Battle Athletes-nya

[dooky]

Well, after Spanner expressed surprise that I hadn't seen Battle Athletes, I somehow felt that my credentials as a connoisseur of the yuri arts were under threat. So, one bulk purchase later...

I'm some way into both continuities of the series. The yuri is, well, refreshingly obvious. Kris is definitely the sort of person I'd want around if I was a cute anime girl (if you can imagine that for a moment). Tanya is just adorable and will probably end up as my favourite character, but the character who's made the most impact so far is Anna, whose plight is utterly tragic in both versions, either a victim of bad parenting or extremely bad parenting. She is, without a doubt, the character in greatest need of a hug.

Incidentally, I'm a little uncomfortable with the way Anna's OVA plot twist was revealed. It seemed to be played entirely for laughs when it was in fact an incident that would probably scar the girl for life and totally estrange her from her mother (not that it would necessarily be a bad thing, but still...). Given the similarities between that scene and certain scenes from the El-Hazard OVAs, I'm tempted to conjecture that this was Hiroki Hayashi up to his old tricks again.

Well, that gripe aside, I think the only other element preventing me from fully enjoying the series is Mylandah, who really needs a kick in the head. And if she gets one, I'm not convinced it'll be hard enough. I know you're not supposed to like her, but her very presence worries me, like living next door to an axe murderer...

Anyway, the series has surpassed Sailor Moon as "series most likely to get the fanfic treatment next time I can build up the energy". In fact, I'm having to repress the urge to start writing stuff before I've seen the whole series. How about "Anna and Elaine go on the run from their insane mother who's trying to inject them with oestrogen"? (You may laugh, but my actual idea is frighteningly similar to this... ^_~)

One more thing...

Woong-a-ji ownz your ass.

dooky

[Saucer]

I'm quite the conniseur of the OVA. I feel it's very well done overall (story, animation, etc...), and ranks up pretty high in my list of overall best anime. Myllandah is my favorite chara in the OVA. Can you guess why?   She bares a remarkable resemblance to a certain somebody. Her TV counterpart is a dissappiontment by comparison.

*SORT OF SPOILER* I find that the TV pales in comparison to the OVA, IMHO. It just seems too overly dramatic. I was especially disapointed with the way they inserted a short, contrived third story arc towards the end of the series to make up for the second arc ending early. The overall ending completely undoes everything that accomplished in the series. A rare disappointment from AIC! *END OF SORT OF SPOILER*

[dooky]

Myllandah is my favorite chara in the OVA. Can you guess why?   She bares a remarkable resemblance to a certain somebody.

^_^ Similarly, I think Tanya resembles a shorter, cuter version of Shayla. I'm heartened that you like Mylandah... it makes me think that maybe she'll be redeemed at some point (my main image of her thus far is her bestowing violonce of various kinds on Anna).

A rare disappointment from AIC!

What? AIC making a sub-par TV version of an OVA? *cough*Alternative World*cough*Shin Tenchi*cough* Unheard of! ^_~
Actually, I considered Battle Athletes to be an exception to the rule, in that there seems to be a greatr number of people who prefer the TV version to the OVA. At the moment I may not have seen enough of the TV series to make a solid judgement- but I generally like longer series. I particularly like filler episodes: though cursed by the majority of fandom, to me they give the characters a chance to come into their own, unburdened by plot constraints (pretty much all of my favourite Slayers episodes had little to do with the plot). I also like the fact that BAV has more characters, one of whom has blatant yuri potential. If I ever write my Battle Athletes fanfic, it will almost certainly be in the TV continuity...

dooky

[Spanner]

Well, after Spanner expressed surprise that I hadn't seen Battle Athletes, I somehow felt that my credentials as a connoisseur of the yuri arts were under threat. So, one bulk purchase later...

*Wails* What have I unleashed upon this world?!?

...

Eh, nuthin' that wasn't there already. :P

Anyway, glad you're enjoying it, even if I didn't. (Though, to be fair, I didn't give it much of a chance beyond the first few episodes, which disappointed me too much to continue.)

[Saucer]

I'm heartened that you like Mylandah... it makes me think that maybe she'll be redeemed at some point  

I wouldn't hold my breath! ;D I just love OVA Mylandah because she's like an ultra-violent OVA Ifurita with purple hair.

I particularly like filler episodes: though cursed by the majority of fandom, to me they give the characters a chance to come into their own, unburdened by plot constraints (pretty much all of my favourite Slayers episodes had little to do with the plot).  

The Slayers filler episodes are some of the funniest in anime history. ^_^

[Neil Lafrenais]

Wasn't Hayashi the character designer on this? (This reason alone is enough for me to actively seek it out.)

[dooky]

Yes... not only does Mylandah look like Iffy, Tanya also looks like a smaller, cuter version of Shayla.

Oh yeah... the show also shares most of the same dub artists (although the dub script isn't quite up to the El-Hazard standard). Not sure about the Japanese, but I know Rio Natsuki (Nanami) plays the main character.

dooky

[Saucer]

So Dooky, how far did you get? Have you finished the series yet?

[Tsukasa]

Yes... not only does Mylandah look like Iffy, Tanya also looks like a smaller, cuter version of Shayla.

Oh yeah... the show also shares most of the same dub artists (although the dub script isn't quite up to the El-Hazard standard). Not sure about the Japanese, but I know Rio Natsuki (Nanami) plays the main character.

dooky

Also in the dub of the tv series Lia Sargent plays Akari, Miz's voice plays Chris, tv Rune plays Anna, Ura plays Tanya, Fotora plays the chinese girl, Mimi Woods plays Lari, Dal Naris voice plays Grant Oldman so as you can see alot of the cast is from EL-Hazard

[dooky]

So Dooky, how far did you get? Have you finished the series yet?

No, still a long way off ^_^ I never seem to have that much time to watch anime, plus I've also got recently purchased volumes of Sailor Moon Azumanga and Angel Tales (stupid, but cute and comes with tiny plushies) to watch. I'm generally impressed with BA so far, although it doesn't quite work for me in the same way El-Hazard did. Still early days though.

dooky