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Winter-Spring 2014 Anime |OT3| People incapable of guilt usually do have a good time

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H

hosannainexcelsis

Member
Mushishi Zoku-Sho 2

Fabulous episode. Great story, sad and heartwarming in turns in the tradition of the best Mushishi episodes. It was interesting how the mushi ended up being secondary to the "real" narrative of tragedy and reconciliation, though it still played an important role and added its touch of otherworldly magic to the whole thing. That cut towards the end was impressive, as was the water animation throughout.
 
T

Tenumi

Banned
...Somehow, it feels like a lot has happened here the past few days, and yet I feel like I've missed nothing.

Suppose that's a good thing when I'm still searching for the shows I really want to watch this season.
 
H

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
G

Grzi

Member
Black Bullet - 01

Holy fuck that was generic. It's extremely reminiscent of a bunch of '03-'07 shows like Black Blood Brothers or Chrno Crusade and I kind of don't want to go back to that style. Don't think I'll watch the second episode.
 
P

PshycoNinja

Member
duckroll said:
The problem I have with this mentality is that it suggests we should accept everything as equal and a matter of taste, and not go any further with discourse. For example, you spent a single sentence asserting that you dislike something, and then you went on to spend an entire paragraph talking about the mentality behind people liking or disliking something. Wouldn't it have been more on point or worthwhile instead to debate and discuss the merits and demerits of a given art form instead?

For example, in the Ping Pong screen being used as an example, I can talk about why it looks good, what merits it has, the intent behind the style, and why I like it. There's very strong color contrast in the shot, which separates the individual visual elements really well, this along with the wide perspective angle creates a very real sense of space. While each individual element is not particularly detailed, the emphasis is on the form of each element, and taken as a whole the scene itself is varied and detailed.

Having more "detailed" individual elements would distract from the look intended - which is to create such a scene with as little visual noise as possible. Things which actually matter to creating the flow of the animation or the layout of the scene is actually pretty detailed - there are folds in the clothing when there is a need to show posture, the characters have individual hairstyles to tell them apart, there is weathering in the props, everything is cohesive and creates the atmosphere desired for the scene.

I think that discussing stuff like this is much more interesting than arguing over tastes. Sure, someone might have a personal preference for a certain type of style, but artistic merit is weighed by whether there is depth and meaning with regards to the effort and thought put into making something.
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I probably could've handled my argument better, certainly. I wasn't inferring that everyone's taste should be considered equal because it will never be that way. People have opinions and certain tastes. So naturally there is going to be a little discourse about what people do like and don't like. I think attacking a persons personal tastes on art is going overboard though. It would be more prudent to discuss why each person feels the way they do about particular art styles and animation instead of labeling someone as having "s**t taste". At that point your attacking the person and not their arguments or opinions.

Now we can argue the merit of a work of art and I would be absolutely fine with that. For example, you just made the argument for why you prefer Ping Pong's art style. My argument is a little more simple than yours and probably isn't as elegant an argument as you put forth. I am going to try however. It's the fact that I find art styles born from rotoscoping very muddled and messy. Yes we get cool animation and color contrast as a trade off but it isn't a trade off I personally like. I like sharp edges. I like defined lines. I even like the "shiny" look to certain characters in other anime. Now obviously we have to argue if the particular art style helps or hurts the anime itself and if it serves the story and characters better than another art style would have. I don't know. We will have to see more.

For example, I think the type of art style employed in The Tatami Galaxy was for it's benefit as it fit that world and character. Despite the fact that I didn't like the art in of itself. Context is everything. And that's the thing, it has to contextually make sense. I couldn't imagine Chihiyafuru being a rotoscoped anime. Neither Clannad nor FMA. But then again those anime have their unique styles to distinguish themselves. Then again, I couldn't imagine Ping Pong or Flowers of Evil in FMA or Chihiyafuru's art style.

I think it would serve this thread better to discuss the art and not boil it down to someone's personal taste. That is all I was trying to get at.
 
