characters looks special in any way, their body language and grimaces are so vivid that attract your eye in a flash. Since they are mostly kids, they are generally cute and perky and definitely won’t remind you of the average mediocre anime cast.

Personality & Backdrop 4/4: Every character has his own personal demeanor and everyone seems to have parents, relatives and a place in the story. I didn’t feel like any one of them popped out of nowhere or were alien to the series.

Development & Catharsis 3/4: All the characters are fleshed out during the course of the series. Secondary characters have their screen-time during filler episodes. Neither the main cast or the extras developed in extreme ways, so their personality in the end wasn’t that much different from the beginning. Many change their initial opinions for one another or became wiser about the world, but beyond that they pretty much remained the same. They still feel much more enriched as personalities as when they began.

TOTAL FOR CHARACTERS: 9/10



VALUE SECTION [Cash in your rare Meta-bugs for powerful Meta-tags.]

Historical Value 2/3: Known, but not all-known, like Pokemon, Naruto or a thousand other mediocrities. Stupid publicity stunts!
Rewatchability 2/3: High chance of watching it again, with some not-so-interesting parts to be skipped entirely.
Memorability 4/4: It definitely stands out in the lot and even becomes a point of reference of how a good series should be. Kid’s series, my butt!

TOTAL FOR VALUE: 8/10



VERDICT
This ain’t Pokemon kids. It is actually good!

[oompa loompa]

Wow... I'm blownn away. I need some time to let this show simmer before I write a review, which I'll do in the next couple of days. All I'll say is this, this show blew me away, and I'll definetly watch it again to see how the clues are actually presented. I can't believe I missed this one for so long!

[RebootEDC]

God bless these girls that run, and run, and run...

[totoum]

Darn you ANN and your headlines giving me false hope

English-Subbed Dennō Coil Anime Sold....

Great news!

... in iPhone/iOS App

here's the link

Well,better than nothing I guess,and I'd check it out if I had an iOS device

[Shiroth]

I have the app. I'm in the mood to rewatch the series, and £1.79 per episode isn't that bad.

[SeijiSensei]

Here's a review of the app from Justin Sevakis. To summarize, he hates it.

Originally Posted by Sevakis

I cannot recommend watching Denno Coil in this way. The painfully slow and clunky download, the low quality and the high price make it an instant deal breaker. Don't even bother.

http://www.mania.com/aodvb/showpost....94&postcount=8

[Shiroi Hane]

You'd better have plenty of space (and time, the download is slooooow) - I'd have to clear out half of the stuff on my 8GB iPod to fit the whole series on and then it's all or nothing; if I wanted to reclaim the space I'd have to delete the whole series with no guarantee you can get it back again...
Also discovered yesterday you can't watch offline - you have to have an active internet connection even to watch the episodes you've already downloaded.
£1.79 may not be that much, but multiplied over 26 episodes it adds up and it's not like the quality is all that great.

[ArrowSmith]

Is this show ever going to be licensed?

[te2rx]

There was an Ask John editorial about it... basically the fact that it has the veneer of a mundane children's anime rather than an edgy / seinen sort of thing makes Dennou Coil difficult to market in the US.

[ArrowSmith]

Originally Posted by te2rx

There was an Ask John editorial about it... basically the fact that it has the veneer of a mundane children's anime rather than an edgy / seinen sort of thing going for it makes Dennou Coil difficult to market in the US.

I figured as much when I watched the fansubs years back, it's very cerebral.