Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!

[Radiosity]

...eh? I assume you actually mean the character more than the voice, since Manabi is voiced by the awesome Horie Yui.

Also, can someone in the know about such things tell me what format the video track should be demuxed to using mkvextract? It doesn't recognize it and I don't know what extension I should give it. Cheers

edit: forgot to mention, using the gg sub.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I like to call this show Manabi Straight. That's the heart of the show and a much simpler way of referring to it. Anime titles can be too long, particularly when you're just writing them phonetically in a foreign language (English).

As for Ichigo Mashimaro, I didn't see those characters as flat so much as deep. Or if the surface was flat, the humanity was deep. Except for Matsuri (strangely enough), they all seemed like real people to me. They were, it is true, meant to be universal humans. For me, the big plus of that show was the humaneness of it, how it showed us people in all their flaws and wonderfulness. Besides the loli surface, that's where Manabi and IM are similar. IM is one of my all-time favorites, and a proof that "moe" and "serious" can go together. Besides being the funniest anime ever made, for me.

I liked what someone said earlier about Manabi: that she was like a young Suzumiya Haruhi. I'd say she was Haruhi before she realized the emptiness of life. Or something. Haruhi's manic activity was a bit desperate: she wasn't really confident that she ever would find the excitement she needed. Manabi makes her own excitement. But I just rewatched ep2 last night and was struck by Manabi's down moments. Perhaps there's some doubt inside her, as well.

[Boukenxha]

Wow, this thread has grown pretty fast in the last two days.

Maybe someone feels the same way, but I sense this aura of innocence and lack of wariness surrounding the characters, particularly Manabi. Nonaka Ai's voice also give me some flashback to Binchoutan. That's likely why the loli character designs were very convincing to me. Well looks can be decieving eh?

Originally Posted by Vexx

I'm beginning to think my attachment to this series stems from Mei ... whose face reminds me of Sahara in Petopetosan.

Mei reminded me of Natsuki from the Mai Hime series. Similar hairstyle, hair color, antisocial, quick to blush and the yuri vibes. I haven't watch ep 4 though, so I'm curious about what happend to her in the past.

[Radiosity]

Mei has quickly grown to be my favourite, I have to admit. She reminds me a little of Takako in OtoBoku, appearing cold and antisocial, but really having one hell of a cute side when flustered Though Mei has grown on me more or less instantly, whereas it took a good half of the series to warm up to Takako.

edit: And the sunglasses scene in ep 2 really clinched it for me, she was too adorably cute

[Daniel E.]

Watched the first episode and ended up liking the characters quite a bit. The song at the end was the best part for me.

Originally Posted by Pellissier

I made these out of the pictures on the official site, and as CK suggested, I put them in alphabetical order (yeah... didn't notice this either, I guess I'm slow in this period ^^)

Nice avies.

Believe it or not, it was actually your current avatar the one that made me check the promo and eventually download the first episode.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I like to call this show Manabi Straight. That's the heart of the show and a much simpler way of referring to it. Anime titles can be too long, particularly when you're just writing them phonetically in a foreign language (English).

As for Ichigo Mashimaro, I didn't see those characters as flat so much as deep. Or if the surface was flat, the humanity was deep. Except for Matsuri (strangely enough), they all seemed like real people to me. They were, it is true, meant to be universal humans. For me, the big plus of that show was the humaneness of it, how it showed us people in all their flaws and wonderfulness. Besides the loli surface, that's where Manabi and IM are similar. IM is one of my all-time favorites, and a proof that "moe" and "serious" can go together. Besides being the funniest anime ever made, for me.

I liked what someone said earlier about Manabi: that she was like a young Suzumiya Haruhi. I'd say she was Haruhi before she realized the emptiness of life. Or something. Haruhi's manic activity was a bit desperate: she wasn't really confident that she ever would find the excitement she needed. Manabi makes her own excitement. But I just rewatched ep2 last night and was struck by Manabi's down moments. Perhaps there's some doubt inside her, as well.

Manabi's energy levels also hint at Haruhi-style desperation: "Fun!!! Must Make Fun!! Make Fun NOW!!!" I guess we shall see.

Interesting thoughts on IM ... which I consider one of the most effective character studies of young people I've seen in anime (slice of life stuff ftw). And yes, I also thought Matsuri was the least realized (and least realistic) character.

As long as there is a consensus on a english shorthand for a show, "manabi straight" is okay... though I'll admit it took me forever to find manga and anime for Ichigo Masimaru because.. I was looking for Ichigo Masimaru rather than Strawberry Marshmallow... d'oh.

[Radiosity]

Originally Posted by Daniel E.

