Recommended Anime/Manga?

[Mischief Maker]

Wasn't sure if I should put this here or the TV thread, but stuck home with a back injury, I just binge-watched Knights of Sidonia on Netflix but I'm not recommending it.

I was really pumped at the start. It was like a less glacially-paced attack on titan with a more interesting setting: a thoroughly lived-in human colony ship that due to massive ship damage a century ago had resorted to radical genetic alteration to preserve its population. The main character is the ultimate audience-surrogate, a kid who has literally spent his entire life in a basement playing videogames. I really liked the fish-out-of-water start where the main character is freaked out by everything from 11 identical twins, people eating through photosynthesis, and (trigger warning to anti-SJWs) a hermaphrodite with the ability to choose its eventual gender.

Now I don't watch a lot of anime so I'm not sure if what I'm about to complain about is standard fare, but the second season squanders almost everything great about the premise and turns into Three's Company if Suzanne Somers was replaced by a giant talking penis.

They even ruined the mecha action. It had a great initial premise: the mechs have a machine gun, beam cannon, and arm blades that they use to cut through the aliens' regenerating body to expose the core that can only be harmed with one of 29 unique spears. If a spear is lost in battle, dozens of lives are put on the line to retrieve it. Then they scrap that whole thing and just give the mechs giant guns that they shoot from a distance every battle with unlimited ammo. *snore*

Then I went to a wiki and spoiled the upcoming ending for myself and it's awful.

Spoiler

The main character marries the giant talking penis.

I don't mind fan service, but don't go breaking the rules that made your setting interesting in the first place in the service of a ridiculous harem fantasy soap opera. Especially because the art style makes it almost impossible to tell characters apart. Which chick is throwing herself at the nerd this scene? Oh, the one with bangs, which one was she again?

Oh well, the early action parts were cool!

[FinalBaton]

Thinking about it, it's not so much the fact it's not there that bugs me but rather the way it's mostly tell - don't show.

Maybe. but I do think that it flat out lacks some, regarding if it's told or shown.

Let me know what you thought ofLemnear once you watch it

[BryanM]

It's kind of a cliche that a show would have something really interesting or cool, then it quickly falls apart as they don't know what to do with it. I imagine most of the industry is throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks - there's no reason to invest in actually planning out a story when 98% of everything dies on the vine before it can get there. (Imagine how horrible Evangelion would have been if it wasn't a finite story with a beginning, middle, and end. Just filling space without having anything to say is terrible.)

One example of execution triumphing over premise would be the matchup of Classroom of the Elite versus Chaos;Head. CotE is an ocean of cliches. It's a million times better than the C;H series. Which has a fantastic premise on the face of it: Silence of the Lambs meets Supernatural Psychological Magic Science Machine meets Animoo.

Media is a reflection of society, and all this literal-zero-conflict, wish-fulfillment to the point of it being gross, stuff is kind of sad and annoying. Not that we really have stones to throw.

The case of Star Trek Discovery versus Orville being a case study. STD is this miserable dark hellhole where everyone hates everyone else, a horrible universe no one would want to live in. There is no story, just some dark bad evil dude you have to murder before they murder you. Orville has these weird things, like joy and morality debates and ceiling lights that operate correctly. It's completely alien to modern television.

In the case of Sidonia, I really wondered for a bit if the second season was written by a completely different person, like the second season of Psycho Pass was.

[Durandal]

I read Akumetsu lately, which follows the story of 'one guy' who decides to call himself Akumetsu and use his newfound power to wipe out scumbag politicians instead of the usual big bad, in order to make Japan a better place.

The guy is basically the violent part of a revolution condensed into one, who has taken it upon himself to cleanse the Japanese Diet of fatcat retirees and debt creators, so hopefully they can replaced by someone better. Obviously all the killing gets him branded a terrorists, but he makes it clear that he sticks to a One Man, One Kill mantra. Every time Akumetsu kills someone, he will commit suicide by having the mask he's wearing blow up his head, so no civilians may get involved.

Most of the targeted politicians are parodies of real-life Japanese politicians who all end up dying in over the top and gruesome (but fittingly ironic) deaths, not before Akumetsu explains the debt their powermongering has created and consequently been pushed on the masses. Unfortunately I'm not familiar with Japanese politics at all, let alone those of ten years ago, so I wouldn't know about the construction of expensive roadways for the sake of fattening the construction lobby with nuyen and knowingly authorizing the dosage of medicine which can cause Hepatitis C.

