Rockman.EXE Series Rewatch - Ep 1 - Plug In! Rockman!

[Marisa]

Rockman.EXE is the game and the show that brought us all together as a community. I remember the days when every Saturday, we'd gather like mice to cheese to find out what the new episode of Rockman was like (that, or flood l33traws and find out ourselves)

Let's see if we can't bring that excitement back. Every week, we'll watch an episode of Rockman.EXE. What's it like to see it again after all these years? Any fond memories you associate with it? Anything new you notice?

And this isn't just for the veteran fans, either! Fans who got hooked through the games or NT Warrior and never got to see the anime in Japanese can finally see it in its original form, without blurry swords or excessive usage of the prefix "cyber-". ^^

The re-watch officially starts tonight at 7pm Central on the IRC channel. Once everyone gets settled in and gets their video players ready, I'll start a countdown, and we all hit PLAY at relatively the same time and watch it together

I'll see you there! ...And if not, I'll see you here afterwards!

...or else.

Episode 1 Download Link: Episode 1
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[Saito-kun]

Haha, so exciting! ^_^ Good ol' EXE.

[Marisa]

All right! Episode 1: Plug-in, Rockman!

Fwshhhhh doo doo doo doo DOO DOO DOO DOO DOOOOOO

Oh my GOSH it's been SO LONG since I've heard Kaze wo Tsukinukete. I completely forgot what an awesome song it is. The intro alone got my adrenaline rushing. So many memories! Remember when we all sang it onstage together at Otakon? X3 Good times

I remember when I first heard Rockman.EXE was being made into an anime. I tried desperately fo find episodes, to no avail... luckily, I found REO, and... well, to be honest, I don't quite remember how I got the series. I think someone sent them to me, since I hadn't figured out IRC or torrents at that point.

Anyway, it's really interesting to see how... I don't know, whiny Netto is in the first episode, compared to more recent seasons. Was he like this the whole first half? Jeez! XD

Netto also looks a lot younger, too, with a bigger headband and smaller face. Then again, most series will go through an art evolution before they decide on how they want their characters to look.

Did anyone else notice that Masa ran off when Netto mentioned the fires spontaneously igniting? Looking back, I wonder if that was foreshadowing the appearance of Commander Beef ^_____^ BEEEEEEEF

"What an easy life, traveling around the world and leaving his family behind..." WHOA. I don't remember Netto being this bitter, either! Quit your whining, Netto... at least you HAVE a dad. *glances at Subaru* I don't recall Netto having anything bad to say about his father after this. Then again, maybe Netto didn't feel so bad about it anymore since Yuuichirou kept his promise and programmed Rockman for him?

Haha, Netto and Rockman's first meeting is so cute. Poor Rockman, getting insulted by Netto right from the get-go. And he was probably really hoping to impress, too ^^;;

...Aw, gotta say it now. Rockman's just adorable.

Netto's kind of an idiot, isn't he? Twice in this episode, he rushes into flames so he can show Rockman off. ^^;;;

Overall, this is a great way to start the series. Slowly introduces the newbies into the ways of Netto's world, while keeping the fans who are already in the know entertained. ^^

Next week, Densan town goes crazy! A robot dog, and... ELECMAN! :3 I can't wait!

Did you guys want to do an IRC party every week? I don't think I'll be available every Saturday night, but I'll definitely be around to lead the discussion threads.
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[Fragman.EXE]

So this is an episode-by-episode rewatch and review of Rockman.EXE? Interesting, ze~

[NetOperator Wibby]

[Saito-kun]

Haven't rewatched the episode yet, but it wasn't too long ago that I saw them on my ipod, so...

The first episode was, as you said, getting everything going and trying to get characters in their "niches" if you will. That's why Netto was uncharacteristically whiny. I personally like Netto's art style in the original series, he looks plain chubba in some of the later ones. The music in the first season is genius and usually the art style was as well.

Commander Beef FTW. ^_^ "Mata-o, Netto-kun. BEEEEEEEF!" *Jumps into lake and swims away* How epic is that?

Boy this series is full of memories. ;__; I'll watch the episode as soon as I can so I can have it fresh in my head for discussion. *Pulls up itunes and syncs episode 1 mov to ipod for viewing tomorrow*

[Nenji]

I tried to read the error message after Netto's original Default Navi gets damaged, but it's romanised Kana without spaces so it made my head hurt. I gave up in the end!