T

TheRancor

Member
BGBW said:
Ame gets turned into a keychain at the end of Wolf Children!? Well gee thanks for spoiling that.
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Clearly a punishment for being an ass! or whatever was said by the detractors. idk
Hitokage said:
Haha, the Malaysian dub starts to flirt with being painful, although it's still pretty funny. More importantly, though, it's possible to find the Big Green dub while the Malaysian dub is probably much harder to get your hands on outside the youtube clips.
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Yeah, I suppose there is that.
 
Q

Quasar

Member
Admiral Woofington said:
You know it's ridiculous how much better the Crunchyroll player in my ps4 is better than the one in their website. Outside of the crashing and having to close the app, the video never stutters or stutters not as many times.
Click to expand...

I wonder what it is...I've never seen CR video ever stutter on any platform. Maybe it is purely a timezone thing that means I use it during non popular times.
 
A

Admiral Woofington

Member
79ET4uX.jpg
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I hate this bastard so much on the left. Nobody harasses my muu-chan. You better back the fuck out before I knock you the fuck out.
 
J

Jarmel

Banned
Dresden said:
And the best op this season.
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I actually wanted to talk about the Captain Earth OP and kinda forgot/didn't care that much. A few things stood out to me.

1.The boomerang sequence at the beginning looks deceptively simple but I wonder how much of a nightmare that was to animate properly, in that they had to calculate the arc and thus the perspective the boomerang would have taken. Then there is also the number of revolutions it does.

2.I'm guessing the loli from the previous episode transforms into the gun. Should also mention how weird it is for a main character to essentially have a hand gun/laser in a mech show. I wish this sequence had more going on in the background other than some random blue as the smoke effects from the gun are sorta cool.

3.They're really going to milk the fuck out out of that gattai sequence. Even Star Driver didn't put the mech transformation in the OP. If I was being hopeful, it would mean that they wouldn't therefore abuse the transformation in the show proper, but I know better.

4.Speaking of Star Driver's OPs, I don't think this is as strong as either of them but for different reasons. The 1st OP had a really strong motif in regards to color usage but it also utilized the island itself and sorta worked as a way of showing off the different characters/enemies. The 2nd OP in Star Driver had stronger storyboarding and transitions, not to mention all that action sakuga.

5.Also when was the last time a mech protagonist had a
brother? He also looks to be some sort of antagonist with how they framed him in the OP. It's always daddy issues so it would be kinda surprising for there to be a brother rivalry aspect.

I really wasn't wow'd by this as I don't think the animation lives up to the music. There doesn't seem to be any sort of strong theme to it nor was there a lot of new animation cuts for me to jizz my pants with. I do think there is some good choreography/storyboarding in a few of the shots but the OP isn't as tight as I would have liked it to be.
 
H

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
I liked Her more than Gravity but I think Gravity is the better movie for some intangible measurement of "better".
 
J

jgminto

Member
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders 2

Daaaaamn, that was so hot blooded I can't stand it! The tone and attitude are perfect. I loved the sudden change of colour in the middle of the fight too. I was surprised the episode only got to Kakyoin passed out, I was expecting it to finish at
Holly passing out or the gang leaving
. If that means they don't need to rush or skip battles, that's awesome. OP was good visually, I wasn't so hot on the song but I'd say it fit Stardust Crusaders at least.
 
G

Grzi

Member
Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou - 01

This has potential to be a relaxing, nice little show. I don't think it'll reach the highs of some other similar shows, but who knows. The visuals are good and sort of unique, and it just made me feel good, so I'll continue watching this one, at least for now.
 
Jex

Jex

Member
Hitokage said:
Just to use this post as an opportunity to jump in, I've been thinking about these kinds of subjects lately with the recent discomfort expressed by some on the overall state of the thread, and I'd like to put in my own perspective on the matter.