The methods of murder and the consequences thereof do get explored within the manga itself, as Akumetsu eventually becomes an uninvited guest at a talkshow broadcasted all over Japan to explain his views. Basically, even though I think Akumetsu is a metaphor for a revolution (or at least the part where unwanted aristocrats get overthrown), it is made clear that murder itself is not the answer, that the newly-vacant spots will not necessarily be filled by the virtuous, and that the public itself needs to get off its ass to take hold of the opportunity and enact a better change.

The plot itself is intriguing to some extent, even though it feels like the plot is often sidelined so the manga hang some politician out to dry for several volumes. Despite that, Akumetsu does end on a strong note and doesn't just entirely rely on its message.

tl;dr commie propaganda

[Mischief Maker]

In the case of Sidonia, I really wondered for a bit if the second season was written by a completely different person,

That's exactly what I was thinking! Like someone came in to clean up a couple characters and plot threads from season 1 that were going nowhere and tied them up in the most bonkers way imaginable.

[BryanM]

Oh shiz, looks like Madoka is on Netflix streaming too. It's the perfect thing to watch on painkillers and a broken back, if only to see what the drugged up youths of today are watching.

I read Akumetsu lately, which follows the story of 'one guy' who decides to call himself Akumetsu and use his newfound power to wipe out scumbag politicians instead of the usual big bad, in order to make Japan a better place.

Does he ever skip the middlemen puppets and move up to the donors?

It's not really commie propaganda if they don't complain about the stupidity of the modern stock market. What kind of economy would have casino chips as its fundamental building block.

[soprano1]

Oh, I read Akumetsu too some years ago. Pretty ballsy, considering it's Japan.

[Mischief Maker]

Okay, so over this last week I watched Knights of Sidonia, Blame!, Gantz 0, and Harlock Space Pirate on Netflix. Blame was the best of the bunch. Gantz 0 beat out Harlock by counter-intuitively having no plot verses Harlock's pretentious meandering to no resolution. Also if you're rendering in near-photorealistic CGI, better to go with realistic faces like Gantz 0 than anime-proportioned facial features like Harlock (shudder)! Sidonia was the loser of the bunch for the primary sin of failing to fire Chekhov's gun over and over and over again.

I'm going to live up to my namesake and ask a provocative question: art aside, is there ANY anime that even approaches the quality of Aeon Flux back on Mtv in the 90s?

[Despatche]

F-Zero: Falcon Densetsu.

The Dragon Ball Super manga.

Akumetsu is good in its excess, as long as you remember that it's excess. I fear that many readers have not.

12 years. Going back to page 1 and reading about the chill days of the burgeoning Naruto and Bleach is a culture shock.

[Durandal]

Speaking of nostalgia, I was excited to hear Battle Angel Alita (the original story) is receiving a physical omnibus reprint starting next month. Battle Angel Alita was the first manga I've ever read, which I found by chance in the more 'mature' section of the library which I as a guppy had no business nosing around in at the time, yet was somehow allowed to lend books from anyways. It was surprisingly available in my native language, but a good portion of the volumes were missing so I could never get the full story.

Looking up online scans of Alita gave me poor quality scans of the flipped Dark Horse prints, so I ended up putting Alita in the backlog for 'some time later', that 'some time later' perhaps being the time when James Cameron gets off his ass and finally publishes a trailer of his Alita Hollywood movie adaptation. I guess this is also a good opportunity to start eyeing the Alita sequels, even though I hear they're not as good.

[austere]

The plot itself is intriguing to some extent, even though it feels like the plot is often sidelined so the manga hang some politician out to dry for several volumes. Despite that, Akumetsu does end on a strong note and doesn't just entirely rely on its message.

tl;dr commie propaganda

Spoiler

That's not quite how I read it. He was fighting against crony, corrupt capitalism (basically feudalism). His motivations are made crystal clear when you reach the arc about his sick friend. It also has deeper meanings than it seems, given that he isn't one person but the culmination of many different people merged by his brain upload+merge+body clone technology. Like his predecessor, the Shous eventually represents the Ubermensch.