I mostly tried to watch it without having to rely on the subtitles. I can only echo others thoughts about Masa, it's impossible not to think about Commander Beef if you know that little plot spoiler. Beyond that I was stuck by how much more believable the series is in general. It's got advanced technology compared to ours, but doesn't quite flaunt the laws of physics the way Ryuusei does (at least until Cross Fusion. >__<.

Also hurrah for reading the title of the next episode in Kanji. :3c

Next week on Rockman.EXE, The Runaway Subway!
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[Blue]

*gatecrashes party*

Here's what I wrote down while watching:

OMG THE THEME SONG. haha I know all the words. Still the best. *is singing along*

love the dark, ominous, and not CGI'd Internet. :D Looks totally different from how it would in the later series. Also love the animation in the Netbattle. :D

This is back when Netto cursed all the time, I see. And look, there's Roll! And Dekao trying to pick up Meiru! Good times.

OMG a flying fish! I was surprised when I first rewatched the original season by how much Masa and the other adult characters appear versus Axess onward. (You've got the Ministry of Science people and Kifune and Manabe, but that's it.) And of course, if you're going to explain to the audience what Navis and Netbattling are, there's no better person to do it with than Masa.

eww, Masa, that's nasty.

uh-oh, fire trucks! Clearly, there aren't Net Saviors yet. Or if there are, they aren't doing so hot. Need moar Netto.

Fish for dinner, yay! And Borneo is still allowed to be Borneo. Rockman arrives in the mail!

...or not. Poor Netto. :p

Here he is!

WHAM! (I think this was in response to Netto falling out of bed.)

Netto's like, "wtf? So unimpressed." XD Uh-oh, time for Rockman to prove himself!

whoa, that's some fire! The entering-the-Internet animation looks nifty the first time. Rockman kicks some virus behind, and the kitchen is mostly saved. And Netto's excited about Rockman now.

lol, Gutsman's sending a note. Antennaslapped! Which gets Dekao busted. It's a nice touch because it shows how Navis are used day-to-day, just like Roll reminding Meiru of her piano lesson.

The WWW music is really cool. :D Hinoken's all serious and threatening-looking now.

Time to give Dekao a taste of his own medicine! Don't judge Rockman till you've seen him.

Looks like trouble for Meiru.

Meanwhile, Rockman's having little trouble with Gutsman. Go, Rockman, go!

Roll links them to Meiru's house network, and they go to town on some more viruses. And then... "The name's Fireman!" He looks all threatening too. Dramatic alarm is dramatic! And not much else--the fire's been going for how long now? Haha, Dekao's struggling to catch up. Rockman's taking damage--better hurry up and get back in there, Netto! (Rockman seems to have some kind of built-in shield here--the writers decided to ditch it later? Or else it's just the fire attack looks like a shield when it hits.) Fireman has an intimidating walk. The log out beep sounds like a flatlining heart monitor, almost. A little creepy.

That's definitely a shield. And now that Netto's here, Rockman beats Fireman easily. Shotgun looks so cool here. Glomp! :D Meiru's kitchen is... not as saved as the Hikari family's.

Hee, I love the last conversation between Rockman and Netto. XD "Homework? No, you can do that yourself."

The animation is nice, and everybody's on model. What more can you ask for there? As the first episode, this does everything it's supposed to--establishes the characters, sets up their world, and, most importantly, entertains! Can't wait for next week. :D

And now that we're out of what I wrote down, I... actually didn't notice the thing with Masa. ^_^;

[Saito-kun]

Ah, yes, I can still sing the theme as well... Used to sing it when I was waiting for the bus in a transylvanian accent. That got my brother laughing.

I also forgot to mention what you said-- the internet is just a lot cooler in the first season. I really love the balance EXE strikes in being halfway plausible, halfway futuristically scifi-y, and all awesome. Whereas Ryusei was just ridiculous. And realisticness aside, EXE is just plain cooler. :3

Still have yet to watch it, I'll take notes when I do.

[HeatShadow]

Out of the entire series, the very first episode still stands as one of my favorites. There's nothing overly silly or ridiculous that would disrupt your suspension of disbelief, unlike some other anime, and all the characters are handled well.

