I can understand that, but, you know, in the end I'm just the audience and my goal in watching this stuff doesn't go terribly far beyond 'I want to be entertained/moved emotionally'. I certainly don't see it as an academic exercise, despite how easily I can take that approach for fun now and again.
Winter 2012 Anime Thread of Roundcats Up in This
- Thread starter Mandoric
- Start date
- Status
I can understand that, but, you know, in the end I'm just the audience and my goal in watching this stuff doesn't go terribly far beyond 'I want to be entertained/moved emotionally'. I certainly don't see it as an academic exercise, despite how easily I can take that approach for fun now and again.
First episode is pretty lame. Shit's all about the second episode.
Unknown Soldier
Member
You're going to have to revise your 2011 Top 10 votes by the time you're done.
Fell free to add me to the steam group. id: kimjongsillestmoves
You ain't seen nothing yet.
You ain't seen nothing yet.
We have a music club already.
Hellsing321
Member
Are you ready to learn what it takes to be a wolf?
Trojita
Rapid Response Threadmaker
There's like 50 million Unknown Soldiers. What's your ID?
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
Slam Dunk 73: why do they insist on playing wih Sakuragi when it's obvious they do so much better without him? Morons.
More the reason why voting before the end of the year for anything is bleh.
Unknown Soldier
Member
ID: Un-known_Soldier
Here's a little something for all the wolves out there tonight:
Live for Life ~Ookami-tachi no Yoru~ (Ben-To OP)
Out of curiosity, do you also feel, for example, that over on Gaming side they should have held off on their GOTY vote for a while longer? I know it's not an exact parallel, but still would like to know your opinion.
Added you, we are steam bros now.
Crash Station
Member
Steins;gate 18
Much needed breather episode (though things got a little emotional there at the end with Rukako). I'm liking the recent formula with Okabe
I also like how Okabe's personality is rubbing off on Makise as made apparent by operation valkyria.
Much needed breather episode (though things got a little emotional there at the end with Rukako). I'm liking the recent formula with Okabe
dealing with the dillemas of the other characters which have all ended in a rather bittersweet way.
I also like how Okabe's personality is rubbing off on Makise as made apparent by operation valkyria.
Trojita
Rapid Response Threadmaker
Up next, animu-gaf love hotel.
OT is the red light district, after all.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Every season I look over the list and I see only crap.
Then again, every season I discover that there was something really good 6 months-2 years ago, and I think "how the hell did I miss that when it was new?"
Then again, every season I discover that there was something really good 6 months-2 years ago, and I think "how the hell did I miss that when it was new?"
Unknown Soldier
Member
Mayushii might be :cajun, but Rukako is <3
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
Oh boy, Game of the Year contests particularly should be held off until way into the next year. The hype machine skews those towards the holiday titles too much.
Oh I can think of six or seven reactions. Most of them are nsfw.
I suppose now you do.
A Black Falcon
Member
Ben-To 10 - So the villains revealed themselves, and
I assume he'll have to win next time now, to make up for it.
Overall, an okay episode. Somewhat formulaic, but decent, and an obvious setup for the climax.
You're Under Arrest: Fast & Furious 1-15 - I might write longer reviews of some single episodes another time, but for now, I'll just say that this second season of YUA, the one I hadn't seen any of before, is just as much fun as the first or third seasons are. This is a good, entertaining franchise, and it's great to watch some of the stuff I'd missed before. Almost every episode is funny and entertaining.
I do have a few comments, though... first and most obviously, YUA is a nearly progression-free show. That is, everything's basically in stasis. The relationships, while constantly mentioned and objects of focus, never progress meaningfully. Miyuki and Nakajima have moments here and there, but it never really goes anywhere. Nanami's love interest conveniently moved out of town. The other cast members may have single episodes with something, but it never goes beyond that. Etc. The constant focus on relationship-related episodes does wear thin after a while, considering that you know that it'll never, ever amount to anything... and this season does have many such episodes.
Also, do they stick all of the female officers in the traffic division and not criminal, or something? Sexists... and Natsume and Miyuki seem to be among the better officers they've got, too, not that they're getting rewarded for it as they maybe should.
Apart from those things though, I'm liking this about as much as I was hoping I would, and of course those are issues with the franchise in general, not any one episode.
As for anything about specific episodes... well, in the most recent one I watched, poor Aoi... being like that sure would make finding someone really hard, wouldn't it.
