You need to watch Char's Counterattack before you watch Unicorn.
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Holy shit, Knights of Sidonia may have the best production values of an anime ever
- Thread starter Peterthumpa
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You need to watch Char's Counterattack before you watch Unicorn.
Phat Michael
Banned
Can you explain this? it looked all hand drawn to me - what was done with a PC? the art style was incredible.
ultraspank
Member
Wow, garden of words looks fantastic, thanks for the discovery everyone!
btw knights of sidonia sucks.
btw knights of sidonia sucks.
Also yeah comparing a film like Garden of Words to a weekly TV series is kind of unfair.
A better case would be something like... I dunno, Hyouka. Now that was a consistently well produced show week after week.
I mean yeah sure you can make the argument that there wasn't as much "happening" but there was always this big level of polish and attention to detail in every episode that it's hard not to be impressed by it regardless of what you thought of the show itself.
A better case would be something like... I dunno, Hyouka. Now that was a consistently well produced show week after week.
I mean yeah sure you can make the argument that there wasn't as much "happening" but there was always this big level of polish and attention to detail in every episode that it's hard not to be impressed by it regardless of what you thought of the show itself.
I was always a little impressed with the way that one school rock performance scene was animated in Haruhi Suzumiya. That seemed pretty good to me for an anime TV show.
Indeed, haha
Doctor Decimate
Member
The battles look good, but i had no problems whatsoever telling that anything was CGI; that honestly just sounds like hyperbole to me. Outside of a few instances i didn't have an issue with the look itself, but the jerky animation with the humans is jarring and weird. It seems to improve as the series goes along at least (or maybe I just got used to it). The mouth animation also looked bizarre at times.
As far as the storytelling goes, the characters are so bland it's almost impressive. You'd think it'd be impossible to get through 12 episodes without establishing more than 2 recognizable character traits (and often only 1), but this show manages to pull it off somehow. I had to tell two of the love interests apart by their haircuts. The plot itself is deeply cliched, but it's pulled off well enough to at least partially hold my interest, and the battles were good.
As far as the storytelling goes, the characters are so bland it's almost impressive. You'd think it'd be impossible to get through 12 episodes without establishing more than 2 recognizable character traits (and often only 1), but this show manages to pull it off somehow. I had to tell two of the love interests apart by their haircuts. The plot itself is deeply cliched, but it's pulled off well enough to at least partially hold my interest, and the battles were good.
I'm still laughing at 'stratospheric budget'. Sound design in the anime is great though.
read the manga then. It's awesome.
read the manga then. It's awesome.
arnoldocastillo2003
Member
I recommend you ASURA, it´s an anime movie that combines the characters in CG with backgrounds painted in traditional way.
Here´s the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxzcX1tDOKs
Here´s the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxzcX1tDOKs
I was definitely put off by the animation.
But maybe I need to get used to this kind of thing. There's plenty of movies and shows I like with poor hand drawn animation, and they all definitely take some getting used to.
Maybe I just need to get used to this bizarre low frame CGI stuff. Maybe this is where budget productions are going,
But maybe I need to get used to this kind of thing. There's plenty of movies and shows I like with poor hand drawn animation, and they all definitely take some getting used to.
Maybe I just need to get used to this bizarre low frame CGI stuff. Maybe this is where budget productions are going,
Haha, what?
Sidonia no Kishi sure is something but "best production values"? what.
Sidonia no Kishi sure is something but "best production values"? what.
Oh come on, comparing Hyouka to ANYTHING isn't fair at all.
Triple Oceans
Member
This is a correct post. Garden of Words is absolutely orgasmic visually. All of Mokoto Shinkai's films are glorious scenery and lighting porn.
Where can I watch this in the highest quality?
sixteen-bit
Member
I tried to watch it cause it was on Netflix and there's so little these days left for me to watch to justify my subscription, but it was pretty bad.
The most gorgeous anime I've ever seen was "Garden of Words." I don't know what the production values are, but man I can't stop watching it for the art
damn, yo that shit looks real
seriously you won't even believe some of the other scenes in motion. I've never seen any animated movie capture that feeling of 'dampness' of a rain storm better than this film either. It's absolutely soaked in detail. Even the way the water distorts as a rain drop hits it is insanely detailed.
I cannot believe the artistic talent this guy has. Like, it's astonishing and makes me amazed to be human. I seriously do sit down, pause scenes and try to recreate some of his art as inspiration for my own. It's just so amazing.