I know Marisa and Saito mentioned that Netto seems too whiny at the beginning, but I don't find that at all surprising given his initial situation; he's stuck with a Generic Navi that limits his ability to compete and he's just had his ass handed to him by an opponent who doesn't even strategize all that much (after all, Netto mentions that atleast he didn't lose in terms of operations). For a 10 year old, that's a big deal, so no wonder he's a little bitter. Of course, that all changes once he gets Rockman.

Also, I dunno if anyone else noticed, but Ms. Mari's pretty sharp; even during her lecture, she knew exactly what was going on. XD

I also really enjoy Fireman and Elecman's introductions in these early episodes. Instead of making a big entrance and declaring to the heroes that they are "Doomed! DOOMED! BWAHAHA!" before even starting the battle, Fire and Elec shoot first and introduce themselves later, and without going into long monologues either. "Hi, I'm Fireman. Stand still and let me kill you." Rockman.EXE knew how to do villains right, atleast early on.

I think maybe the only thing that really bothers me about these early episodes is that Netto/Rockman's arsenal doesn't stray far from that Shotgun/Sword combo. I guess it establishes that they're skilled enough that they can stick with the basics and still succeed, but it would've been nice to show that they're capable of out-thinking their opponents rather than simply overpowering them.

Finally, because it needs to be said: BEEEEEEEF

Now that I think about it, do we ever find out the codenames of the other two?
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[Marisa]

We did. Saloma was Black Rose. I can't remember Miyuki's, though.
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[NetOperator Wibby]

This isn't really a constructive post but I'm going to start saying, "BEEEEEF" at random and see what responses I get.

"What kind of ramen do you like?" BEEEEEF
"What's your favorite tea?" BEEEEEF
"Dude, where's my car?" BEEEEEF

LMFAO
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[Unknown Neo]

You mean Miyu and Saloma? Um.... Miyumiyu and Black Rose right? I know the first is right.

[Yuriko]

I have one thing to say

Meriu, get out of the BURNING HOUSE AND AWAY FROM THE OVEN you ditzy little girl!

[Saito-kun]

It's kind of off-topic, but I was happy to see Masa-san for a bit in Beast, even if it wasn't really him. I wonder why they phased out Masa-san, Miyuki, Saloma, Yaito, and even to a degree Higure... (Probably the voice actor for Yaito wanted a break. XD) The direction and the quality of the later seasons were entirely different. It's like the directors of the anime were switched or something. O_o

[Blue]

Edit because I forgot to say something about this:

[Saito-kun]

Even Beast I wasn't so fond of... but I agree that Axess and Stream just forgot the point of EXE. It got off-track a bit.

[ComicX6]

Ah yes, I remember that this was the first episode I saw all those years ago on KidsWB, and it was my first experience with the EXE franchise, and Megaman as a whole. You know, I actually didn't mind the Scottish accent given to Match. It just seemed to fit. The puns, on the other hand...

Yeah, I'll try keeping up with this when I can. Next episode is one of my favorite in the series.
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[HikariMiyuki]

I seriously wanna go on IRC now == but I can't....
I really miss the old episodes, I really wanna watch them again.

@ NetOperator Wibby, lol. That's really funny.

Somehow some characters seem to be forgotten after the first season ended.
(Lemme ask a stupid question, before the Axess season, was the Exe series classified as two or one season? That has been stuck in my head for quite a while...)

My favorite seasons are the first one, and Beast.
And I think Miyuki is MiyuMiyu... or Misteru?
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[Blue]

@Saito-kun: I wouldn't even say forgot the point, at least not in Axess's case. (Don't know about Stream...) Some of the details of the story just didn't work with a lot of the regular characters from EXE. I like both series, but for different reasons. But we'll have plenty of time to talk about it when Axess rolls around. Back on topic!

@HikariMiyuki: Sort of. The two story arcs were classified as two areas--the N1 was Area One, and Gospel was Area Two (not sure if the round-the-world trip was part of Area Two or not). Sort of like seasons. ^_^ And I'm pretty sure you're right on both of Miyuki's names. She was MiyuMiyu in the original and Mysteriu (how are you supposed to spell that? O_o ) in the dub.