A bit earlier, there was a two part episode about a flooding subway line. I thought it was a bit weak, though... not because it wasn't a decent story, but because it kind of felt like they had one episode's worth of material, but decided somewhere along the line to turn it into a two part episode, so they stretched it out without actually having two full episode's worth of stuff. Far too much of both episodes is very, very slow and not much happens for a long time. The resolution's a bit unsatisfying, too... the main plot is resolved, sure, but through both episodes regular flashbacks are shown to a biathalon the two competed in against eachother, presumably during training.
But yeah, like most shows, there are better episodes and there are worse episodes. Overall it's a good series though, certainly. It's got a good cast as always, plenty of interesting scenarios, and lots of good fun.
I also re-watched the first seven episodes of Bamboo Blade. I loved it when it first released, and yes, it's still great. Once I'd started I couldn't stop until I'd finished the disc... great show.
Oh, and to have something different I guess I watched some of it dubbed, something I very rarely do when I have a choice about it. The dub's not too bad I guess, though the original's better for sure. I will definitely continue re-watching this, soon... and if I stick to that pace, I might finish the whole series in not too long. Why not, it's certainly good enough to be worth the re-watch!
On the note of Bamboo Blade, while it was unfortunate that the manga eventually got cancelled, it had gotten so seriously off track -- that whole, very long, last arc really wasn't nearly as good as what had come before, or what's in the anime. Bamboo Blade is best when it's focusing on the five (eight including the males) characters of the main cast. They're what make the show what it is. However, the manga almost entirely ditches this, later on, which was a big mistake. I want it to be about the main five, but apart from occasional mentions of Tama the other four had basically been dropped in favor of a bunch of other, not as interesting, characters... and then just as that arc finally started maybe getting better, the series was canned. Bah. I would like to see more of the Bamboo Blade B spinoff manga get translated though. What I saw of it seemed good. Anyway, the anime does diverge from the manga at a point late in the season, but this is a rare case where I think that was definitely for the better -- the anime's very good beginning to end, while as I said that's not so much true for the manga, I thought.
But the better Nodoka, the one in Saki, has long hair.
What, if you can actually watch that whole thing ( even just that first video) without closing the tab, you mean?
... No danger for me, then. I can't do that, it's too uninteresting.
But apart from that though, yeah, you're right. Overall, Zero is a solid improvement on R-16, but neither of them match up to the original series. I wouldn't mind if they continued this either, either as a retelling of the original series with Karen and Eri added, or as yet another in-between series. I'd just hope that it'd improve again.
And on that note, yeah, one of the things the original series definitely does better is plot. As you say this episode does begin to tie the prequels to the original series (
), but overall the prequels do indeed have less plot than the original series, and what they have isn't quite as good either, and that is disappointing. One thing I liked about the original series was that it wasn't just an excuse for lots of pantsu -- it was a real sci-fi series too. With R-16 and Zero, that's a bit less true, even if more story does gradually get added over time.
the Ice Witch lost. As did the MC.
Overall, an okay episode. Somewhat formulaic, but decent, and an obvious setup for the climax.
You're Under Arrest: Fast & Furious 1-15 - I might write longer reviews of some single episodes another time, but for now, I'll just say that this second season of YUA, the one I hadn't seen any of before, is just as much fun as the first or third seasons are. This is a good, entertaining franchise, and it's great to watch some of the stuff I'd missed before. Almost every episode is funny and entertaining.
I do have a few comments, though... first and most obviously, YUA is a nearly progression-free show. That is, everything's basically in stasis. The relationships, while constantly mentioned and objects of focus, never progress meaningfully. Miyuki and Nakajima have moments here and there, but it never really goes anywhere. Nanami's love interest conveniently moved out of town. The other cast members may have single episodes with something, but it never goes beyond that. Etc. The constant focus on relationship-related episodes does wear thin after a while, considering that you know that it'll never, ever amount to anything... and this season does have many such episodes.
Also, do they stick all of the female officers in the traffic division and not criminal, or something? Sexists... and Natsume and Miyuki seem to be among the better officers they've got, too, not that they're getting rewarded for it as they maybe should.
Apart from those things though, I'm liking this about as much as I was hoping I would, and of course those are issues with the franchise in general, not any one episode.
As for anything about specific episodes... well, in the most recent one I watched, poor Aoi... being like that sure would make finding someone really hard, wouldn't it.
