Summer Anime 2017 |OT| More streaming services than shows to watch

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Symphogear AXZ 02

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Twin Angel Break 1

That fight scene was...not great. Sumire looked like she was trudging through mud and wasn't swinging that weapon with any force.
 
Well I suppose I should discuss this since we don't ever actually argue about shows anymore.
i can be annoying about it i guess. i don't really want to because it comes across as nitpicking when i go at pointing out stuff like this but the color design is really bad. obviously it's most noticeable on the garden scene because that is where the demands are the highest....but certain background elements are not colored properly, certain pieces are washed out more than they should be even if that's the visual style, and the tone shifts multiple times during the scene. it's not for some kind of reason it's just bad production work.

also comes out in the morning scene which is ??? bad fog work?? who knows...

distracting light source/background elements....

did not really feel like picking the show apart visually because it is kind of ambitious but it's sort of just an ugly end product to me most of the time.

also the script is terrible but hard to care enough to be mean about that too. she sees the tiny ballet seal but not the carrier pigeon that hangs out in his bag. clues are on screen for like literally a second and out of focus...smh.

I don't necessarily disagree with this but maybe I'm missing something as I don't think it's particularly offensive. I do agree the girls in the final shot are washed out as well as the umbrella tips but I don't find that to be egregious. I feel like the director wanted that scene in particular to be really bright for a few reasons, one being that it's one of the few daytime sequences and also as a visual reflection of the duality between school life and spy work. That's why the shot of the guy looking out the window was supposed to be more symbolic than anything else.

The bloom on the lighting source I guess I could see why people might find distracting as it's not really realistic which in some ways is in contrast to the rest of the art team. However I don't think is trying to fully replicate that sort of realism and is more of a hodgepodge of different elements otherwise there wouldn't be elements like lens flare or the character designs for the young females being so cutesy.
 
Classroom of the Elite ep.1
They didn't try to hide that plot reveal very well, but I'm sure that was done purposefully. The main male MC is a bore, the main female mc is your standard, quiet withdrawn "dark" archtype, but somehow they made the shows premise pretty interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing the classroom drama unfold and how they ship this outwardly aweful pair.
 
Saiyuki Reload Blast Episode 2

All three of the ED skits were amazing, please keep the summer themed scenes coming.
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Goku-niichan is still the best though and I enjoyed how he gave the most life to this rather genre standard village even with the kid/orphans backstory. Kind of wish it played a larger role.
 
Ikémen Sengoku: Bromances Across Time Episode 1
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I wasnt a fan of the art style at first but it ended up being really charming.

Hideyoshi confirmed for best sengoku yet again as it is always the case (until Yukimura comes).

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Still great ED content, up there with Saiyuki Reload Blast
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New Game + ep.1
Welcome back fun show. The character interactions are what really make this show move. They really need to ship poor Rin with her girl, because between her and tge boss, the yuri teasing is pretty intense, lol.
 
What's with all this Crest of the Stars-esque shit digital noise? I don't understand why the art director thinks 19th century photography = a blurry, vaseline smeared mess? Obviously some of the photographs were not as sharp, and you certainly have imperfections in lenses and other artefacts, but they don't resemble this visual garbage. Why are you trying to hide your art under so many bad layers?

While 19th century photography might not be nearly as low quality as the still suggests, 19th century videography was certainly rough. It's actually somewhat hard to find accurate representations of early film because everyone and their mother wants to try and edit them into something they aren't. Luckily, archive.org exists and has a fantastic collection of Georges Melies work unedited - although that particular video breaks into the 20th century. Obviously the issue here is less to do with film grain and more to do with artifacts and the issues of early camera "sensors" not being quite quick enough to portray lighting consistently and with depth, but that's hard to convey in animation.

Later on, in the early 1950s, you might have seen something similar to what the animators were trying to replicate on early television broadcasts due to the nature of.. well, television. That's harder to find since the film grain was more of a result of the method of display and delivery rather than any part of the camera itself.

Edit: Actually, in hindsight, I bet film being ran through an actual projector would have an appearance close to that. We used to have an old hand-spun projector with 16mm film gauge and, as far as poor human memory goes, this was very similar to what is in Princess Principal. 28mm as well. The common 35mm that actually went into production film didn't have as much an issue simply because the projectors themselves were much better quality.

Late to the party, though.
 
Smartphone Isekai 1
I'm really unsure of whether this is going to be aggravating or relaxing but I'm willing to at least give it one more week.

Tsuredure 2
Still phenomenal tbh. Great dialogue and it moves at a very brisk pace so nothing lingers too long.

Classroom of the Elite 1
It's like Danganronpa but the twist is lame, none of the characters are interesting, and it's just plain boring.

