In Flames New Album being released in Q2 of 2014 thread

[Jester Slave]

Would you cut the bullshit out about simply calling us dismissive haters? Shadddappp.

Also, that trailer looks amazing. The problem with the prequels directed by Lucas was the lazy use of CGI and absolutely ZERO depth to the story or characters that left the viewer feeling like they were "left out".

This guy in the video completely nailed the problems with the prequels... They had not even the most basic story-telling ingredients. Not to mention his review as a whole is fucking hilarious:

[youtube]FxKtZmQgxrI&list=PL5919C8DE6F720A2D&index=1[/youtube]

Episodes 4-6 were so great because you genuinely cared about the characters. As well as had beautiful and epic practical effects to look at.

JJ Abrams taking over the franchise is a wonderful direction. The use of practical effects, actual sets filmed on and miniature models = A new hope for Star Wars.

I also believe the lightsaber the dude has in the trailer has a medieval-style hilt to it because the Sith got fucked up pretty bad and had to re-engineer their weapons or something... Which is why it looks so brash, staticy and not like a complete polished lightsaber.

Screenrant.com has a bunch of articles and hammered out most of the rumors about the plot.

****Not a major spoiler considering we know Han, Luke and Leia will be back:

I just can't wait to see Han Solo and Chewy pilot the Millenium Falcon again, even if it's just briefly.

Your response was fine, I was talking to the hate-squad.

As for the prequel, I think episode 3 was pretty good, but by that time the other two episodes accumulated so much hate that people were already waiting to dissect it. Kinda like how Come Clarity has a really odd place in IF discography, and it's hard to sell your friends it's not what they call "sellout numetal junk" after R2R and STYE.
I really liked the full-scale battles in Clone Wars as well, it did an amazing fanservice. My heart is broken for the missed opportunity though which was a proper Anakin-Padme romance. I really believe Lucas had two jobs to fulfill with the trilogy and one of them was to make their relationship meaningful (or find another way to make Anakin feel like a human you care for or understand somewhere), while the other one to make his fall to the dark side not forced, but if you do one right the second one should be so much easier.

I was really happy when I read J.J. will direct it. I remember, everyone was joking around how it's the end of SW because Disney bought the rights, and we will see Mickey Mouse with lightsaber and shit. I love everything Abrams touched (mainly Lost and Fringe), and even the new Star Trek became a really good popcorn movie. Luckily he knew Star Wars must be treated carefully and with grace.

 

[eochaid]

I'm just gonna say one thing about episode 3.

Episode 6. Luke asks Leia about his mother. She Answers with a description about her character.
Episode 3. Being the twins just born, Padme, the mother of them both, dies.

 

[Jester Slave]

Chewie's actor posted some comments on the reddit thread for the teaser. Nothing about the movie I think, but he seemed excited.

The more I think about that romance, the more my heart shatters. It would've been so cool if in retrospect we'd struggle to judge Vader's character. You really can't take that teenage romance seriously, but i wish I could say he was a devoted father and husband who wanted the best for his family, while believing in the dark side, which ultimately sealed his fate. All I see now when he saves his son at the end is a man who realizes what a fucking idiot he was, and nothing more.
Probably won't reach many ears when I bring up an anime example for a nice character similar to Vader, but there's a drama anime called Clannad where the "main actor's" dad an alcoholic mess, they even got into a fight, where he seriously injured his son and he had to give up his basketball career. So overall it was a very shitty environment, and he rather spent his days on the streets, than being home with his alcoholic dad. The son later moves out, and his dad gets jailed for something but he only visits him to tell him he's gonna marry. His father is emotionless as ever, and the son just rages out, "fuck this guy". Only much later it is, when he meets with his grandmother who tells him how his dad was working 2 jobs at the same time after his mother died, and how he sacrificed everything, just so that he doesn't have to give him up to an institution. ----- I really liked it, because it just made his dad much more complicated. He did not become an angel all of a sudden, but it's hard to judge him, when he sacrificed his entire life so that his son will have a better chance at it. What made things even more interesting, that the son in question also loses his wife, and he gets so devastated that he blames his daughter, so he just gives her up for his deceased wife's parents, and pretty much does nothing for a whole year, just throws his money at gaming machines then cry himself to sleep every night. Basically, he is incapable to do what his father did to him in the same scenario, aka he is weaker than the man he despised for so many years for being - in his eyes - weak.

I'd like to say they did not have time to develop something like this, but jesus, there were so many filler moments, it's angering! Now it's pretty much watch ep 1-3 for awesome cgi and epic battles and duels, or watch the ep 4-6 for a great story, an adventure you'll never forget, and awesome space battles + the Hoth battle.