The fact that his plan ultimately failed, discounts the idea that it's towards some kind of revolution. The Shous were exercising their will in the ultimate way they could, and the "original Shou" did something purely personal as his final act.

Akumetsu 5/5 stars.

[Xyga]

Speaking of nostalgia I went through old Gainax's glories rewatching Nadia and Evangelion, I hadn't seen the former since sometime in the 90's and only partially, and the latter not since sometime in the early 2000's.

Contrary to what I expected I enjoyed Nadia much more, the story is a ridiculous nemo/atlantis/aliens mashup but the script and animation hold much better together until the end when you compare to the complete clusterfuck Evangelion is when you arrive somewhere past the half, with its overuse of drama, inflated bullshit mystery, unbearable teenage depression and obvious efforts at using the least actually fresh animated frames as possible. Then you have that OTT weird 2-ep/film (The End of E.) and you can decide to watch or not the abominable ep 25-26 diaporama that conclude the TV show. The base idea isn't too bad and the robots, style and animation are actually damn cool for many episodes, but everything I said really ruins it imho. It's another Xenogears in anime although dealing with Fei's amnesia shit is much more bearable than watching Shinji cower and whine for what's probably several hours in total.

So Nadia was a decent treat, I'd say it is technically the poorest of the two if taken per-episode individually, Nadia's character is bitchy, the tone is often a bit kiddy and suddenly switches to quite serious in parts (gainax style), and the quality of the art and animation although often good doesn't reach the refinement of Evangelion's first half. Just skip the few stupid fillers (list of episodes to watch/avoid are out there)

Well there's nothing to watch on the anime side until maybe Golden Kamui...

[Ji-L87]

It is done. ZZ Gundam is cleared!

Oh man...it turned out to be more of a chore than expected. Granted, it never turned as dark as Zeta could but the annoying aspects of Zeta were retained throughout. The silly antics early felt tiresome and the humor just did not work out for me. Instead of it feeling silly and lighthearted, it just felt like everyone got lobotomized sometime after Zeta ended. Thankfully, things improved slightly when they returned to space only for one particular event to happen, which was then drawn out to oblivion and then resolved in an unsatisfying way.

Spoiler

It didn't really make make much sense to kill her off after the got saved, only to reveal she didn't die. I mean, I like a happy ending so I was glad to see her alive but it just felt so....unnecessary. I think the plot could've worked well with her either saved or dead but now she gets to both get saved, "die" and then live again. Talk about eating your cake and keeping it...

Judau and the gang grew on me quite a bit however I don't think they grew as characters they way that I remember Kamille doing towards the end and instead kept on bickering about things all the way through. The love triangle, if I can call it that, between Beecha, Judau and Elle was not resolved in to me any meaningful way and whatever resulted in the ending clearly happened off screen. Is Judau into Roux now? What actually happened in the end, come to think of it? I know where Judau is going but why? I wanted more of a proper epilogue I guess.
Whatever happened to Yazan anyhow? We last saw him on Shangri-La and I can not remember him showing up again since. Also, Mashymre Cello turned from giant goof to evil villain while off screen and no part of me could've predicted how important Glemy Toto would turn out to be (and his final role, for that matter). They way these characters escalated were....interesting if odd.

I'm trying to think of any mechs that especially stood out to me this time around but I'm drawing a blank. The original Zeta Gundam was pretty cool but the double Zeta doesn't really do it for me the same way. It's a bit overly busy design wise perhaps.

One thing I have to give praise for however is that a lot of the close-up character drawings were great. A nice balance between anime and realism with good amount of detail that I really liked. This didn't always carry over to far away shots though. Especially Chara Soon had some really good drawings and some really bad ones. She was also a really weird character in general and despite her interesting design (love that big hair) felt pointless.

I still liked the first half of Zeta Gundam the most. It had more darkness but it just had a much better flow. ZZ Gundam eventually started to balance things out while being a bit lighter in tone (in the sense that people still died, but no one's running around the dead bodies of children in a colony after a gas attack). If anything, it felt like it started to hit the right chords just as it was ramping up to the climax and after it ended I really wanted to know what happened to the crew, so it succeeded in making me care but it took all 47 episodes.