Nora, Princess, and Stray Cat 1
The animation quality leaves a bit to be desired but watching this reminded me of watching Ninja Girl for the first time. It's only 3 minutes and while I'm not entirely sure what I saw I'm down for more.
 
While 19th century photography might not be nearly as low quality as the still suggests, 19th century videography was certainly rough. It's actually somewhat hard to find accurate representations of early film because everyone and their mother wants to try and edit them into something they aren't. Luckily, archive.org exists and has a fantastic collection of Georges Melies work unedited - although that particular video breaks into the 20th century. Obviously the issue here is less to do with film grain and more to do with artifacts and the issues of early camera "sensors" not being quite quick enough to portray lighting consistently and with depth, but that's hard to convey in animation.

Later on, in the early 1950s, you might have seen something similar to what the animators were trying to replicate on early television broadcasts due to the nature of.. well, television. That's harder to find since the film grain was more of a result of the method of display and delivery rather than any part of the camera itself.

Edit: Actually, in hindsight, I bet film being ran through an actual projector would have an appearance close to that. We used to have an old hand-spun projector with 16mm film gauge and, as far as poor human memory goes, this was very similar to what is in Princess Principal. 28mm as well. The common 35mm that actually went into production film didn't have as much an issue simply because the projectors themselves were much better quality.

Late to the party, though.

I actually thought they were trying to replicate early 20th century newspaper articles that might have detailed information in a similar manner.
 
I actually thought they were trying to replicate early 20th century newspaper articles that might have detailed information in a similar manner.

They could be. I feel like if that was there intention then it was done pretty poorly. The fact that it has film grain doesn't make any sense to me, barring whether or not it should have been animated if this was their intent. I also feel like the first thing we associated with wartime 20th century news is the bold, sensationalist headlines. It seems odd that they would leave that out in some form. Newspapers do have the right amount of grain though (or is that a byproduct of the scanning process?).

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We start leaving my domain of knowledge when we get into the world of print and away from film.

Edit: I was tired when I wrote this. I'm not exactly sure what my thoughts were in this post to rewrite it in a way that makes sense.
 
My Hero Academia 27

The sequences in the middle running through the students at their different internships felt somewhat perfunctory, but Gran Torino is an enjoyable character. I like badass old men.
 
Love Tyrant, Completed - Just completed my watch of Love Tyrant. Ended up watching Funimation's SimulDub of it and the dub was fairly solid overall. Humor of the series was definitely hit or miss and I found the last couple of episodes to be pretty underwhelming. It did that thing that I hate to see comedy series do where it more or less plays the plot completely straight seriously, even though everything leading up to it was "Wacky Fun time." Overall, not a bad series, but definitely a one and done I probably won't revisit.
 
Love Tyrant, Completed - Just completed my watch of Love Tyrant. Ended up watching Funimation's SimulDub of it and the dub was fairly solid overall. Humor of the series was definitely hit or miss and I found the last couple of episodes to be pretty underwhelming. It did that thing that I hate to see comedy series do where it more or less plays the plot completely straight seriously, even though everything leading up to it was "Wacky Fun time." Overall, not a bad series, but definitely a one and done I probably won't revisit.

Love Tyrant breaks my cardinal rule of plot development - if the plot can be solved by any single character not being a complete idiot, it should be. The whole "
Guri turning into a Demon
" arc was painful.
 
Tsurezure Children: 2

Lol Hotaru is great voiced, pretty good episode. Looks like Chiaki and Kana next, they are a fun pair. Looking forward to hearing the voice work and for the stoic pair to make their appearance but that's probably going to take a minute.
 
So happy that Relife special 4 episodes is announced.

Though apparently the anime plot will part ways from the manga as it's not finished yet.
 
Sakarada Reset ep.15
Suma, that was just plain cruel to say to Kei. Let him go get Haruka and stop being salty about him rejecting you!

Anyhow, the ending of the arc was alright and made all parties happy, except Kei, of course, because he had to reset everything again after progress was made...
 
Genocidal Organ

I did not expect to see Clavis Shepherd and his buddy to be lounging in off-duty eating pizza and drinking beer while watching NFL football. I cracked up at the JP play-by-play of an incompleted pass and a personal foul.

Somehow I feel like this world and this story doesn't seem too far away from our reality these days. Aside from a couple of events and technological progress, it almost seems like our world in 2020 could be like that in a way.

The villain motivation was kind of weak though. All those atrocities just to
protect the developed world? I would've understand if he was just making a point to give them a warning instead of a grand experiment or if it was the despair from his own major loss, but I felt like his reasoning was lame.

Kind of wish they could've done more with the Lucie the dazzling Czech teacher. Clavis and her should've had more time together and develop a deeper relationship.
 
Eureka Seven: AO 1-2

Can't a boy just show a girl his boomerang sea colossus in peace?