Believe it or not, it was actually your current avatar the one that made me check the promo and eventually download the first episode.

Yeah, it was Pelli's awesome sunglasses avatars that got me interested in the first place. +1 to Pelli (you've already had a cookie for the avs, sorry )

[Pellissier]

Originally Posted by Daniel E.

Nice avies.

Believe it or not, it was actually your current avatar the one that made me check the promo and eventually download the first episode.

Thank you, you don't know how much I'm happy everytime I hear this words

And if you read the last pharagraph of this post, you'll understand why

Originally Posted by Radiosity

Yeah, it was Pelli's awesome sunglasses avatars that got me interested in the first place. +1 to Pelli (you've already had a cookie for the avs, sorry )

Same goes for you, of course .. but how did you manage to see those which are buried in this thread if you weren't watching the series ? :P

My first post on this thread has been when it was still on the unaired section, when the series was out only as raw. A first time to me, I never approached a show prior its subs, before Manabi Straight. This time, I felt something special.
Anyway, I'm really seeing a lot of new peoples, particularly Haruhists ^^ ... it means that the series is slowly but progressively wiping out its label of "uninteresting boring loli build up" to make justice to what it really is

Here's a new gif to celebrate:



~ Massugu GO! ~

[Radiosity]

Originally Posted by Pelli

.. but how did you manage to see those which are buried in this thread if you weren't watching the series ? :P

Ah, see I was checking the thread itself one day on a random trawl of threads I hadn't read yet, and noticed the sunglasses avas. Mei immediately caught my eye and had me interested, and the other characters followed pretty quickly.

Initially I thought it hadn't been subbed yet (I know, it's the fansubs forum, but I was running on less than an hour's sleep at that point so observational skills were turned off ) so I went away for a while, only to remember it today and go searching for subs.

Now I'm downloading ep2 again, this time the xvid version, simply so I can make me a Mei avatar I'd use the sunglasses one, but I think that's better as part of a set, so I've got them saved for novelty value That, and I prefer making my own avs anyway.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Well I thought I was going to be able to enjoy this until right at the end when they elected Manabi to be President just because she sang a song (most likely for the sake of selling CD's for the ufotable). I can already see Manabi being a flawless Suzumiya Haruhi type character who tell's everybody what to do and wins all arguments. The only way this show can be save for me is if it turns out that Manabi does have at least one flaw and isn't a perfect and flawless character that everybody worships in the show. I passed the first hurdle of enjoying the music (They are trying way harder in 2007 with decent OST's, I can tell), but if I don't like the main character there would be not point.

Well after checking the character out a bit more I notice one key thing. Manabi is really happy when other's are happy unlike Haruhi who only cares when she's having fun. The character's are nothing alike and the fact that Manabi is likeable for being fun to be around as opposed to Haruhi being liked and worshipped by others in her school for rather shallow reasons in the Haruhi anime save Manabi. Also Manabi's energy is constantly getting her into trouble (well things falling on her for example not real bad trouble), unlike anime Haruhi who never got punished in the slightest for any trouble she caused and always came off better for it (Which is simply ridiculous and disgusting a lot of the time). Though to be fair the Haruhi in novel got in trouble sometimes such as paying for a night of drinking with a hangover. Everybody had me worried I'd have to deal with another anime Haruhi (important to distinguish from the much less shallow novel version) for nothing. Therefore this show gets a pass into my list of shows I'll watch. I look forward to discussing the show with everybody.

[Radiosity]

She's already proven herself to be 'imperfect' on a number of occasions, such as the Manabi-style swimming, and generally falling over and looking silly. Hardly what I'd call perfect.

To each his own though.

[Vexx]

eh? Haruhi was massively flawed as a character - it made her interesting.

However, so far the Manabi accusation sort of stands for the moment --- unless being manic is a flaw.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Vexx

eh? Haruhi was massively flawed as a character - it made her interesting.

However, so far the Manabi accusation sort of stands for the moment --- unless being manic is a flaw.

Haruhi was horribly flawed but never paid for it in any way, which I thought was absurd, plus she was perfect at everything regardless of whether it made sense (at least in the anime). Manabi is less flawed and certainly not perfect and she gets into all sorts of trouble and faces some adversity, but she clearly wants to make the school suck less not just make herself happily. I don't get how one character can be so horrible in one show yet never faced any karma, while one character is just hyper and bizzare, but puts it to good use and has to overcome obstacles such as securing the respect of the students (albeit secured in a rather dumb way which would have still failed if the male teacher wasn't such a nice guy).

[Sorrow-K]

It's too early to make any sort of proper judgement on these characters since we still know virtually nothing about them.