[Bananamatic]

what the hell was the person who came up with the moon moon arc smoking

[Ji-L87]

what the hell was the person who came up with the moon moon arc smoking

I don't think it was as bad as everyone else makes it out to be, but it's in no way stellar. Certainly doesn't reach the murky depths of Nadia's island episodes or something. The two-parter in the Tigerbaum colony is just as weird with it's crazy harem villain hong kong guy. Also a really weird pair of episodes to use for spinning up for the finale, not to mention the weirdest death of the show happens here. The person is fine in one cut, and is seemingly dying in the next. NOTHING EVEN VISIBLY HAPPENED TO THIS PERSON. Had to double check I didn't miss anything but unless there's like a cut scene or something here this still baffles me.

[Bananamatic]

Also a really weird pair of episodes to use for spinning up for the finale, not to mention the weirdest death of the show happens here. The person is fine in one cut, and is seemingly dying in the next. NOTHING EVEN VISIBLY HAPPENED TO THIS PERSON. Had to double check I didn't miss anything but unless there's like a cut scene or something here this still baffles me.

I was wondering the same thing there, none of the stuff actually hit her in the previous scene and she's dead in the next one?
overall zeta onwards just felt kinda average, zeta was ok but had annoying as hell characters, ZZ was just batshit insane half the time and slightly disappointing for the other half and CCA certainly didn't live up to the hype despite still being good

currently at the end of IBO s1, I don't really understand the "no beam weapons" thing when all the guns so far did nothing but scratch paint
heard it turns into an absolute shitshow in s2, looking forward to that

[BryanM]

Having never watched the series, Nadia's island filler or whatever it is is one of those things people always mention so I know vaguely about it, but then instantly forget.

In a world where Haruhi's Endless Eight exists, a horror and disaster beyond all sanity, well, it just seems rather tame. Can it really be that bad?

[Bananamatic]

I wonder what a really bad show is like now
I somewhat enjoyed even stuff like Gundam SEED Destiny and Masou Kishin Cybuster
Linebarrels of Iron almost made me give up in the first half with the absolutely retarded amount of fanservice, but the second half was actually kinda fun

[soprano1]

I wonder what a really bad show is like now
I somewhat enjoyed even stuff like Gundam SEED Destiny and Masou Kishin Cybuster
Linebarrels of Iron almost made me give up in the first half with the absolutely retarded amount of fanservice, but the second half was actually kinda fun

IMO, the second season of Code Geass or anything made by Bee Train in the previous decade.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I'm going to live up to my namesake and ask a provocative question: art aside, is there ANY anime that even approaches the quality of Aeon Flux back on Mtv in the 90s?

Well, considering that it was the Mad House studio whom did the cool animation for the entire Aeon Flux series (they even did the rare but little seen Aeon Flux teaser trailer also), tis a shame that MTV didn't go with a full-lenth animated movie of Aeon Flux instead of the resulting live-action version of the film with actress Charlize Theron getting top billing. I think it would've done well at the box office in staying with Mad House's/Peter Chung's original vision of what Aeon Flux should've looked like from it's inception (sure, it would've taken some time to get the animation done give or take a few years at best -- but totally worth it in the end).

If you count Peter Chung's Alexander Senki (aka "Alexander" OVA in the international anime market circa 1999) anime series as a follow up to his Aeon Flux series, then that'd be the one to check out (but it goes in a different direction in terms of plot and storyline -- the character design is all Peter Chung, indeed).

Here's a little online article about the animator himself: http://www.animationmagazine.net/top-st ... ter-chung/

When MTV finally released the DVD boxed set of Aeon Flux, I recall going to my local Best Buy to purchase the very last one that was available on day one of release (11/22/2005). I had previously purchased all three of the VHS tapes of Aeon Flux back in the late 1990s when they were still sold (through SMV -- Sony Music Video division label). I think a remastered Blu-Ray or 4K UHD version disc set release of the animated Aeon Flux series would be ace. https://www.amazon.com/Aeon-Flux-Comple ... dpSrc=srch

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Aleksei]

Started watching Lupin the III first season and I noticed the ties and the clips they wear. Was it really a style to wear bar tie clips with long ties that were flat on the bottom? Anyone old enough to remember that specific 70s fashion, google didn't help.