A bit earlier, there was a two part episode about a flooding subway line. I thought it was a bit weak, though... not because it wasn't a decent story, but because it kind of felt like they had one episode's worth of material, but decided somewhere along the line to turn it into a two part episode, so they stretched it out without actually having two full episode's worth of stuff. Far too much of both episodes is very, very slow and not much happens for a long time. The resolution's a bit unsatisfying, too... the main plot is resolved, sure, but through both episodes regular flashbacks are shown to a biathalon the two competed in against eachother, presumably during training.
At the end of the episode, it doesn't tell you who won. I guess it's not supposed to matter, because their friendship is all that's important about the flashback. Oh come on... I want to know who won it!
I also re-watched the first seven episodes of Bamboo Blade. I loved it when it first released, and yes, it's still great. Once I'd started I couldn't stop until I'd finished the disc... great show.
Oh, and to have something different I guess I watched some of it dubbed, something I very rarely do when I have a choice about it. The dub's not too bad I guess, though the original's better for sure. I will definitely continue re-watching this, soon... and if I stick to that pace, I might finish the whole series in not too long. Why not, it's certainly good enough to be worth the re-watch!On the note of Bamboo Blade, while it was unfortunate that the manga eventually got cancelled, it had gotten so seriously off track -- that whole, very long, last arc really wasn't nearly as good as what had come before, or what's in the anime. Bamboo Blade is best when it's focusing on the five (eight including the males) characters of the main cast. They're what make the show what it is. However, the manga almost entirely ditches this, later on, which was a big mistake. I want it to be about the main five, but apart from occasional mentions of Tama the other four had basically been dropped in favor of a bunch of other, not as interesting, characters... and then just as that arc finally started maybe getting better, the series was canned. Bah. I would like to see more of the Bamboo Blade B spinoff manga get translated though. What I saw of it seemed good. Anyway, the anime does diverge from the manga at a point late in the season, but this is a rare case where I think that was definitely for the better -- the anime's very good beginning to end, while as I said that's not so much true for the manga, I thought.
But the better Nodoka, the one in Saki, has long hair.
What, if you can actually watch that whole thing ( even just that first video) without closing the tab, you mean?
... No danger for me, then. I can't do that, it's too uninteresting.
You probably should separate the first and second parts of the original series... I mean, only 1-4 deserves 11 pantsu out of 10, right? Eps 5-7 were good, sure, but not as good as the original part.
But apart from that though, yeah, you're right. Overall, Zero is a solid improvement on R-16, but neither of them match up to the original series. I wouldn't mind if they continued this either, either as a retelling of the original series with Karen and Eri added, or as yet another in-between series. I'd just hope that it'd improve again.
And on that note, yeah, one of the things the original series definitely does better is plot. As you say this episode does begin to tie the prequels to the original series (
with an origin for her super armor/tentacle thing
If I remember right, Zero's ending also leaves Karen as a still somewhat mysterious character, or at least one whose story doesn't seem over, that's for sure. I hope it isn't just left there, it's a bit lacking as is -- it's not like the original series says anything about her or Eri, they didn't exist until the prequels.
Even though by ep. 3 the series had more story than that, this is true even so, as I said above.
Probably so.
Crash Station
Member
Every season I look over the list and I see only crap.
Then again, every season I discover that there was something really good 6 months-2 years ago, and I think "how the hell did I miss that when it was new?"
You could always look at Anime of the year thread to see what people liked recently.
Some of us actually enjoy seeing the process behind art.
Unthinkable I know, whatever happened to mindless consumption?
A Black Falcon
Member
That presumes that the viewer actually cares about sakuga in the first place, though, which for me at least is certainly not true... a lengthy discussion about a subject I don't care too much about is naturally going to be dull.
Well yes, it is an explanatory video on the use of the term "sakuga". Icarus asked about it, so I linked it.
If you weren't curious, there is no reason to watch it.
but you also compared flash animation to flinging poop on a canvas
when its a very powerful animation tool in the right hands
Jman is saying he cares more about the final product than the methods used to arrive at it, which is perfectly normal.
I care about the process because I can actually learn something from it and apply it to things I do.
I care about the process because I can actually learn something from it and apply it to things I do.
Flash animation makes animating faster and easier, there is literally nothing Flash can do that can't be accomplished with traditional cel animation. However, there are lots of things Flash can't do that cel animation excels at (imagine animating itano circus with Flash). Flash is particularly weak when it comes to irregular deformation, because of its reliance on vectorizable art.
so its easier but worse? you might want to decide on one or the other
it doesnt matter if its cel, or cg or flash or java
its entirely up to the artists, animators and editors to make something beautiful
when you say that theres nothing flash can do that cant be done with traditional, thats not entirely true. You cant have tweened 2d animation and have a constant fuildity without costing a fortune, which means its highly unlikely (unless you're redline)
Easier because it allows you to reuse assets and hands over some of the animating duties to the computer/code.
