In mood for sci-fi

[Tenzen12]

I saw few episodes and I liked it, though I postponed it for later somehow. Now when I have this hard sci-fi mood I will go for it right away.

Anyway finsished both alita mangas and can say that original is better than sequel. Except Sechs of course, "he" is awesome.

[TheFluff]

Cowboy Bebop isn't really that sci-fi. It has a sci-fi setting, sure, but it's really a character drama more than anything else. Of course, it's still awesome and everyone should watch it.

Oh and I forgot to mention Blame! which is a pretty good cyberpunk manga. Really dystopic stuff, but good.

[jedinat]

Originally Posted by TheFluff

Cowboy Bebop isn't really that sci-fi. It has a sci-fi setting, sure, but it's really a character drama more than anything else. Of course, it's still awesome and everyone should watch it.

That doesn't really make any sense whatsoever... most of its episodes are based on some plot element that is only possible in a science fiction setting. I'm not sure what your concept of SF is, but it seems to be off... most of the greatest SF works are "character dramas"...

[TheFluff]

Originally Posted by jedinat

That doesn't really make any sense whatsoever... most of its episodes are based on some plot element that is only possible in a science fiction setting. I'm not sure what your concept of SF is, but it seems to be off... most of the greatest SF works are "character dramas"...

There's a difference between a show that has a sci-fi setting and a show that is a sci-fi setting. You could modify some relatively minor plot elements of Cowboy Bebop and set it in 1920's New York instead and it'd still be mostly the same show, because the show is about the characters, not about the setting. You couldn't transplant Ursula LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness (or Pale Cocoon for that matter) to some other setting because most of the work is the setting. In other words, there's a difference between a work that explores sci-fi themes and a show that just happens to be set in in the future and/or a traditionally sci-fi-like setting (see my references to things as <something> In Space above).

In my original post I included both kinds, but then OP mentioned "hard sci-fi" in particular, which to me excludes the former category, and that's why I felt the need to point out that Cowboy Bebop really doesn't do much exploring of sci-fi themes.

[Jan-Poo]

Originally Posted by TheFluff

There's a difference between a show that has a sci-fi setting and a show that is a sci-fi setting. You could modify some relatively minor plot elements of Cowboy Bebop and set it in 1920's New York instead and it'd still be mostly the same show, because the show is about the characters, not about the setting. You couldn't transplant Ursula LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness (or Pale Cocoon for that matter) to some other setting because most of the work is the setting. In other words, there's a difference between a work that explores sci-fi themes and a show that just happens to be set in in the future and/or a traditionally sci-fi-like setting (see my references to things as <something> In Space above).

That would make sense if you and others didn't mention anime for which the same logic applies. You said it yourself that Ryvius is basically lord of the flies on space. You could narrate the same kind of story without the sci fi elements, of course a lot of circumstantial stuff would change but on the same degree that a lot of circumstantial stuff would have to change for Cowboy Bebop.

I'd argue that the same is true for Stellvia and that Starship operators could work as well if it was "submarine operators" or something.

[TheFluff]

see the sentence I edited in at the bottom of my previous post

[jedinat]

Originally Posted by TheFluff

There's a difference between a show that has a sci-fi setting and a show that is a sci-fi setting. You could modify some relatively minor plot elements of Cowboy Bebop and set it in 1920's New York instead and it'd still be mostly the same show, because the show is about the characters, not about the setting. You couldn't transplant Ursula LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness (or Pale Cocoon for that matter) to some other setting because most of the work is the setting. In other words, there's a difference between a work that explores sci-fi themes and a show that just happens to be set in in the future and/or a traditionally sci-fi-like setting (see my references to things as <something> In Space above).

In my original post I included both kinds, but then OP mentioned "hard sci-fi" in particular, which to me excludes the former category, and that's why I felt the need to point out that Cowboy Bebop really doesn't do much exploring of sci-fi themes.

"Spike and Jet chase a dangerous enemy who, despite having the appearance of a little boy, is actually more than eighty years old" is just one example of plot that is unadulterated sci-fi... and science fiction is NOT all about the setting... take that story Flowers for Algernon that everyone has to suffer through for school... or The Thing (based on a classic SF novella)... Science fiction is traditionally just about human nature through the lens of some sort of nonexistent technology or "fictional science".

PlanetES is unapologetically "hard" science fiction about the daily lives of average workers... would you suggest it's also somehow "not really that sci-fi"?