AnimeGAF isn't just a reserved space for anime talk on a larger forum, it's also a defined culture derived from the people posting in it and how they post in it. Furthermore, for any defined gathering of people, the type of people you include causes exclusion of others to some extent, and the exclusion of some can promote inclusion to some extent. In other words, you need to make decisions as to what sort of gathering you want, and you can't have it all. If things get too stuffy, then people who are more interested in light-hearted discussion get alienated, while if things get too hectic and inane, then those more interested in serious discussion get alienated. Here at AnimeGAF we've tried to strike a balance that promotes critical discussion while also open to having fun, and this balance has actually been a known selling point for certain members because it offers a different environment from other possible venues for anime discussion. This balance is hardly static as old posters move on of their own accord and new posters join in with new ideas and attitudes, and as it shifts over the weeks and months then tension arises over it as they feel that if things move too far then it removes the reason why they're here in the first place.

However, I'd argue here that part of the problem is that sometimes existing posters take their own environment for granted. It's not as if new posters are inherently bad, but they might not be familiar with the expectations and they aren't being helped in meeting those. Ultimately, if you want to affect the culture of a place, then you can't just complain and expect others to do all the heavy lifting. This is something I'm not guiltless of myself, actually, but going forward I'll try to contribute more than I have.

Now, what are these expectations? I think one might say that most of it falls under engagement. If you're going to discuss something, then you need to have an actual conversation over points rather than talking past each other or shouting out into the wind. Naturally not everything can be reciprocated, and episode impressions in particular are more advertisements for engagement than engagement in their own right. Good impressions offer others a clear view of what you thought about something so they are interesting, amusing, or enlightening in their own right, and provide room for further discussion even if it never actually happens. Simply saying "I like X!" "I like Y!" "I like Z!" does not lend itself to good conversation just like "X sucks!" "NO U" doesn't offer anything of merit either. Furthermore, the idea that everything is mere opinion implies that there is never anything more to say and is antithetical to critical discussion.
Click to expand...
Good post, to say the very least. I was tempted to quote it in full, but people should just click the link and check it out if they haven't done so already. Please. It genuinely helps to think about what kind of 'Community' you wish to achieve and what your goals are and as Hitokage has invested the effort into putting pen to paper, as it were, on a subject that's literally fundamental to this entire community, then the least you can do is read the post. It shouldn't take long, although I understand that some of the posters here are not native speakers!

Now, on to the subject at hand, which is what kind of Community we wish to be a part of. I don't favour an exclusionary approach, that says people who don't share my taste or interests shouldn't be posting here, or that everyone has to write their posts to certain strict guidelines. Such "one size fits all" approaches are not suitable here. I don't care if a poster doesn't share my tastes or interests.

I just care that people are interested in having a discussion about the anime they watch. After all, if you don't talk to talk and share with others, why are you posting here? If you want to go super long form and simply expel your thoughts, then blogs exist. The idea of posting on a Forum is that everyone here has the same potential reach (in terms of influence) as anyone else because we are all equal (about from Moderators, of course). This means that people will comment on your comments and you might not always agree with them, but that's the nature of posting on a forum. You will, frequently, here from people with a different view than your own and I only hope that you will be open-minded enough to listen to what they have to say.

This means that a certain level of civility is key because how else can we show that we respect each other, even when we disagree? Without the understanding that everyone's point is equally worth considering then the whole thing falls apart. Now this puts the onus onto you to make a compelling argument for your case, because if everyone is going to read it and (potentially) comment on it then you might want to think about explaining yourself beyond simply saying "This show sucks". We all have very different backgrounds and views and levels of critical analysis so I wouldn't expect everyone to write reams of text about every show but even a short paragraph is more interesting, to me than just stating your gut response of "I disliked this".

I don't expect many, or potentially any of you to feel this way but I feel that, as a poster on a large public forum, I need to try and aim for a certain standard when discussing anime. Why? Because being an anime fan is really hard work. There's very, very few genuinely trust worthy sources when it comes to anime recommendations about what to watch and why. The quality of discourse about anime is so low that we should be aspire to raise it to help others find shows that they will love.