Worse because it gives you less freedom than cel.
I never disagreed here, although you're insane if you want to make the argument that you can procedurally generate the hair animation in Angel's Egg using Java.
And Redline was made, so, what's wrong with that?
I'm not talking about what's practical, I'm talking about potential. Cel is the purist form of animation because it is closest to how our brains process images.
No it isn't. But, I could argue that easy of use dampens creativity and experimentation.
yet gives you more freedom of budget and movement, and you can scale as far in or out without losing any detail.
this just sounds religious now
you can mix the two and make something like this
Too bad vector art is rarely very detailed in the first place.
Wow!
Solid colors and 5 pixel strokes! So amazing.
It is, actually.this just sounds religious now
One of the reasons I still watch anime is because I worship traditional animation. Not necessarily in the same way 7th does, rather as a concept and ideal to strive for.
(The other reason is because of waifus and stuff)
most anime shows are actually pretty poorly animated compared to movies, or their western counterpart though
also lol @ using MLP as an example of pallete
theyre supposed to be bright and colourful...
just stop man
thats just people sucking at animation
you could compare it to the excess use of still shots and side scrolling backgrounds in anime
theyre completely different styles with different benefits
Yes, hence the comment about waifus. And I do watch movies, and the odd mainstream european film as well.
You can be bright and colorful with details. You mentioned infinite scaling as an argument, I mentioned lack of detail as a counterargument. What's the problem here, exactly?
I'm not sure why you're even defending Flash. The world would be better without its existence, because then people would be forced to put effort into keyframing shit the good old fashioned way.
Just curious but how much did Wakfu cost to make?
Because clearly, that level of Flash animation is neither cheap nor easy to replicate, or else we'd have more of it.
Crash Station
Member
Saint Seiya 37-39
shitjustgotreal.gif
Also is it just me, or did the animation get better during the Shiryu fight? Maybe they actually got a budget around this point?
shitjustgotreal.gif
Seiya getting the Sagittarius cloth seems to pretty much be a super transformation. Dude can do lightspeed shit now.
Also is it just me, or did the animation get better during the Shiryu fight? Maybe they actually got a budget around this point?
its my little pony
its not trying to be detailed......
lack of detail isnt even the same thing as scaling
you really think its non-existence would make people hand draw everything?
animators probably dont want to live in poverty and many great shows would not exist
do you think shows like archer, or aqua teen hunger force would have the same appeal if they were drawn frame by frame? hell no
I dont know but id like to see more of that level (or higher)
Using mathematical methods of animating movement in 2D animation just doesn't look right. It's extremely useful for 3D animation because you're actually manipulating objects IN 3D space. For the great majority of 2D animation applications you're trying to depict a 3D space on a flat plane, and doing so requires contextual information that cannot be consistently applied to a functional method. It's only really useful for manipulating 2D objects on a 2D plane, which is not the same thing.
That's why stuff like motion tweening in Flash just gives off the appearance of a bunch of paper cutouts being moved around in various fashions.
That's why stuff like motion tweening in Flash just gives off the appearance of a bunch of paper cutouts being moved around in various fashions.
What's the benefit of infinite scaling without detail?
OH SHIT LOOK IT'S A FLAT BOX BEING SCALED UP 500 TIMES. FUUUUUU, DAT SIZE.
We made do before Flash, so, yeah. Barring CG and 3D stuff.
I watch neither of those, but I'm pretty sure the writing/comedic style carries the shows, rather than the art/animation.animators probably dont want to live in poverty and many great shows would not exist
do you think shows like archer, or aqua teen hunger force would have the same appeal if they were drawn frame by frame? hell no
The art is really just a vehicle for the writing, and Flash is the easiest way to get things moving on the screen without paying for an army of slave animators.
Okay, so it's like saying "CG IS TOTALLY GOOD GUYS", and then pointing to Pixar and going "LOOK, ALL YOU NEED IS A MULTIMILLION DOLLAR BUDGET AND A TEAM OF EXPERIENCED ANIMATORS."
Which is very good for animating paper cutouts being moved in various fashions *coughsouthparkyesiknowitsnotflashcough*, but yeah, it looks off if you're trying to animate something like, say, this.