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

As for Ichigo Mashimaro, I didn't see those characters as flat so much as deep. Or if the surface was flat, the humanity was deep. Except for Matsuri (strangely enough), they all seemed like real people to me. They were, it is true, meant to be universal humans. For me, the big plus of that show was the humaneness of it, how it showed us people in all their flaws and wonderfulness. Besides the loli surface, that's where Manabi and IM are similar. IM is one of my all-time favorites, and a proof that "moe" and "serious" can go together. Besides being the funniest anime ever made, for me.

IM serious? There were like two or three serious moments in the whole thing. The vast, vast majority of it was comedy. And they may have been realistic archetypes, but that doesn't change the fact that none of them got any significant amount of character development. That's what makes them flat, IMO. But IM can get away with that, since it doesn't have a plot. What it can't get away with is not being funny... which I thought was the case with the last four episodes.

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I liked what someone said earlier about Manabi: that she was like a young Suzumiya Haruhi. I'd say she was Haruhi before she realized the emptiness of life. Or something. Haruhi's manic activity was a bit desperate: she wasn't really confident that she ever would find the excitement she needed. Manabi makes her own excitement. But I just rewatched ep2 last night and was struck by Manabi's down moments. Perhaps there's some doubt inside her, as well.

I think there's a bit of Haruhi in Manabi, but there's also a bit of Haruhi in Mei, and arguably a bit of Haruhi in Mutsuki. I think it's more the show itself that carries a similar energy to Haruhi, but the characters not so much. And I think it's moreso when they're together as a group.

[Vexx]

Hmmm, Peanuts and Calvin never showed much "character development" either.... they were both "character studies" ... which is what IM really is.

As far as Haruhi in Manabi..... oh hell, we're in danger of the "over comparative" schtick wherein there is no originality and everything is just a spreadsheet of character attributes re-assigned by dropping i-ching sticks.
I tend to agree with you about the synergy of the group as an entertaining win.

[Wavedash]

I just watched ep 4 raw today (a Mei-centric episode). I really want to like Mei, but I have a hard time trying to connect to the performance Hirano Aya brings to the table. It's not that she doesn't understand the character or how to play it, Aya's lower than usual voice makes a weak impression on me. She ends up half whispering a lot of her words.

I was wondering; anyone else feel this way about Mei? In a cast of sparkling voices, she has the least impressive and standout part.

[Radiosity]

I find her to be the nicest myself. She's not a typical angry tsundere character despite the cool and straight-faced exterior, and has a lot of cute points going for her already, even though I'm only two episodes in. I'm loving what Hirano Aya is doing with her voice too, I think I'd be a bit turned off if she was just another loud mouth Haruhi clone.

Overall, I'm quite happy with her and am looking forward to seeing more (along with Momo )

*Points to av*

My allegiance should be clear already

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by Pellissier

I think this happens because ASuki lists a new incoming series with the name given by the first fansub group picking it.

Wouldn't it make more sense to have the same name in the forums and the torrent listings? I've noticed that most series start out with a thread in the unaired category which is later moved to fansubbed. I'd make the series names conform to the initial thread names for consistency.

But then, I'm not a mod.

Originally Posted by Vexx

I find it utterly hysterical that ya'll missed that they were in high school just because of the drawing style

I thought they were in middle school, say about grade 6-7 in US terms. I certainly didn't think they were supposed to be 15-16 years old, more like 11-12. What do I know? I've never seen the inside of a Japanese school (or any other Japanese building for that matter). All I can use as a referent are the character models.

But then, how old were those Sky Girls supposed to be again?

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by Vexx

As far as Haruhi in Manabi..... oh hell, we're in danger of the "over comparative" schtick wherein there is no originality and everything is just a spreadsheet of character attributes re-assigned by dropping i-ching sticks.

I laughed out loud at this one, Vexx. Perhaps the funniest comment of yours I've read so far on these forums, but I haven't been here all that long.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Sorrow-K, what you say is true -- IM was all comedy and little (not no) character development. But that doesn't change the fact that I see it as very serious about human beings, and the characters as quite deep. Just a different angle of view on the same thing.

And Vexx, as for the Haruhi-Manabi comparison, I'm not taking it that serioiusly. It's just interesting to play with some similarities. I'm definitely not trying to reduce either show. There's no question that Aaya has a voice that does tsun well, and there are tsun aspects to both characters. She does them differently, however.

And Wavedash, of course you know I disagree completely, but Aaya's voice certainly disappears quite often, as you say. That doesn't reduce its intense impact for me, however. Hers is by far the most unique voice of the bunch. When she speaks, it rivets my attention. I think of it as art. But of course, I've become biased. I've got another piece about her (and Sugita Tomokazu) on my blog today.