As for CC, yes, it's what you'd call the last good IF album, but it's still funny how it follows up STYE. You would never say to someone new to IF to listen their materials until CC first and digest it. No, you would say listen them until Clayman (some of you would dare to say R2R as well maybe) AND CC. You also praise the lyrics, which is interesting, because before ASOP, STYE was the first to introduce really simple lyrics (which I don't mind btw, less is sometimes more). It just goes to show how labeling something based on "x was shit, y was shit, so z will be shit as well"-logic is not necessarily a good idea. It also makes the "they sold themselves", "they forgot how to make music" and "Anders+Björn fucked it up, thanks Obama!" chants stupid, because how do you sell yourself and fuck up two records, then proceed to make one that resembles the qualities of the older material? I think the only reason we won't have a chance to hear screams like on CC and STYE, because he can't pull them off anymore, which is really sad, because my favorite vocals from Anders are those melodic screams. Old stuff is full of growls, and the new stuff is full of cleans. Both of them gets boring if you throw a bunch of them on the same record. The Chase is such a tease, and I really hope their next album will sound like that song. I understand if he can't scream through a whole album like in STYE/CC, but the way they managed it on The Chase is fine by me.

 

[eochaid]

Are you, by chance, a girl?

 

[Jester Slave]

No. Is this question coming from the preconception that anime = little kids, teen girls and crazy people dressed as some teal haired anime-star?

 

[eochaid]

No, it comes from you talking about a romance anime. If I want to talk about evil or antagonist characters I should talk about Vegeta, Freezer, Aizen or Orochimaru, between many others (it comes that I'm an otaku )

 

[Jester Slave]

Well, I don't consider shounen manga/anime characters deep or worthy of bringing up in a conversation about deep characters. Most of them, are black and white, like Freezer or Songoku, and the ones who resemble Vader - like Vegeta - are very very simplistic. Vegeta wants to kill songoku, fails to do so, sees how strong and courageous he is and experiences the power of friendship, he admires it in his last moment, and when he's revived he ultimately changes his outlook on the world, and as he admits in the last (well, almost the last) episode, he considers Goku his best friend. Now this is not deep, it's just cool. They are bros, that's all. Such a character would work in a movie like Star Trek or Avengers where you just smash everything while it looks cool, but they don't come anywhere near to a serious pro- or antagonist.

That's part of the reason why I like romance animes. While they certainly overdo the drama part, but it's a Japanese habit. Romance animes are much more real; the ones I've watched so far had no true happy ending. I also like how they touch on real life issues and obstacles, even if it's somewhat overshadowed by all the feels. The only thing shounen can show you is that friends are important and confidence is key to success. All this in 1000 episodes.

The problem with Anakin is that the effort that went into his character development's writing was closer to Vegita's than someone from a romance anime, WHILE getting all the sugar-overdose of romance animes. It's like taking the worst from both worlds.
But I'm not saying those characters are the only ones shitting on Anakin. Look at Light from Death Note. Same shit as Anakin, going from good guy to a maniac and it's 100000000000000000000000 times better than a fucking main character of the epic saga called SW. It's just sad.... I could go on for hours about Light and how he fell victim to his own ideas, but I could barely defend Anakin's actions in front of a court.

And while this anime-SW thing seems far-fetched, remember how Lucas borrowed tons of stuff from other movies and "cultures". Why could he not read a fucking book about a decent good guy gone bad character and copy paste it into the SW universe? Why is it that the Han-Leia-Luke triangle was so damn funny yet genuine at the same time, while the Anakin-Padme romance was not only forced as fuck, it portrayed Anakin (THE DARK LORD, lol...) as a clueless teenage boy who just got his first boner and really wanted to try how does getting some pussy feels.

 

[eochaid]

The problem is that GL only directed one of the original trilogy films, and that he only did the script for the same one, while for the others he just wrote the story. Then years passed by and he had a distorted vision about his own skills, not to mention that he seems to know less about the universe he created than the people who saw the films.

If you like deep shonen characters try Naruto or Bleach, not that they are too complicated but almost all the characters have deep motivations behind their acts. Oh, and I forgot about Gatsu and Griffith. And, of course, Full Metal Alchemist, problably the best anime and manga ever.

 

[DE4life]

Have to be honest I quite like the romance animé myself... I have all the Love Hina mangas and I'm partial to a bit of Ouran High School Host Club too... gay is me...

But Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Gundam Wing, FMA (both anime series) and Death Note are also fucking great :Smokedev:

 

[eochaid]

Have to be honest I quite like the romance animé myself... I have all the Love Hina mangas and I'm partial to a bit of Ouran High School Host Club too... gay is me...

But Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Gundam Wing, FMA (both anime series) and Death Note are also fucking great :Smokedev:

Love Hina is great, lot of comedy (I laughed a lot reading that manga). Clannad is all about romance and drama. I don't like that. Also Samurai Champloo is really great.