Listening to Chiaki Omigawa is always worth, and the music is decent. Still, this beginning is so by the numbers that there isn't much to comment on. There were janky CGI hover cars as well as some on the nose non sequiturs by several characters. I wonder if Ao will out brood other Bones protagonists. Is the Neuroi destroying the coral stuff some kind of environmental commentary? No sign of surfer punks yet, but I can see the discrimination stuff becoming just as annoying. Admittedly, I don't remember the original series much beyond a twisted girl eating jam or something. Hopefully this one will at least leave a stronger impression on me. The sloth is cute.
 
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Dofus is the sister series to Wakfu. Not sure about the games themselves, but at least in the animated series universe it's fairly simple: Wakfu takes place hundreds of years after the events of Dofus. The link:
Joris
. For this movie you don't really need much background or knowledge. There is a tv series that is essentially a highly episodic group of 52 episodes (Each 13 minutes) where Kerub (the old cat) tells his adoptive son of various adventures in his youth in their treasure store. I started watching that but lost interest because I don't really care to watch 52 episodes of adventures that had little relevance to much besides expanding on past adventures of characters I didn't even know, all with a humorous tone to them. The TV series looks like it'd be a gorgeous television show for kids to watch and laugh and eat les poissons les poissons as they watch the adventures of le petit meow meow. But nor for me.

I first discovered this whole universe when somebody in Offtopic posted in the 'Badass western animation' thread on GAF with a video of one of the battles in the film. And it was breathtaking. Studio Ankama, same studio that makes the games, the Wakfu and Dofus tv series and this film really are like the top dog of French animation.

Book I: Julith is the film that takes place a few years after the tv series. It deals with the return of Julith, aka 'The Butcher', an all powerful guardian of one of the dofus on her mission (that's a secret! But i'll never tell~). I thought it would star Kerub once again with Joris as a secondary character, but to my delight and surprise it stars Joris. A character whose design I loved when I first saw him.

Visually this is hands down the most impressive piece of animation that Studio Ankama has produced. The fight scenes and scenery were superb. I can't find information on whether this was done in Flash or with traditional animation. I'll assume traditional animation tools, because Wakfu has specific visual hints to everything about it that it's done with Flash.

As far as enjoyment, I think this might be the one to recommend to people if they wanted to check out something from the studio without being too involved in the universe or jumping into either Wakfu or Dofus as a whole as it's a bit of investment. It's fairly stand alone. All you really need to know to watch this is that an orphan lives with his adoptive father, a former hero, in a fantasy setting with all kinds of magic and creatures. The world outside of its designs entirely revolves around the idea of dragons and their power which I guess is what makes it stand out from other fantasy but it isn't particularly original or creative just well executed enough to base shows and film around it. We've been seeing a lot of card games getting tv shows and films in Japan, why not MMO titles? lol.

I'd give this movie an 8.5/10. It isn't going to blow doors down but it's very enjoyable and if you are ever bored and have 2 hours to spare why not give it a try? You can find it on Steam in the West and rent it for like 4 bucks, what is there to lose if all anime is trash. But french anime? French anime is life.

As a side note for others to feel my pain, I urge you to check this trailer of what could have been for another film set in the Dofus universe that would have been a few years after this film.

The film was to be titled Welsh & Shedar.

It was being done as a partnership between Ankama in france and the studio they had signed/opened in Japan that was apparently called Ankama Japan. Apparently the french and japanese studios couldn't work together effectively and the Japanese studio was closed down. You look at this and tell me it doesn't have fucking Ghibli vibes?



RIP sweet prince. You died forever young. I want to be. Forever young.
 
Something something Gal 1

I've met meth addicts more likable (and possibly less dangerous) than MC and his friends.

No intentions of giving this a second chance.
 
Something something Gal 1

I've met meth addicts more likable (and possibly less dangerous) than MC and his friends.

No intentions of giving this a second chance.

I could not even get through the first episode.

The MC and his friends remind me a lot of the male cast from Prison School. Except with all vestige of anything that could be considered likable stripped out, shot, buried and nuked from orbit.
 
I could not even get through the first episode.

The MC and his friends remind me a lot of the male cast from Prison School. Except with all vestige of anything that could be considered likable stripped out, shot, buried and nuked from orbit.

The Prison School protagonists get continually dunked on all the time

Gal protag gets rewarded for being shitty
 
Something something Gal 1

I've met meth addicts more likable (and possibly less dangerous) than MC and his friends.

No intentions of giving this a second chance.

I could not even get through the first episode.

The MC and his friends remind me a lot of the male cast from Prison School. Except with all vestige of anything that could be considered likable stripped out, shot, buried and nuked from orbit.