Branduil said:
Is Hyouka good? I mean, to be clear here, my interest in anime is usually unique. The types I do like - such as Monster - are distinct from traditional anime storylines and tropes, and I usually end up watching most anime more for its astonishing art than its story. So, from the perspective of animation and art quality, is Hyouka worth an analysis? And then as an aside, would you say it has decent writing? It wouldn't matter if it does as long as it has good enough art for me to analyze, but I am curious.
Hyouka is honestly the best series Kyoani has made, from all perspectives: art, animation, characterization, writing.
Thank you. I'll put it on my list of anime to watch then.
for what it's worth it was voted Neogaf's anime of the year when it came out
Hyouka isn't particularly unique in setting; it's about a group of teenage kids who solve mundane mysteries. What sets it apart is the execution; the direction, animation, and writing are all excellent and a level above most anime series. There are people who don't like it because they go into it expecting murder mysteries or they just don't like any series set in a school, or they think it's too slow-paced, but if you take it for what it's trying to be there aren't a lot of TV anime that are more successful.
If you don't inherently dislike the idea of school-life anime then it's certainly worth trying.
neogaf voted MGS4 game of the year twice, so it's not worth much*
*
just kidding, I value neoGAF's opinion highly, even when I disagree with it
Branduil said:
Yeah I don't have any particular aversion to school anime, as long as it doesn't get too pervy (like pedophile teachers and constant upskirt shots and such)
I tried to watch it cause it was on Netflix and there's so little these days left for me to watch to justify my subscription, but it was pretty bad.
The most gorgeous anime I've ever seen was "Garden of Words." I don't know what the production values are, but man I can't stop watching it for the art
Yep Garden of Words is stunning. I went to Shinjuku park in April and visited a lot of the spots and was blown away by how 1:1 the movie was to real life.
Shinkai's movies are flawed but the style/animation is breathtaking.
Code:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/xYe9ZnI.jpg[/IMG]Hyouka is remarkably free from that kind of stuff so you'll be fine then, there's definitely a level of maturity to the production you don't see often in anime.
The equivalent of that is the year Panty & Stocking won AOTY and Oreimo and Angel Beats were in the top 10
Hyouka is pretty classy outside of the really-out-of-place first ED. No pervy teachers or panty shots or anything like that.
It also has an outstanding soundtrack, both the original tracks from Kouhei Tanaka and the use of classical music.
Kite
Member
Sidonia is a pretty good show, I wasn't a big fan after the first episode because of the low framerate and funky character designs but I got hooked after ep 2. There are programs that do frame rate extrapolation to make video files feel smoother and they make Sidonia 10x easier to watch. I thought Sidonia is closer to Claymore in space instead of Attack on Titan but whatever, those who dropped it after one episode missed a decent show *shrug* not my problem though.
Oh i forgot about the first ED, yeah that was pretty bad
Yes, sadly it remains unlicensed for western audiences.
Yes, sadly it remains unlicensed for western audiences.
Yeah, just compare their work on Tron: Uprising series that they did on Disney XD two years ago. It noticeably has higher production values.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjbwVzJR8w4
Metroid-Squadron
Banned
Another anime hated for its animation style. At least this one got a second season unlike Aku no Hana 
i watched the whole thing. it was okay.
-johnny yong bosch is at his best when he does high energy characters who are maybe in their 20s, but not teenagers or younger. his vash the stampede is great. his tanikaze or renton (eureka seven) are just really really bad. they sound forced, though renton more than tanikaze.
-i understand the manga is ongoing, and this takes some liberties with the source material. i kind of like the way the show ends, if this is the end of the show, with there just kind of being the neverending fight. i don't need everything to have definitive resolution. the show wasn't really all about the mystery in the background, so i don't feel like i needed those answers.
-the fight scenes looked really nice, but the character models were expressionless and boring. it almost lends to the style of this place being kind of sterile and these people being clones and offspring of only a handful of survivors from 100 years prior, but then someone will try to smile or do anything other than stare emotionlessly and i just can't help but feel taken out of the game.
-overall the story was kind of okay. tanikaze has special powers but it's not related to his piloting capabilities (where other shows like this kind of do that). there were also some nice moments that pushed predictable moments ahead in interesting ways. i liked the part where tanikaze and hoshijiro were running to their gardes and it kind of fades out and cuts to tanikaze in the hospital.
i haven't actually seen an anime all the way through like this since eureka seven, and that was 7 years ago. i just kind of stopped caring. this didn't get me back into it, but i thought it was all right at least.
-johnny yong bosch is at his best when he does high energy characters who are maybe in their 20s, but not teenagers or younger. his vash the stampede is great. his tanikaze or renton (eureka seven) are just really really bad. they sound forced, though renton more than tanikaze.