 

[only4theweak187]

Yeah Pokemon was great

 

[only4theweak187]

As for CC, yes, it's what you'd call the last good IF album, but it's still funny how it follows up STYE. You would never say to someone new to IF to listen their materials until CC first and digest it. No, you would say listen them until Clayman (some of you would dare to say R2R as well maybe) AND CC. You also praise the lyrics, which is interesting, because before ASOP, STYE was the first to introduce really simple lyrics (which I don't mind btw, less is sometimes more). It just goes to show how labeling something based on "x was shit, y was shit, so z will be shit as well"-logic is not necessarily a good idea. It also makes the "they sold themselves", "they forgot how to make music" and "Anders+Björn fucked it up, thanks Obama!" chants stupid, because how do you sell yourself and fuck up two records, then proceed to make one that resembles the qualities of the older material? I think the only reason we won't have a chance to hear screams like on CC and STYE, because he can't pull them off anymore, which is really sad, because my favorite vocals from Anders are those melodic screams. Old stuff is full of growls, and the new stuff is full of cleans. Both of them gets boring if you throw a bunch of them on the same record. The Chase is such a tease, and I really hope their next album will sound like that song. I understand if he can't scream through a whole album like in STYE/CC, but the way they managed it on The Chase is fine by me.

Several of us a bunch of times have said even Reroute was a pretty good album. Not as great as Clayman but Reroute was still good IF. STYE wasn't all simple lyrics... "Emoish" at times but it was a rather deep and mysterious themed album. Idk who said that x+y=z and that remains consistent. Never saw anyone claim that's a formidable formula for IF lolol. Watching Anders live these days, it really looks like he can't. He can for 1-2 words and can still do quick abrupt growls at the tail-end of sentences.

I completely agree about The Chase. It's in my eyes the only good song off SC. And it's a bonus track so sadly it'll never be played. OT would actually be sick to hear live, imagine if they played it on that pro-shot rockpalast show from Koln Germany from last week. Good riffing, great screams, awesome catchy chorus and just sounds like what you'd think a modern In Flames song should be. It's the only song off SC I've listened to past giving the album enough chances to "succeed" in my brain. The only track that survived my digestive process of the album.

 

[DE4life]

Love Hina is great, lot of comedy (I laughed a lot reading that manga). Clannad is all about romance and drama. I don't like that. Also Samurai Champloo is really great.

I saw the anime of Love Hina first, then moved onto the manga. Now I struggle to watch the anime because the level of detail is much lower than the manga kinda puts me off getting the manga for any of my other favourite series as in theory the same thing could happen.

 

[eochaid]

I saw the anime of Love Hina first, then moved onto the manga. Now I struggle to watch the anime because the level of detail is much lower than the manga kinda puts me off getting the manga for any of my other favourite series as in theory the same thing could happen.

It always happen. I quit watching most of the anime based on manga because manga was far better. But still, there are some great adaptations, FMA, Berserk and a few others.

 

[eochaid]

Several of us a bunch of times have said even Reroute was a pretty good album. Not as great as Clayman but Reroute was still good IF. STYE wasn't all simple lyrics... "Emoish" at times but it was a rather deep and mysterious themed album. Idk who said that x+y=z and that remains consistent. Never saw anyone claim that's a formidable formula for IF lolol. Watching Anders live these days, it really looks like he can't. He can for 1-2 words and can still do quick abrupt growls at the tail-end of sentences.

I completely agree about The Chase. It's in my eyes the only good song off SC. And it's a bonus track so sadly it'll never be played. OT would actually be sick to hear live, imagine if they played it on that pro-shot rockpalast show from Koln Germany from last week. Good riffing, great screams, awesome catchy chorus and just sounds like what you'd think a modern In Flames song should be. It's the only song off SC I've listened to past giving the album enough chances to "succeed" in my brain. The only track that survived my digestive process of the album.

For me, it feels like SC is the natural evolution from STYE times. CC is, somewhat, a return to a more heavy sound. ASOP seems like a struggle between Jesper and the chemical duo and SOAPF looks like an extra effort to show to the fans that there was life before Jesper departure.

 

[Jester Slave]

The problem is that GL only directed one of the original trilogy films, and that he only did the script for the same one, while for the others he just wrote the story. Then years passed by and he had a distorted vision about his own skills, not to mention that he seems to know less about the universe he created than the people who saw the films.

If you like deep shonen characters try Naruto or Bleach, not that they are too complicated but almost all the characters have deep motivations behind their acts. Oh, and I forgot about Gatsu and Griffith. And, of course, Full Metal Alchemist, problably the best anime and manga ever.

