Nichijou was far far too erratic between funny and extremely boring, and when it was funny it relied far too heavily on visual gags which is Kyoani's forte so that's no surprise. SYD/SnI at the very least doesn't go between both extremes and levels out all the way through.
Nichijou was far far too erratic between funny and extremely boring, and when it was funny it relied far too heavily on visual gags which is Kyoani's forte so that's no surprise. SYD/SnI at the very least doesn't go between both extremes and levels out all the way through.
Personally, I thought the 'boring' sequences were part of its overall charm and true to its title 'Everyday/Regular Life". The 'Slice of Life' vignettes are supposed to be boring but that's everyday life. I can see where you're coming from though.
And what's wrong with emphasis on visual gags? I'd rather have it than over-saturation of the same jokes.
Uh, holy shit. I was having doubts after the Germany stuff but
jumping to the past last day of Mycenaean civilization and touching on the Zeus story
was great. Giving Ashura even more spotlight has only paid off. I thought him tragic before but
to be shunned by memories of its past selves? That's just cold. Its worsening identity crisis is rather sad too. I'm torn between the notion of informing a potential viewer just how much of the show is its story versus letting them be surprised on their own.
I liked its character tic of requesting and being appreciative of the mechanical beasts was touched upon here. I'd wondered why since the first time I caught it.
Zeus' rocket punch deserves an amazing wtf too.
I really feel like watching this series again after reading your impressions of it.. one day maybe.. but yeah I also had a lot of doubts with the Germany stuff in the beginning but it really delivered in the end.
And dat rocket punch by Zeus, just awesome shit lol.
Personally, I thought the 'boring' sequences were part of its overall charm and true to its title 'Everyday/Regular Life". The 'Slice of Life' vignettes are supposed to be boring but that's everyday life. I can see where you're coming from though.
And what's wrong with emphasis on visual gags? I'd rather have it than over-saturation of the same jokes.
Gundam SEED Destiny, no joke, great soundtrack. The score + trolling Shinn fans about Kira replacing him eventually when it was airing was the only redeeming things about Destiny.
I like SYD too but it recycles it's jokes a bit too much. Although not as much as Baka to Test or Ika Musume, half due to its virtue of having an always expanding cast. I still enjoy all of them though. Nichijou's just on a different level.
It's always good to see some over the top discomfort for the whole cast of a show. Usually you have a little bit of drama while people are having a good time, but here? Everyone is going through hard times, be it for a reason or another they're all suffering some kind of mental anguish until they break down and then
BRS comes along and take their memories away!
making me, the viewer, always feel a kind of sad feeling no matter if a character is doing something positive or negative
like Yomi deleting Mato's directory from her phone or Yomi remembering about Mato.
If all this suffering doesn't make for a good show, then what does?!
In all it's mostly unstretched glory - damn anamorphicity doesn't play nice with screenshots
NTR, yuri, a mysterious Student Council, roses, dueling... this series is off to a great start.
Utena is a great protagonist, it's as if they took one of the awesome side characters who populate a host of dull shows and made her the main character. She's strong willed, proactive, doesn't yell "EEEEEEEEHHHH??" every time something she doesn't understand happens.
Very little background is given about any of the characters in the first episode, but there is the pseudo-flashback for Utena. She's obviously not really a princess, but someone did give her the rose ring - and he was princelike enough to convince Utena she wants to be a prince and score hot girls, too. I'm confused as to how she thinks she can be a prince while adamantly denying she's like a guy in any way, I'm looking forward to seeing how this all turns out. She certainly is able to capture the hearts of all the girls in the school, especially when she's rocking that uniform.
Interestingly, not a single male in the school wears anything even approaching her uniform, I wonder where she got it from.
Utena's friend, Wakaba, is actually the first main character shown, as she wonders where her boyfriend has gone off to. But it isn't actually a boyfriend; it's Utena herself. So many alarms are already ringing, but I'm sure her confession of absolute love to Utena is entirely platonic, right?
Utena, after singlehandedly defeating the men's basketball team,
goes off to spy on Anthy, who is busy getting beat up by one of the idols of the school, the Vice-President of the Student Council, Saionji. However, the red-headed President himself shows up to stop the beatdown, and some rather strange terms are used, like the Rose Bride.
Utena is slightly puzzled by all this, but goes on to meet up again with her friend, Wakaba. Wakaba teases Utena a little, and reveals that she also is one of Saionji's fans.
In fact, she's such a big fan that she wrote an extremely poetic love letter to him. Somehow, though, the letter found it's way to the bulletin board, where a large group of students gather to mock whoever was foolish enough to write such a letter. Once again, Utena is a bit more manly than she thinks she is, and tells each of the mockers how pathetic they really are.
So up until now, this has been a relatively normal show, if very stylized.
I'm usually not a fan of 90's character designs, but here, they really work well in the slightly fantastical design of the show.