-i understand the manga is ongoing, and this takes some liberties with the source material. i kind of like the way the show ends, if this is the end of the show, with there just kind of being the neverending fight. i don't need everything to have definitive resolution. the show wasn't really all about the mystery in the background, so i don't feel like i needed those answers.
-the fight scenes looked really nice, but the character models were expressionless and boring. it almost lends to the style of this place being kind of sterile and these people being clones and offspring of only a handful of survivors from 100 years prior, but then someone will try to smile or do anything other than stare emotionlessly and i just can't help but feel taken out of the game.
-overall the story was kind of okay. tanikaze has special powers but it's not related to his piloting capabilities (where other shows like this kind of do that). there were also some nice moments that pushed predictable moments ahead in interesting ways. i liked the part where tanikaze and hoshijiro were running to their gardes and it kind of fades out and cuts to tanikaze in the hospital.
i haven't actually seen an anime all the way through like this since eureka seven, and that was 7 years ago. i just kind of stopped caring. this didn't get me back into it, but i thought it was all right at least.
Solideliquid
Member
I liked Knights of Sidonia - if nothing else I'm glad Netflix is branching out. I hope they make a S2.
TC McQueen
Member
Sidonia is one of many anime/manga that I feel probably would've been better as a game (probably a Bioware style one, since so many have tons of relationship stuff), because the interactive elements might mitigate some of the narrative weaknesses and all the info dumps could be shoved off into an in-game codex or whatever.
Season 2 has already been announced
To Far Away Times
Member
I tried to watch it cause it was on Netflix and there's so little these days left for me to watch to justify my subscription, but it was pretty bad.
The most gorgeous anime I've ever seen was "Garden of Words." I don't know what the production values are, but man I can't stop watching it for the art
Stunning.
Triple Oceans
Member
Cool. Thanks for the link.
Unfortunately, 5cm Per Second is very hard to come by on Blu Ray. I had to import it for like $80 or something insane. It was the Japanese version with english subtitles. Like Garden of Words, it's a 40 min short movie. So it's not worth the price. But I collect Anime film, and have all of Shinkai's work, so I wanted to complete my collection.
5cm Per Second is gorgeous though.
Valkerionseven
Member
Going to ditto Gundam Unicorn for mech animation. Buttery smooth animation tied to some of the cleanest visuals around were a treat to watch for Gundam fans. That and the whole thing in general was pretty damn good.
Hyouka is my favourite anime of all time. Production values aside, it made me appreciate the slow-moving pace in real life. Hyouka embraces that whole aspect.
Amir0x, when did you watch The Garden of Words? I could have sworn that you hadn't watched it a couple of months ago.
But yeah, Makoto Shinkai's stuff is breathtakingly beautiful. I watched the ending montage in 5 Centimeters per Second and that made me cry more than any other media because of how good the art and how emotional the message was. Then I saw the whole thing, and the story didn't grip me as much because I was too busy admiring the art. I didn't know that was possible.
Shinkai's stuff to me is an idealistic portrayal of Japan in terms of how beautiful it is.
Check this imgur album out for 5CM. Might as well be called 5 Wallpapers per Second.
5cm Per Second is actually more around 60 minutes and the Japanese Blu Ray conveniently carries both English subtitles and the dub. It also has upscaled Voices of a Distant Star and She and Her Cat. Still pretty expensive for the amount of minutes, but I don't regret importing it.
Strange, I had to pay $80 (I'm from the states). Just checked Amazon and it's $75. I think the Japanese version is the only one that is region free? (Oops I think Japan is also Region A, that's why).
EDIT: Oh you said 60 min. Wow my apologies (obviously can't read). And damn, for some reason I thought the movie was shorter. My apologies for the incorrect information. Also you are right, it has a lot of goodies. I'm very happy with my purchase. I just meant, if you are a casual person watching, it's probably not worth the price.
I fucked up and didn't buy The Girl Who Leapt Through Time on Blu Ray, and Bandai stopped making copies (for the US region). Prices on Amazon and Ebay are like $120-150. Fuckin ridiculous. I've always wanted that one on Blu Ray, as I most of Hosoda's work on Blu Ray. Makes me so sad. I SHOULD just buy a region free Blu Ray player, that would solve a lot of problems. Unfortunately, I use my PS4/Xbox One and PC a lot, so I prefer US region.
There was a thread maybe a year ago now, I forgot the name of it, that mentioned it and showed gifs, and I purchased it around then. I watched it about January for the first time iirc, maybe February. Since then though I've watched it pretty consistently to stop frames and try to mimic some of the art, so I can improve my own art.
5 CM sounds fantastic, I think I will watch that one next.
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