RAY the animation

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Pretty sure the thread for this is long dead. Can't find it, at least.

Note: I'm currently watching episode 6, so spoilers up to and including that.

Anyway, I'm making an effort to finish older shows completely so I don't have so much backlog when the new stuff starts, and this was next on my list.

I watched episodes 1-3 and sorta liked it. I've never been into the medical drama stuff (and pretty much loathe the idea of hospitals, disease and everything related to them), but this one caught me early on. The premise was so ridiculous (girl sold for organ farming loses her eyes, and the main character from BlackJack gives her new ones that can see through anything) that it got my attention, though I've only watched it now, after all this time. But once I started watching, I was very amused. I mean, right off the bat, Ray is hot. Like, unnaturally hot given how simple and plain her design is. And at first her voice didn't seem to match her at all, but I quickly grew to love it. So, that's cool.

But then throw in a peg-legged, eyepatch-sporting doctor and a squad of kung fu nurses, and you have the makings of a truly strange but unique show. Episode three came around and we got underwater surgery while sporting a bikini. Everything seemed right in the world.

But now it's just getting so bizarre as to be downright stupid. Alien-like parasites taking over people's minds with toxic pollen? Evil spirits reincarnating inside a shrine maiden via icky oyster meat? Cherry blossom trees possessing another young girl and transferring its damage to her? And in episode 6, wtf is this? A human EMP weapon?

I'm sure at this point I might as well just finish it because it's not "bad" per se, but it's getting increasingly stupid. I'll report back what I think later on, but if anyone else had comments on the show, feel free to chime in.

Also, if there are a lot of direct connections, references or in-jokes from BlackJack, I'm sure I missed them, since I never saw or read any of that.

[akcoll99]

I know 'medical dramas' aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I really liked the 3 volumes of manga that ADV released for RAY and I hope they (or somebody) pick up the anime at some point too...

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Alright, after some really stupid stuff in the early-middle and middle episodes, the show picked up at the end. No more absurd medical cases (that were really more suited to X-Files than anything). Instead there were some absurd plot twists, but they were still pretty fun to watch.

H-man is Sawa and Kasunago's partner, who left to form his organ harvesting ring as a byproduct of his search to find the perfect clone of his mother. This guy has the worst mother-complex ever :sd: It was rather humorous to watch him acting like a kid while his young "mother" (the "perfect" Honoka clone) took care of him though. Ray (and One as well, who H-man tosses aside to be killed by Koichi) is a "failed" clone of his mother, while Koichi is a clone of H-man, intended to follow in the latter's footsteps to take care of "perfect" Honoka when H-man dies. Red Ribbon is in love with Koichi, and was monitoring Ray while under Koichi's service. Apparently Ray's original eyes ended up with Sumire, the girl who loves Shiroyama. Koichi kills Red Ribbon, and then himself. Blackjack shows up on the scene once more to repair Ray's eyes, and the show ends with her operating on Kenji (mind reader boy), who is apparently getting along well with the recovering "perfect" Honoka, who barely survived being shot by Koichi.

It's all pretty silly from start to finish, but in the latter part of the series they really decided to focus more strongly on the characters, which works for me. The dumb medical situations were just a distraction from the start. There's nothing that this show does extremely well, but theres also not too much it does extremely poorly. Ray was a pretty good character, so was Shiroyama, and while I didn't analyzethe show very much at all when I watched, I didn't really expect Red Ribbon to play the role she did. The kung-fu nurses were awesome, and Director Sawa was stupid in a good way. Didn't really care about H-man, though he had one of the more interesting motivations for a villain. Koichi just came off as nuts, ditto with One.

Anyway, I liked it enough to finish it, so I'll buy it if it gets licensed, but I highly doubt I'll ever watch it again.

[pianocello]

I've seen the entire series. Admittedly, the pacing and subpar animation in the middle episodes bugged me. However, the strong beginning and ending that resolved many issues helped to elevate this anime to be one of the better ones of 2006.(it's in my top 20). I'm a little disappointed that the yuri subtext from the manga was toned down. :( Would have loved to see a hot makeout scene between Ray and Red Ribbon. :virgin:
Anyhow, did anyone notice the resemblance between Ray and My:Hime's Natsuki Kuga?

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I'm a little disappointed that the yuri subtext from the manga was toned down. :( Would have loved to see a hot makeout scene between Ray and Red Ribbon. :virgin:
Heh, the manga must be pretty different then, since Ray never expressed any interest whatsoever in anything like that. The shoutacon jokes were there, and were funny, but this show was pretty much zilch for any yuri content. Can't say the thought even crossed my mind with RAY. Ray herself was straight from start to finish. I don't think she was ever interested in anyone other than Koichi and Shiroyama.

Anyhow, did anyone notice the resemblance between Ray and My:Hime's Natsuki Kuga?
A little, though Ray is older looking and the art styles are different. It's probably the hair that does it, if anything. Natsuki has very plain and yet oddly distinctive hair.