Nearly every source I turned to before NeoGAF to help find anime to watch was genuinely shitty and none of my friends new anything about the medium. What's worse, the traditional gatekeeper of criticism and recommendation, print, is largely silent on the subject of anime. Someone, somewhere, should try and do a better job. It's not acceptable that there's barely any blogs or podcasts about anime that are worth your time. It's rubbish, especially with the very high volume of titles that get released and how poor most of them are. How is a complete newcomer to the scene supposed to know what to watch this season without help? They'll end up watching three shitty shows and then never coming back to anime because it's "all shit". They need a hand and we can be there to help them along.

This is why we're critical. We just want to steer people towards the best of the best. We know that the talent in Japan can produce great, inspiring titles. We've seen them do it before, and no doubt we'll see them doing it again, but that's because we've watched a lot of anime. Maybe more than is healthy. But this experience breeds cynicism because we've seen 34 variations of nearly every show that's airing at the moment and many of them have been done better before. This is also why, some of us, go to great lengths in explaining why we like a certain show or episode. The craft of the director, the artist, the animator, the musician etc is something that merits discussion as it helps to explain why a show excells and why it's more worthy of your time than a very average, pedestrian show.

This isn't to say you're wrong for liking Mahouka or Black Bullet or KissxSis or Queen's Blade. That's a completely valid opinion to have and I love to hear that people are watching something they enjoy, but some of us are coming from a different background and we're expecting a certain kind of work. So we might attack something you like, but this isn't an attack on you but the work itself. You might not be watching for the same reasons as me, and that's also fine. You just want some light entertainment for 20 or so minutes? That's great, I feel that way a great deal of the time myself! Or perhaps what I view as light fluff you care about seriously. That's cool too, I'm always interested in hearing why someone thinks differently to me as it's usually quite revealing. What's also important about this matter is not forming sub-tribes within the thread with an "us" vs "them" mentality. I know this is practically impossible for humans not to do but it's really unhelpful behaviour. This comes to what I mentioned earlier about viewing all posts as being potentially equal and respecting one another's opinions.

Let's also not forget the fact that the whole Western Anime community also has practically no interest in the history of the medium at all. Why does this matter? Because even though there's only two things airing this season that you'll like I'd imagine that, with knowledge of your preferences, I can recommend you over a dozen truly amazing older titles. This is why it's so important that those with knowledge of older titles share their experiences and views about these works because there's so many of them worth seeing. Most of the biggest one's helped to shape the titles that are airing today and outside of those genre defining classics there's literally hundreds of shows worth watching. Anime did not begin in 1995 and I'm happy to tell you that there's so many good titles to watch that you won't even have time to see them all.

So yeah, I know that I can put in some effort to bring my level of posting up a few notches. I will aim to do so from now on because not only do I love anime but I also love to help people find shows that they'll like too. I can only do that by talking to everyone hear and learning from them what they like and why because I don't have time to watch every anime, track down every old show or see the latest showing of a movie in Japan. We can help each other to find works that we wouldn't have known about on our own, and isn't that a great thing?

But it all starts with building a place where people want to have that kind of discourse and where people trust and respect the views of others. A venue for genuinely interesting and insightful discussion about a much-maligned medium. A place that other people want to be apart of and would hope to emulate. I don't think it's idealistic to think that we can achieve that goal. It just takes some work.
 
B

BluWacky

Member
Dresden said:
And the best op this season.
Click to expand...

While this is a good OP with a pleasant J-pop song, there are still some elements of it I find a little unsatisfactory - not because they're badly executed, but because they're not the kinds of things I like in OPs:

i) The sort-of static parade of secondary characters and antagonists (although it does look like there will be a bad guy in a top hat later in the series, which looks entertaining). Even the other teenage protagonists barely get any screen time, but at least they're animated; everyone else just gets glossed past, bar the recorder girl! Perhaps it's a consequence of having a large cast, and it will mean more to me when I actually know any of their names beyond the character Maaya Sakamoto is playing...

ii) The over-use of footage we've already seen in the first episode, specifically the launch sequence. It's impressive, yes, but we've seen it already!