About the technical aspects of the show itself, I for some reason had always thought that Utena was a very low budget, scraped out by a few animators in their basements kind of show, so I was really surprised by the quality of the animation and music.
However, back to the episode itself. After teasing it's normality for the first half of the episode, Utena plunges into the depths of stylized symbolism, where you never quite know what is real and what isn't. You have to constantly ask yourself how much you should infer from the symbolism, whether it's just window dressing like the average SHAFT production, or whether there really is substance behind it. I personally usually just sit back and enjoy the ride without worrying about stuff like that, though. Evangelion scarred me on symbolism.
The student Council has gathered, and a floodgate of abstract terms is opened. Anthy is The Bride, Rose Seals are the mark of the Student Council, who is doing something with the End of the World, and a new duelist is showing up to challenge Saionji for the right to Anthy.
Utena, meanwhile, is hellbent on getting revenge for Wakaba's humiliation, and challenges Saionji to a duel. However, Utena is completely clueless to the significance of this, and of her rose ring the prince in the past gave her.
I really liked the scene that followed.
Everything about it was perfect. The bizzare, puppetlike movements, the exposition, and the lighting created a very strange, but fitting atmosphere.
And suddenly, ABSOLUTE DESTINY APOCALYPSE.
That staircase is pretty awesome anyway you look at it, but I'm just afraid it's going to become stock footage to pad out the show.
After piercing the heavens and discovering she's wandered into Castlevania, Utena finds Anthy and Saionji waiting at the top.
Drawing the sword was such a freudian moment, even compared to the rest of the show.
The terms are set by Anthy for the duel: Knock the rose off the other duelist's chest. Anthy wins another pimp-slap for daring to wish Utena good luck. About the roses, it would be so easy to start attaching deep symbolisms to them and what they could represent, but I'm inclined to believe that for the present it's just the standard shoujo Rose Fetish in action.
I mentioned yesterday how Anthy was a complete doormat, but now that I have the time to explain fully, she isn't really. At this point, I hardly know anything about Anthy, but she shows enough defiance in action and speech to avoid being a doormat-esque character.
I would wish Utena luck too, she would be a much nicer master than GreenHair. ^^
One more bizzare song later, and Utena wins the duel somehow. I guess being an awesome shoujo protagonist allows you to do the impossible
row row fight the powa
Speaking of shoujo, though, I have to wonder if this really qualifies as shoujo? It seems a bit more mature than what generally is wanted by the 12 year old girl crowd.
Anthy attaches herself to Utena, her new master, whe're given a warning that Utena will have to participate in more duels, and credits roll.
Somehow, this was both a lot different and very similar to how I expected Utena to be. The characters are more normal than I anticipated, but the tone and the atmosphere of the show itself is quite enigmatic, with plenty of room to branch in any number of ways.
Oh, and let's not forget about all that symbolism~
And all that was only in the first 5 minutes or so of the show.
You'll notice I took it upon myself to present the proper, unmutilated screenshots of the scenes Hix tried to ruin with his evil agenda. Feel free to compare them side by side, it'll make Hix's unholy desecrations look even worse when you can compare them to the glorious true aspect ratio.
Since we're now comparing student council shows to just general slice of life school comedies, I would amend that to 'but not Azumanga Daiou level'. Even between the two school council shows (lower level though they may be), I think SYD is much better.
Since we're now comparing student council shows to just general slice of life school comedies, I would amend that to 'but not Azumanga Daiou level'. Even between the two school council shows (lower level though they may be), I think SYD is much better.
You'll notice I took it upon myself to present the proper, unmutilated screenshots of the scenes Hix tried to ruin with his evil agenda. Feel free to compare them side by side, it'll make Hix's unholy desecrations look even worse when you can compare them to the glorious true aspect ratio.
There's nothing proper or unmultilated about your screenshots at all! You're just trying to conceal the black bar evidence in some vain attempt to defend anime from my righteous pimp hand, like Utena defending Anthy from similar justice!
Here's your "proper and unmultilated screenshot";
You have a problem Envelope, but worry not, Media Player Classic has the solution;
On another note, I dare you guys to try and pull the impossible body contortion that the teacher pulls in this screenshot, face frozen in a permanent state of anger and defiance. I just tried and now my arms hurt.
There's nothing proper or unmultilated about your screenshots at all! You're just trying to conceal the black bar evidence in some vain attempt to defend anime from my righteous pimp hand, like Utena defending Anthy from similar justice!
On another note, I dare you guys to try and pull the impossible body contortion that the teacher pulls in this screenshot, face frozen in a permanent state of anger and defiance. I just tried and now my arms hurt.
I do need to be careful watching shows just because of a great OST because Angel Beats has a pretty good one and you guys LOOOOOOOVE that show.
Although, to be fair I did enjoy Angel Beats for the stupid show that it is. The music easily got me through it.
Music is oftentimes a pretty good indicator of a good show though.