A possible solution would be to animated something in 3D (with cel shading) and then just project it onto a 2D plane, but if you go that far you might as well leave everything in 3D.
which is why we have so many great low budget shows that otherwise would not exist
this is not a bad thing
your pixar argument is nonsense, 2d disney movies cost a hell of a lot more than pixars to make
This has been the first I have seen some of these episodes myself, well most of them really. I had seen bits and pieces of the show and after having now watched it in it's entirity over the past week or so, and my god that's a lot of viewing, I can safely say I had never have seen any of the second or third seasons before. Honestly, while the first and second seasons were alright the third was really lacking, it was just off. Well, like most animes it makes ranking shit easy as it's in a simple order, YUA Ova, YUA season 1, YUA season 2 and YUA season 3, imagine that!
I will say this though, Full Throttle may suck ass as a season but that ED is a glorious display of Yuri, if Miyuki ever tires of waiting on Nakajima and decides to just hook up with Natsumi I approve 110%.
LOLOLOLOLOL. Everything is sexist to you! Ah, well, the show is kinda sexist but there are males in their division if you actually pay attention and the motorcycle cops are also in the same division, hence why they share the office, they're just on bikes instead of cars. I figured you'd have come up with something more damning like the shitty heels they make the girls wear despite being on patrol or something and instead it's the male to female ratio but I digress, it wouldn't be a A Black Falcon post if it were totally on the mark.
Truthfully I'd be disappointed too.As for ability, the entire Traffic Department is goofballs, it's not just the women that aren't in Criminal Affairs but none of the men in the Traffic Department would handle it anyways, they're all the lovable goofballs of the show dealing with lighthearted shit, it'd be a total tonal shift of the show if Miyuki and Natsumi had to fight some drug dealers on their first patrol and then after finding a rape victim during their night patrol try and amateurishly lure the rapist onto one of them but failing because Natsumi drank to much culminating in someone having to shoot the rapist leaving Miyuki emotionally scarred. It just... wouldn't work. I mean, sure, maybe part of the reason the author didn't put them their was for sexist reasons but you know it's just as possible, if not more actually, if the author just didn't want to tell that fucking story. He had his good natured characters that just wanted to help the community and he didn't want to darken them with the shit that really goes on in the police world. The author was already bending the truth well enough with mere traffic and petty crime offenders but the show would seriously lose everything if it'd tried to throw these well meaning lovable characters against Yakuza, drug dealers, pimps, rapists and murderers. I mean, seriously, everything about the show would not work. The characters are good natured and lovable, you'd be hard pressed to find me a character that'd do what needed to be done because it had to be done, Miyuki and Natsumi load their guns up with paint rounds for fuck's sake. And then there's the theme of the show, that they can overcome injustice by just trying hard no matter their ability. It's one thing to let a car thief slip by for a few nights or a serial mugger but a murderer? A Rapist? In the actual show you can shrug it off, so some cars got damaged and the civilians are mad, it's just a car, you have insurance, the tone would be drastically different if now instead of having your character deal with the near non-threatening blow to their pride at having heard of a joyrider driving yet again and damaging something you had to have the characters show up at a morgue to examine a body because they had had an argument and in a moment of lapsed judgement let a murderer escape, it just wouldn't be the same show.
[Edit]And Natsumi and Miyuki are constantly recognized as the best of their department by getting almost every single big case. They're not giving it to the men in the station! Sexists![/edit]
So the characters are not being held back for sexist reasons but for story reasons. And of course the author's built those reasons into the story itself, they just want to help people and they can do that where they are, they like their place and that's that. You even see that Natsumi has chances to move along to bigger and better things but comes back, the characters like each other and their job. It's that simple and it's because of the story.
In summary STOP LOOKING TOO HARD. Sometimes things that seem sexist aren't sexist it's just not the story they wanted to tell.
Millenium Actress: $1.5 mil (LOLOLOLOLOL)
Spirited Away: $19 mil
Princess Mononoke: $23.5 mil
Lion King: $45 mil
Lilo & Stitch: $80 mil
Finding Nemo: $90 mil
WALL-E: $180 mil
Tangled: $260 mil
???????????????????????
Damn son, Tangled alone was Disney Pixar's most expensive ever movie, and I bet all that budget went to the hair.
ok i guess i was wrong to use older movies as a reference lol
I heard they used solid gold composited ontop of the girl in order to animate the hair.
Lastly, before I go to sleep, you'd have a hard time animating something like this in flash with vectors and tweening.
- Status