The Prison School protagonists get continually dunked on all the time

Gal protag gets rewarded for being shitty

I've read about 15 or so chapters in a while ago and this is just the tip of the iceberg. This series only gets worse over time. It's harem trash with zero soul.
 
Who knows? Licensing can be weird sometimes, and it's not like negotiation details are made public.

it gets even more weird when you get little bits of details.

it's part of the reason I really enjoy reading updates from ann from pied piper as she often gives a little bit of insight into things.

(Actually, a lot of titles actually turn out to be licensed already. The tricky thing is that licensing info is confidential until the official public announcement. For example, I was looking into Gosick last year and found out it was already licensed, but the public announcement wasn't made until this Feb)

it was also fun learning that the companies that dub the anime don't own the dub the original companies do lol.
 
So I just found out about another Japanese subculture where people wear these lycra bodysuits to express their alienation with Japanese society.
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It makes me wonder if this is where they got the idea for Gachaman Crowds.
 
In the original Ghost in the Shell, the shelling scene is this really mesmerizing sequence showing the transformation of machine into something human - from the fabrication of the skeleton, the coating of powdered skin being applied. The whole scene has this baptismal aspect to it further reinforced by the choral music. Major awakens into a world of darkness, the choir fades away into a more primal beat, and the scene of birth is replayed in full as she opens up the blinds coming into the world. And that is potent shit right there. It is the kind of scene that you feel reverberating in your chest. You just know its good.

It was here that I started writing about the Ghost in the Shell 2017 intro. And I realized that the whole fucking thing, every minute detail, was shit. It's all absolute shit. And it sat in the sun, baking into a concrete fucking ball of shit with no abstraction whatsoever. No thoughts are provoked, no imagery evoked. Just shitty dialogue explaining a scene that doesn't need any explanation.

I'm drunk and angry.
 
So I just found out about another Japanese subculture where people wear these lycra bodysuits to express their alienation with Japanese society.
YXGOglLl.jpg


It makes me wonder if this is where they got the idea for Gachaman Crowds.

all of a sudden every anime where the background characters are like black stills/shadows with little detail just got REALLY deep.
 
You know I normally respect your analytical sense, Jexhius, but here I think you're off-base in just about every respect.
Tell me more!
While 19th century photography might not be nearly as low quality as the still suggests, 19th century videography was certainly rough. It's actually somewhat hard to find accurate representations of early film because everyone and their mother wants to try and edit them into something they aren't. Luckily, archive.org exists and has a fantastic collection of Georges Melies work unedited - although that particular video breaks into the 20th century. Obviously the issue here is less to do with film grain and more to do with artifacts and the issues of early camera "sensors" not being quite quick enough to portray lighting consistently and with depth, but that's hard to convey in animation.

Later on, in the early 1950s, you might have seen something similar to what the animators were trying to replicate on early television broadcasts due to the nature of.. well, television. That's harder to find since the film grain was more of a result of the method of display and delivery rather than any part of the camera itself.

Edit: Actually, in hindsight, I bet film being ran through an actual projector would have an appearance close to that. We used to have an old hand-spun projector with 16mm film gauge and, as far as poor human memory goes, this was very similar to what is in Princess Principal. 28mm as well. The common 35mm that actually went into production film didn't have as much an issue simply because the projectors themselves were much better quality.

Late to the party, though.
Based on the evidence brought forth in the post, I can concede with my comments with regards to the quality of the image. However, that still leaves my complaint with regards to the mixing in modern presentational elements with the 'authentic' effect they were going for.
 
No, the first three seasons of Symphogear are currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll.
That's just weird then. Oh well, at least fansubbers haven't completely died.

In the original Ghost in the Shell, the shelling scene is this really mesmerizing sequence showing the transformation of machine into something human - from the fabrication of the skeleton, the coating of powdered skin being applied. The whole scene has this baptismal aspect to it further reinforced by the choral music. Major awakens into a world of darkness, the choir fades away into a more primal beat, and the scene of birth is replayed in full as she opens up the blinds coming into the world. And that is potent shit right there. It is the kind of scene that you feel reverberating in your chest. You just know its good.

It was here that I started writing about the Ghost in the Shell 2017 intro. And I realized that the whole fucking thing, every minute detail, was shit. It's all absolute shit. And it sat in the sun, baking into a concrete fucking ball of shit with no abstraction whatsoever. No thoughts are provoked, no imagery evoked. Just shitty dialogue explaining a scene that doesn't need any explanation.

I'm drunk and angry.
But it's a deep parable about how deep down inside, all Asians wish they were Scarlett Johansson.

all of a sudden every anime where the background characters are like black stills/shadows with little detail just got REALLY deep.
It's all art!

Speaking of, they interviewed Megumi Igarashi and talked about her vagina art and her arrest for distributing oscenities:
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