Yes, I read how he said in interviews that before he even started working on episode 4 seriously, he had to create the ep 1-3 first in sketches. I think the biggest problem, that those sketches remained that, and nothing more. It's fine if you just write "Vader; Obi-wan's apprentice; had respect for him; dark side calls him; can't resist; obi-wan cripples him", it helps a lot in writing ep 4-6, but that's not a legit, well-detailed plot.

No, I absolutely detest Naruto and Bleach, and I could not even watch an episode from those. Bleach is repelling by nature, it's very ugly for me, and Naruto... well, I think the reason I always hated it because it was so popular, haha. The shounens I watched/read are:
- DB/DBZ: no need to explain
- Soul Eater: I love how the grim atmosphere melds with the crazy comedy. Probably my favourite shounen, and I hope they make another anime which follows through the entire manga.
- Fairy Tail: The Dragon Ball Z of the new generation! The OST in the anime is beautiful, by far the best.
- Sailor Moon: !!!! Watched it for the titties when I was in elementary school, but who didn't? There's also a remake for it which I'm watching occasionally. I like Usagi, she's an idiot.

I tried FMA but it was boring to me. Maybe one day I try Brotherhood.

Also, not a shounen (I mean, it kinda is, but they did not dragged it too long in anime form), but I really liked Claymore. Hence why I don't have a problem with the new lightsaber? Who knows!

Have to be honest I quite like the romance animé myself... I have all the Love Hina mangas and I'm partial to a bit of Ouran High School Host Club too... gay is me...

But Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Gundam Wing, FMA (both anime series) and Death Note are also fucking great :Smokedev:

GOTCHA!

I watched Clannad(and AF, of course), Ano Hana and Angel Beats. If I had to suggest one to newcomers to the scene, I'd probably nominate Angel Beats. It's short, funny as hell, and they spread out the drama part so you don't have to cry during every episode, unlike with Clannad.

Death Note best, though.

Love Hina is great, lot of comedy (I laughed a lot reading that manga). Clannad is all about romance and drama. I don't like that. Also Samurai Champloo is really great.

That's not true, the basic Clannad is equal with fun and drama, with not that much romance. Only in After Story where things start to get rough with the feels-train.

It always happen. I quit watching most of the anime based on manga because manga was far better. But still, there are some great adaptations, FMA, Berserk and a few others.

Fairy Tail would be a 10/10 adaptation if not for the censored parts. But sadly, it's night and day, when someone in the anime getting a beating has some scratches, while in the manga he/she's bleeding like crazy.

Several of us a bunch of times have said even Reroute was a pretty good album. Not as great as Clayman but Reroute was still good IF. STYE wasn't all simple lyrics... "Emoish" at times but it was a rather deep and mysterious themed album. Idk who said that x+y=z and that remains consistent. Never saw anyone claim that's a formidable formula for IF lolol. Watching Anders live these days, it really looks like he can't. He can for 1-2 words and can still do quick abrupt growls at the tail-end of sentences.

I completely agree about The Chase. It's in my eyes the only good song off SC. And it's a bonus track so sadly it'll never be played. OT would actually be sick to hear live, imagine if they played it on that pro-shot rockpalast show from Koln Germany from last week. Good riffing, great screams, awesome catchy chorus and just sounds like what you'd think a modern In Flames song should be. It's the only song off SC I've listened to past giving the album enough chances to "succeed" in my brain. The only track that survived my digestive process of the album.

Wait, is OT supposed to be a song abbreviation? I don't get what song are you referring to then.

 

[Jester Slave]

For me, it feels like SC is the natural evolution from STYE times. CC is, somewhat, a return to a more heavy sound. ASOP seems like a struggle between Jesper and the chemical duo and SOAPF looks like an extra effort to show to the fans that there was life before Jesper departure.

Mmm, I think STYE-->SOAPF makes more sense than STYE-->ASOP. STYE, SOAPF and SC are rellay clean, while ASOP, R2R, CC and Clayman are heavily ... filtered? (over)produced? Not sure what word should I use but hopefully you get it.

It's funny for me how both CC and ASOP suppose to be throwback material, trying to implement some elements from the old stuff yet the end result is so much different.

 

[Jester Slave]

Triple post, but I've been meaning to ask this: it is said Anders takes 0 singing lessons, but how can he properly manage his breathing then? I don't want to believe you can be a musician for 20 years in any genre, going to hundreds of live shows without taking some lessons. Not to mention, there are songs where the way he manages his voice is just too good to be true. Like Deliver Us (the last chorus in particular), Take This Life or Vacuum.

 

[eochaid]

- Fairy Tail: The Dragon Ball Z of the new generation! The OST in the anime is beautiful, by far the best.

I can only see Fairy Tail as a poor copy of One Piece, I mean about the drawning style. Also, after a few arcs, the plot becomes boring.

 

[Jester Slave]

Isn't every shounen boring plot-wise? All of them build up on the same formula.