I haven't seen any really great OPs this season yet, though, either aurally or visually.
 
C

cnet128

Banned
Sidonia no Kishi 1

I could say quite a few positive things about this episode. It felt unique, I didn't think the CG looked bad, there were some intriguing plot points and some...creepy masks. In an ideal world I'd probably stick with it, but since I'm always watching too many shows and especially too many Thursday shows, this one didn't really feel like my kind of thing and didn't really grab me enough. Dropped.
 
A

Admiral Woofington

Member
I still feel a bit sad when somebody gets especially insulted when somebody criticizes a work they enjoy. Passion can bring forth loads of things, but in this case it's primarily negative. Constructive discussion might stem from it but more often than not it boils down to people seeing it as personal attacks. I've seen it happen a couple of times in here.

Also I already know that when somebody with a persona tells me "this show is amazing" that I'll take it with a pile of salt because it probably means "it had [blank] so I loved it"
 
H

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
Jexhius: Much of the time when I'm exploring older stuff, I'm completely on my own. That's part of the reason why I've gone through so many shows in general and finished so many bad ones, because I have to be the one to figure it out. It's also why I tend to be so enthusiastic when I hit upon buried treasure. On the other hand, I truly appreciate it when other people help me sift through more recent works and why I tend to sit out on most shows in a season. That, and I prefer to watch most things in bulk rather than week to week.
 
D

Dedication Through Light

Member
BluWacky said:
I haven't seen any really great OPs this season yet, though, either aurally or visually.
Click to expand...

With many shows not using their true op's yet its hard to pick a best op so far or certainly trying for me to state which one I like more than just being a bit biased towards singers I like.


Though was sad to hear that the angela sidonia one doesnt seem as good as previous angela songs. Though I have no current means of even checking Sidonia out until Summer. Fafner save us.
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Chariot said:
Sure, Bioware. There were no third gender until they came along. All those third gender hipsters are all just crazy Bioware fans.

Also, if you think Sidonia is going to be a shounen show, you are wrong.At the ignore function. The way he is writing his opinion makes clear that he don't want to change it, even if offered argumentation and facts.
Click to expand...

Well, first episode is shounen mecha dude getting his mecha.

Also, I think having third genders where the characters are just women is a real shit thing that BioWare tried to get away with when they did their whole lesbian-but-not-lesbian thing with ME1. There's an easy way to do an androgynous third gender, but it just hasn't happened. At least when Babylon 5 did it, it was a case of the makeup looking bad. There's no excuse for a manga/anime.



Jexhius said:
I understand your point, which is that context is key, but I think having an easy approach at least allows for some consistency. Your earlier point about engagement matters because if you get the right kind of discourse and get to know each other than you gain a level of trust with others and then you can talk to them more frankly in IRC or PM's or Steam of wherever.

I'll also agree that sometimes people go too far and tilt dangerously close to firehawk's "spoiler culture" but I hope that, through reason and decency, we can arrive at a reasonable understanding of how to communicate our impressions and ideas. I don't expect immediate consensus.
Click to expand...

I personally think that if a twist ruins a text entirely, then the text itself has no value. By definition, it can only be enjoyed once and never again.
Of course, I come from an English Lit background where the whole idea of spoilers is anathema to the idea of criticism. It's why I find movie/game reviews to be so milquetoast in their generalized and broad criticism that refuses to acknowledge the text in any meaningful way. When you can't even talk about the plot, then all you have is "graphics" and "good acting".