[Ji-L87]

Finally sat down with the Gundam F91 movie as a little detour before starting with Char's Counter Attack and that was a lot of fun. Been wanting to watch this since before I even started going through this UC Gundam journey.
As expected, the story elements suffer from being cut down from a planned TV series and character motivations are pretty vague sometimes however is it ever a sight for fore eyes. Cool designs and lots of animation Also a lot of detailed linework, backgrounds and neat lightning effects. Great stuff!

Audiowise, it was fun in the beginning with some cool stereo-panning but I stopped noticing anything special about the sound after the 30 min mark, although the ending song was nice.
Still, this is one I would like to revisit later, perhaps with a friend. The fact that it's sort of stand alone and only "just" under two hours makes it much suitable for social viewing. Being nice to look at helps too I guess.

[Durandal]

[M.Knight]

It is done. ZZ Gundam is cleared!

Given how terribly repetitive Zeta's second half was, I thought the humor was a breath of fresh air and Judoh's gang was more fun and entertaining than Zeta's goldmines of pointless artificial drama.
It is true that the comedy is of a particular kind so if can be unsettling, especially given how it affects veteran characters. I personally didn't mind because I really clicked with the humor.

The Moon-moon arc, while not necessarily interesting, is at least only 2 episodes. In comparison, pointless Titans VS AEUG space battle episodes with zero change in the stakes in Zeta are almost the entire second half of it.
Moon Moon also contains the hilarous ZZ Gundam "destruction" scene so it's IMO worth it for that alone.

The serious moments were also pretty engaging and the tone shift isn't too sudden. I quite liked the Earth arc with the few references to colonialism (or at least, that's what I think they are). The finale was unfortunately not as long as it should have been. I saw that only a few episodes were left and was wondering how everything could be solved in that short timeframe. One thing I enjoyed though is the presence of an epilogue.

the weirdest death of the show happens here. The person is fine in one cut, and is seemingly dying in the next. NOTHING EVEN VISIBLY HAPPENED TO THIS PERSON. Had to double check I didn't miss anything but unless there's like a cut scene or something here this still baffles me.

Yeah, what the hell was that? I had to double-check too because it felt like I missed something, but nope, the death scene is just that bad.

Finally sat down with the Gundam F91 movie as a little detour before starting with Char's Counter Attack and that was a lot of fun.

Due to having to cram an entire TV series' worth of events in a movie, it's indeed a bit confusing at times. The pacing is a bit too fast but at least you don't get bored. Besides, the opening scene is fantastic and the climax is quite engaging.
The animation and drawing quality are also things I noticed when I watched it.

[Ji-L87]

Given how terribly repetitive Zeta's second half was, I thought the humor was a breath of fresh air and Judoh's gang was more fun and entertaining than Zeta's goldmines of pointless artificial drama.
It is true that the comedy is of a particular kind so if can be unsettling, especially given how it affects veteran characters. I personally didn't mind because I really clicked with the humor.

Like I said, I really wanted to like ZZ. I get, at least some of, what it's trying to say and do, pitting this group of bratty energetic teens and their youthful ways against the grizzled older people. For whatever reason, the humour didn't work for me and Beecha & Mondo came across as the biggest assholes in the first half. At least in the Moon Moon arch, Mondo gets his act together a bit, if only for a little while.

The climax and the chaos that it brought with it was enjoyable and I certainly would've liked to see a bit more of a wind-up like in Zeta, instead of just having the space mining episodes go directly into the last four.

One thing I enjoyed though is the presence of an epilogue.

Yeah, except now I want a prologue and epilogue to that epilogue

[In regards to F91] The animation and drawing quality are also things I noticed when I watched it.

It just looks so good. I forgot to mention it but I love how Cecily's hair actually has colored lineart. It really shines! How did they do that? Trace over the pencil lines with a really small brush? I mean, now in the digital age colored lineart is nothing but this was 1991 right? That really stood out to me to such a degree that in the few scenes where they didn't color her hair this way, I couldn't tell if it was still her or another person

In a way I'm actually pretty happy the story pacing was so rushed because the signs of yet another (to me, I'm beginning to think I'm allergic to this kind of drawn out dramatic storytelling) potentially frustrating Tomino-like story is clearly there and I am not sure if I would liked it even remotely as much had it been much longer.

[M.Knight]

Beecha and Mondo also took me a while to like. While their life circumstances and the poor neighboorhoods they grew up in explains some of their actions, they were much bigger jerks than the other kids. I would say they managed to redeem themselves later on, though.