Kurita said:
Her was a great movie. Better than Gravity.
Click to expand...
Grzi said:
I agree. I really enjoyed Her. I liked Gravity too, but Her is my favorite best picture nominee.
Click to expand...
Theonik said:
Paging firehawk.
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darkside31337 said:
Even Firehawk would agree.
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Haly said:
I liked Her more than Gravity but I think Gravity is the better movie for some intangible measurement of "better".
Click to expand...

Anyone who thinks Her is a better movie than Gravity is crazy. Haly gets it!

Jexhius said:
Nearly every source I turned to before NeoGAF to help find anime to watch was genuinely shitty and none of my friends new anything about the medium. What's worse, the traditional gatekeeper of criticism and recommendation, print, is largely silent on the subject of anime. Someone, somewhere, should try and do a better job. It's not acceptable that there's barely any blogs or podcasts about anime that are worth your time. It's rubbish, especially with the very high volume of titles that get released and how poor most of them are. How is a complete newcomer to the scene supposed to know what to watch this season without help? They'll end up watching three shitty shows and then never coming back to anime because it's "all shit". They need a hand and we can be there to help them along.
Click to expand...
There's always ANN reviews though. :p
But yeah, you basically watch the new shows because they're on and then just have to be lucky. It's funny, because some TV critics have lamented the rise of streaming and the death of rerun culture. There's going to be a generation of kids who will never watch MASH or Roseanne or Cheers or any of the iconic American sitcoms because they aren't "forced" to do so by the nature of reruns being on at 4pm. And we value television the least, of all the art forms available, that there really isn't any real gatekeeper to teach people "canon" television. Anime included.
 
D

Dedication Through Light

Member
Admiral Woofington said:
I still feel a bit sad when somebody gets especially insulted when somebody criticizes a work they enjoy. Passion can bring forth loads of things, but in this case it's primarily negative. Constructive discussion might stem from it but more often than not it boils down to people seeing it as personal attacks. I've seen it happen a couple of times in here.
Click to expand...

I thought the attack on ln adaptations seemed to approach and breach boundaries of civility and disrespected people that enjoyed seeing and watching these anime and/or their anticipation for seeing something they read and enjoyed beforehand adapted.
 
K

KuwabaraTheMan

Banned
firehawk12 said:
I personally think that if a twist ruins a text entirely, then the text itself has no value. By definition, it can only be enjoyed once and never again.
Of course, I come from an English Lit background where the whole idea of spoilers is anathema to the idea of criticism. It's why I find movie/game reviews to be so milquetoast in their generalized and broad criticism that refuses to acknowledge the text in any meaningful way. When you can't even talk about the plot, then all you have is "graphics" and "good acting".
Click to expand...

I agree in principle that knowing what will happen shouldn't ruin any good text, because the focus is on why and how it happens, and how well the story is told. Of course, it's still nice and preferable to enjoy all the twists and surprises on your first encounter with the text, and then afterwards dissect everything else about it.

Being unspoiled allows you to appreciate it that one time, and then also appreciate it from a new angle as you revisit the text and see how everything was set up and foreshadowed. I don't really think spoilers increase enjoyment, and I prefer to be unspoiled on everything, but you can still have an enjoyable experience even if you are spoiled.
 
S

striferser

Huge Nickleback Fan
Hitokage said:
Snip
Click to expand...

Jexhius said:
Snip.
Click to expand...

I agree with both point, though i admit uave same issue like Gbraga (as in, English not my mother language)i probably cannot give the most detailed post about anime that i watch, I'll try to post something that hopefully spark interest to those who read it.

====================================
Note regarding Samurai Flamenco
i want
Guillotine gorilla
to be the equivalent of jumping the shark, but that just my opinion
=======================================
Nanana's Buried Treasure 1
I like all that video game reference (PSO, Terraria, and probably other game that i don't know). This show is such an eye candy and full with energy right from the start. Nanana have lovable design and interesting personality. will definitely watch it.

Ping Pong
Oh man, this show is awesome, every character have that charming personality and teacher is awesome with his engrish
 
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