Yeah, except now I want a prologue and epilogue to that epilogue

Yep, the epilogue comes with its own load of questions. The pairing felt quite tacked-on and sudden for example. At least, that was rather subdued unlike other UC romances where characters who have known each other for only one episode are suddenly crazy for one another and they chalk it up to some newtype nonsense.
I think some of the Crossbone mangas detail what happens to some characters afterwards but I have no idea if it is canon and how much does it delves into the ZZ characters' futures.

I forgot to mention it but I love how Cecily's hair actually has colored lineart.

Oh man, her hair is sooo beautiful! I was a bit bummed when she wasn't there for long periods of time for plot reasons simply because her hair looks really great.
I haven't thought about the technique behind, that's an interesting question!

In a way I'm actually pretty happy the story pacing was so rushed because the signs of yet another (to me, I'm beginning to think I'm allergic to this kind of drawn out dramatic storytelling) potentially frustrating Tomino-like story is clearly there and I am not sure if I would liked it even remotely as much had it been much longer.

That's a good point! I would also get a slightly rushed but generally understandable movie than an endless amount of episodes with unrelatable dialogue and drama.
The compact form forced the team to cut the fat and get straight to the point, which is clearly welcome.

[KAI]

Read Crossbone if you liked F91, it's the direct sequel of the cosmo babyon shit and Yuuichi Hasegawa is the only manga artist who managed to capture Tomino's spirit and wacky writing style, plus he's one of the best mecha manga authors out there (crossbone ghost translated never ).
Don't want to spoil, but as M.Knight said, one the chars from ZZ makes an appearance on Crossbone (in Skullheart to be more precise) and it's the hypest moment of that manga.


Proyect Ito's last movie (Genocidal Organ) has finally been released, can't wait to get home and watch it.

Houseki no Kuni is so damn good, best 3d animu i've seen in years, anyone else watching it?

[Inspektor]

A lot of Gundam love here, I always wanted to get into this but the sheer amount of seasons put me off.
What would you guys recommend to get hooked on the franchise? Just start at the beginning with Mobile Suit Gundam? Or first a more modern approach and then, if I liked it, going back and watch the older stuff?

[Durandal]

The first (Mobile Suit Gundam 0079) is also one of the best, and after watching it you'll come to understand what inspired all those backgrounds in many shmups. I'd watch the series, the movies tend to cut out some important stuff. After that you can move onto Zeta and CCA. ZZ works if you need something to wash away the taste of Zeta's melodrama and don't really care about consistency much. After that you can either go watch side-UC material like 0080, 0083, 08th MS, Thunderbolt, Unicorn, or Origin, most of which are fairly short. Or you can move on to the AUs, which are another matter entirely. You can never go wrong with release order.

[Ji-L87]

Read Crossbone if you liked F91, it's the direct sequel of the cosmo babyon shit and Yuuichi Hasegawa is the only manga artist who managed to capture Tomino's spirit and wacky writing style, plus he's one of the best mecha manga authors out there (crossbone ghost translated never ).

I will check this out then

A lot of Gundam love here, I always wanted to get into this but the sheer amount of seasons put me off.
What would you guys recommend to get hooked on the franchise? Just start at the beginning with Mobile Suit Gundam? Or first a more modern approach and then, if I liked it, going back and watch the older stuff?

I'd say try a shorter OVA series like 0083 or 8th MS Team first and see if it catches your fancy. They're more modern but still feel like UC Gundam, which might help if you're like me and late 70s anime esthetics puts you off a bit.

Or, you can go the route suggested by Durandal and start from the beginning and work you way through the releases. Gundam does seem, like any other long running gigantic franchise, a bit daunting and impenetrable perhaps. I'd poked my nose in here and there before with Seed and Seed Destiny and then Gundam 00. It wasn't until I tried the older stuff starting with 8th MS Team that I really began liking what I saw and it took 0083 to push me over the edge, making me want to start over at the beginning.

I can't say for certain that Gundam will be for you. It's not always for me either. But it's a fun experience going through something old like this and "getting it", understanding why this thing was so special.
Also, as an anime fan, watching Gundam feels a bit like finally getting to play Half-Life if you're PC FPS kind of person...or Doom perhaps in this context. (I guess watching NGE would be Half-Life in this weird train of thought??)